Calendar of Events

Women in American Art

Many people can list the names of a few American women artists but most do not know the influential women behind the scenes who built much of the United States’ artistic scene.  This two-week forum presented by Assistant Professor of Art History Ranelle Knight-Lueth tells the stories of influential American women artists and the equally notable women art historians, collectors, critics, museum founders, educators, and patrons who supported and promoted their work.  In this series, we will travel across time from the colonial era through the present day to encounter the artwork and the historical conditions that influenced women artists and their advocates. Week one will take us from early America through the nineteenth century, periods when property laws limited women from purchasing or donating art, academies were less open to women artists, and women's organizations and clubs supported artistic production.  The second session will focus on women’s roles with world fairs, the development of major museums, and the rise of art history and criticism from the late nineteenth century onward. Throughout, we will meet intriguing figures, delight in exquisite art, and examine how women overcame substantial obstacles to play a major, though often unrecognized, role in the emergence and growth of an American artistic tradition. 

Admission to each four-week forum series is $40. Admission to individual lectures and one-, two-, and three-week forums is $12 per week. Admission includes the lecture and morning refreshments of coffee, tea and pastries. Payment can be made in person on Thursday mornings by cash or personal check. Credit card payments can be processed by registering online in advance at www.coe.edu/thursday-forum. For more information, visit the Thursday Forum website or call 319.399.8523.

In the event of inclement weather, consult local media outlets to find out if the day’s forum will take place.

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