BRATTLEBORO — The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) invites the public to a discussion of Sebastian Smee’s “Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism,” on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 5:30 p.m. This event is part of the new series, BMAC Reads — book club-style conversations focusing on books about art. Admission is $10 (free for BMAC members). Space is limited, and advance registration is required. To register, visit brattleboromuseum.org or call 802-257-0124 x101.
“Paris in Ruins” examines the momentous period from the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo. Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans ― then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway commune, ultimately crushed by the French army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born ― in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue.
Smee is a Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic at The Washington Post and the author of “The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art” and several other books. He teaches at Wellesley College.
The Oct. 23 conversation will be moderated by Elizabeth Catlin. A resident of Dummerston, Catlin is described as a voracious reader and board member of the Brattleboro Literary Festival and Vermont Community Foundation. She is the immediate past board chair at the Brattleboro Retreat and current vice chair of the national board for Girls on the Run.
BMAC Reads is supported in part by a gift in memory of Lorraine K. Wiesen, a lover of books and art.
Several days prior to this event, on Saturday, Oct. 18, at 3 p.m., Smee will read from and discuss “Paris in Ruins” at BMAC as part of the Brattleboro Literary Festival, providing an opportunity for attendees to hear the author’s insights firsthand.
Founded in 1972, the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center is supported in part by the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by the Brattleboro Food Co-op, Brattleboro Savings & Loan, Brattleboro Subaru, C&S Wholesale Grocers, and Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters. The museum is located in historic Union Station, at the intersection of Main Street and Routes 119 and 142. For more information and accessibility requests, visit brattleboromuseum.org, call 802-257-0124, or email [email protected].
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