NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Starting Oct. 12 Vanderbilt University professors from varied disciplines will challenge viewers of the Hudson River School exhibition at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts to think critically about the contemporary meaning of the 19th century landscape paintings.
David Wood, professor of philosophy and environmental artist, will moderate the series of public discussions based on the work found in Hudson River School: Masterworks from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. The Hudson River School is a designation given to artists working between 1825 and 1875 whose paintings convey an immense reverence for nature in all its grandeur. Artists include Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Frederic Edwin Church and others associated with the Hudson River School.
“It is not enough to look at paintings,” said Wood, who has organized the ‘Off the Wall: Hudson River School‘ series. “Our eyes are informed by our background knowledge, by our imagination and by conversation with others. These speakers will surely enrich our shared experience of the paintings in this noted collection.”
The lectures, which are part of a continuing partnership between Vanderbilt and the Frist Center, take place the second Wednesdays of October through December from noon to 1 p.m. in the Frist Center auditorium. Admission to the talk is free, and those planning to attend can purchase box lunches at the Frist Center Café or bring their own lunches.
On Oct. 12, Wood will discuss the relevance of the Hudson River School‘s ideals in today‘s world with Mark Scala, exhibitions curator at the Frist Center, and internationally renowned land artist Chris Drury, author of Chris Drury: Silent Spaces.
Drury‘s works “explore nature and culture, both inner and outer,” according to his website, www.chrisdrury.co.uk. Drury is also scheduled to speak at Dyer Observatory on Oct. 10 at 6 p.m. and to the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture‘s Ecology and Spirituality research group on Oct. 12 from 3 to 5 p.m. in Buttrick Hall.
John Stuhr, the W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy, will address “Nature and National Character: The Hudson River School and the Making of American Culture” on Nov. 9. “I want to focus on what it distinctively means to be an American (hence the italics in my title) and what America means, and I will look at the Hudson River School in terms of the answers that it provides to these questions,” said Stuhr, who is also a professor of American and Southern Studies.
His research interests include political philosophy, ethics, 19th and 20th century American and European philosophies, and contemporary cultural issues. Stuhr‘s publications include “Pragmatism, Postmodernism and the Future of Philosophy” and “Pragmatism and Classical American Philosophy.”
Concluding the series will be Daniel Usner, the Holland M. McTyeire Professor of History, who will discuss how art and letters in the 19th century removed American Indians from landscapes in the East. “Imagining Upstate New York Without American Indians” is the title of his talk.
Most of Usner‘s research concentrates on the early South, but he has published widely on images of American Indians in U.S. culture. Before joining the Vanderbilt faculty, he was director of the American Indian Program at Cornell University.
Wood‘s publications include The Step Back, SUNY, 2005, and he is represented on the Nashville Artists Register: http://www.artsnashville.org/registry
For more information about ‘Off the Wall: Hudson River School,‘ call the Frist Center for the Visual Arts at 244-3340 or click on its website at www.fristcenter.org.
Media contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, (615) 322-NEWS
Annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu