2024 Bettie Allison Rand Lecture Series: Renewing Impressionism, 1874-2024

James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence

Over two days, invited scholars will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition, which opened on the fashionable Boulevard des Capucines in Paris in April of 1874. Originally known by the corporate name Société anonyme des artistes peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, etc., within two years the group of artists including Monet, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro, and Renoir became known as the Impressionists, a term widespread in criticism of the time to describe the rapid application of paint to convey an artist’s sensory grasp of a place or a moment.

Speakers: André Dombrowski, Nikki Georgopulos, Laura Anne Kalba, Denise Murrell, Todd Porterfield, Harmon Siegel

This year’s lecture series is co-sponsored by the Ackland Art Museum and the UNC Center for European Studies.

Schedule

Friday, October 25

2 PM

• Welcome:  Annette Lawrence, Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Art and Art History
• Introductory Remarks:  Daniel J. Sherman, Lineberger Distinguished Professor of Art History and History, Symposium Organizer

2:15-3:45  Session 1

• André Dombrowski, The Trash at Manet’s Feet
• Harmon Siegel, The Environment of Impressionism
• Moderator:  Jessica Tanner, Department of Romance Languages

3:45-4  Break

4-5:30  Session 2

• Nikki Georgopulos, Working from Home: Mary Cassatt’s Pursuit of Labor 
• Laura Anne Kalba, Degas’s Portraits at the Bourse: Stereotype and Setting in Europe’s Second Financial Capital, c. 1879
• Moderator:  Maggie Cao, Department of Art and Art History

Saturday, October 26

9:30-11 Session 3

• Denise Murrell, Degas and the Black Subject, From New Orleans to Paris
• Todd Porterfield, Impressionist Interventions on Empire: Anomalous or Emblematic?
• Moderator: Jennifer A. Boittin, Department of History

11:15-12:15  Roundtable Discussion

• Moderator: Daniel Sherman
• André Dombrowski, Nikki Georgopulos, Laura Anne Kalba, Denise Murrell, Todd Porterfield, Harmon Siegel

Through a generous gift to the UNC Arts and Sciences Foundation, William G. Rand established this lecture series in memory of his late wife, Bettie Allison Rand. This funding allows the Department of Art and Art History to bring one or more eminent art historians to UNC-CH every other year for residencies of various lengths. While they are in Chapel Hill, these scholars present a series of lectures and interact with undergraduate and graduate art history and studio art students.

All lectures are free and open to the public. This event is eligible for CLE credit.

A weeknight or daytime permit is now required after 5:00 pm on weekdays. There is no permit needed from 5:00 pm Friday through 7:30 am Monday. A $1.00 one-night pass is available in selected lots. More information can be found at Weeknight Parking.

Image: Camille Pissarro, The Banks of the Oise, Pontoise, 1876, oil on canvas, 14 15/16 x 21 7/8 in. (38 x 55.5 cm), Ackland Museum of Art, Ackland Fund