“Corruptive…Destructive:” Women Artists Paint the Nude, 1875–1945

In 1930, writing about her sister Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf describes how “it was held, until sixty years ago […] for a woman to look upon nakedness with the eye of an artist, and not simply with the eye of mother, wife or mistress, was corruptive of her innocency and destructive of her domesticity.” In this lecture, author and art historian Rebecca Birrell explores how Bell, among others (including Evelyn de Morgan, Gwen John, and Winifred Knights), overcame moral and pedagogical constraints to produce nudes that reflected new ideas about women’s ambitions, desires, and social roles. If the nude was taboo, how did women artists, including Gluck and Ethel Sands, innovate in other genres such as flower paintings and interiors to reflect on sexuality, gender, and the body?

Free. Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524. A 3 pm tea party hosted by the Clark and Wild Soul River, featuring British teas and light bites, follows.
Details: clarkart.edu/events

You may also like the following events from The Clark:

• This Thursday, 31st July, 01:00 pm, Noguchi Art-Making: Light Sculptures in Williamstown
• This Friday, 1st August, 01:00 pm, Art in Conversation in Williamstown
• This Sunday, 3rd August, 02:00 pm, Berenice Abbott: The Woman Behind the Lens in Williamstown

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