Chicago History & Culture

John Singer Sargent & The Gilded Age - Art History Livestream Hosted by Robert Kelleman

You are invited to join us for an art history livestream program covering the Gilded Age splendor of John Singer Sargent, one of the greatest artists in history, especially noted for his portraits, including the iconic Madame X.
During and after the program you’ll have the opportunity to discuss the topics with your fellow art lovers via Zoom.

John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 - April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Belle Époque and Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, Capri, Spain, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida.
Born in Florence to American parents, he was trained there and Paris before moving to London, living most of his life in Europe. He enjoyed international acclaim as a portrait painter. An early submission to the Paris Salon in the 1880s, his Portrait of Madame X, was intended to consolidate his position as a society painter in Paris but instead resulted in scandal. During the year following the scandal, Sargent departed for England, where he continued a successful career as a portrait artist.
From the beginning, Sargent's work is characterized by remarkable technical facility, particularly in his ability to draw with a brush, which in later years inspired admiration as well as criticism for its supposed superficiality. His commissioned works were consistent with the grand manner of portraiture, while his informal studies and landscape paintings displayed a familiarity with Impressionism. In later life, Sargent expressed ambivalence about the restrictions of formal portrait work and devoted much of his energy to mural painting and working en plein air.

Patsy Cline & Sweet Dreams - Music History Livestream - Hosted by Robert Kelleman

For Women’s History Month we invite you to learn about the fascinating life and hear the incredible music of Patsy Cline.
This is a two-part music history program.

Part 1 - Patsy Cline Music History Program - 1 Hour
Covering the life, career, and music of Patsy Cline, including a brief overview of the Patsy Cline Historic House in Winchester, VA and the Patsy Cline Museum in Nashville, TN. And of course we’ll also hear several of Patsy’s biggest hit songs.

Intermission - 30 minutes

Patsy Cline & Sweet Dreams - Music History Livestream - Hosted by Robert Kelleman

For Women’s History Month we invite you to learn about the fascinating life and hear the incredible music of Patsy Cline.
This is a two-part music history program.

Part 1 - Patsy Cline Music History Program - 1 Hour
Covering the life, career, and music of Patsy Cline, including a brief overview of the Patsy Cline Historic House in Winchester, VA and the Patsy Cline Museum in Nashville, TN. And of course we’ll also hear several of Patsy’s biggest hit songs.

Intermission - 30 minutes

Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age - Art Program Hosted by Robert Kelleman

You’re invited to join us for an art history livestream featuring Johannes Vermeer (The Girl with the Pearl Earring) and the Dutch Golden Age.
While our program will focus on Vermeer, we’ll also explore several of artists and the overall history and culture of the Dutch Golden Age.
This is a 2-part series on Dutch art, with a separate program featuring Rembrandt van Rijn.
During and after the program you’ll have the opportunity to discuss the art with your fellow participants via Zoom.

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Johannes Vermeer (October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. He produced relatively few paintings, primarily earning his living as an art dealer. He was not wealthy; at his death, his wife was left in debt.
Vermeer worked slowly and with great care, and frequently used very expensive pigments. He is particularly renowned for making masterful use of light in his work. "Almost all his paintings", Hans Koningsberger wrote, "are apparently set in two smallish rooms in his house in Delft; they show the same furniture and decorations in various arrangements and they often portray the same people, mostly women."
The modest celebrity he enjoyed during his life gave way to obscurity after his death. He was barely mentioned in Arnold Houbraken's major source book on 17th-century Dutch painting (Grand Theatre of Dutch Painters and Women Artists, published 1718) and, as a result, was omitted from subsequent surveys of Dutch art for nearly two centuries. In the 19th century, Vermeer was rediscovered by Gustav Friedrich Waagen and Théophile Thoré-Bürger, who published an essay attributing 66 works to him, although only 34 paintings are universally attributed to him today. Since that time, Vermeer's reputation has grown enormously.

The Dutch Golden Age was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the Rampjaar occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific developments, art and overseas colonisation was among the most prominent in Europe. The first half of the period spanned from the beginning of the Eighty Years' War until its conclusion in 1648, with the second half lasting until the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch War. During the period, Dutch colonialists, many of them affiliated with the East India Company and West India Company, established trading posts and colonies in the Americas, Southern Africa and Asia, protected by the powerful Dutch States Navy. The Dutch also dominated the triangular trade and Atlantic slave trade during this period.
Dutch culture flourished during this period as well. However, by the end of the 17th century, conflicts with neighbouring powers as well as declining economic influence led to the end of this period. The process by which the Dutch Republic became one of the foremost maritime and economic powers of the world during the era has been referred to as the "Dutch Miracle" by historian K. W. Swart. The term "Dutch Golden Age" has been controversial in the 21st century due to the extensive Dutch involvement in slavery and colonialism during the period, and it has been deprecated by several museums in the Netherlands, including the Amsterdam Museum.

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