200 Years Young: A Short History of Collecting and Exhibiting at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art program is a traveling lecture being given by Lindsey Nevin, Manager of Public Programs at the PAFA, that highlights the funny and often surprising stories behind the acquisitions that comprise the collection of American Art Masterworks at PAFA, America’s oldest museum and school of fine arts. The program will take place at the Moorestown Library on Feb. 23 at 7 p.m.
In July 1805, even before land for the first building had been secured, the founders of PAFA wrote to France asking for a collection of plaster casts from Paris. From this moment on, PAFA has been collecting, exhibiting and teaching from an evolving collection of masterworks in American Art, and the stories behind their acquisitions are often surprising and funny.
This talk highlights PAFA’s high seas encounters with actual pirates, art students adrift in World War I Europe and skirmishes with corporate heiresses over one of America’s greatest paintings of all time — Thomas Eakins’ “The Gross Clinic.” Salted with colorful collectors like Herb and Dorothy Vogel and front page headlines from the 90s about Maxfield Parrish’s Dream Garden, this talk explores how America’s oldest museum and school of fine arts continues to find new ways of telling America’s story.
The Traveling Lecture Series, offered in conjunction with ongoing exhibitions, brings museum staff members out to your institution to give a talk about an artist or art movement important to our mission. The program will include a PowerPoint presentation, information about PAFA programs, and expertise in the field. This program is free to the public.
Reserve your spot by registering online through the Moorestown Library website calendar or by calling the Reference Desk at (856) 234–0333.
