Master Series

MASTER SERIES 2021– 2022

The Worcester Art Museum’s Third Thursday Master Series features in-depth presentations by art scholars, providing insights and stories about works in the Museum’s collection or on view in special exhibitions. The art talks are held on most third Thursdays at 6pm.

Hosted by the WAM Members Council, the Master Series is presented with support from the Bernard G. and Louise B. Palitz Fund and the Amelia and Robert H. Haley Memorial Lecture Fund.

Sponsored by:

October 21, 6pm — Laura C. McDonald, Art Collections Registrar at Tufts University Art Gallery Creating an Icon: Edward Augustus Brackett's visit to John Brown's Prison Cell Laura C. McDonald will share the amazing story of the bust that sculptor Edward Augustus Brackett carved of abolitionist John Brown and will trace how it went missing at Tufts University. WAM will also share an update on its conservation project of Brackett’s Shipwrecked Mother and Child.

November 18, 6pm — William R. Short, Ph.D., author, filmmaker, lecturer, and independent scholar specializing in Viking-age topics Men of Terror: A Comprehensive Analysis of Viking Combat One thousand years ago, a rune stone memorial was raised to a man named Fraði, called the “first among Vikings” and a “terror of men.” In this lecture, William Short discusses his new book that looks at how Viking society revolved around violence. The holistic picture of Viking combat derived from Short’s research allows us to understand Viking society and put a human face on these men of terror. WAM will also share information about our recently acquired Viking sword.

February 17, 6pm — Lucy Peltz, Ph.D., Head of Collection Displays (Tudor to Regency) and Senior Curator 18th Century Collections from the National Portrait Gallery, London; A. Cassandra Albinson, Ph.D., Head, Division of European and American Art; and Margaret S. Winthrop, Ph.D., Curator of European Art, Harvard Art Museums Love Stories from the National Portrait Gallery, London This Valentine’s Week presentation focuses on works in our special exhibition Love Stories from the National Portrait Gallery, London, with the exhibition curator, Lucy Peltz, in conversation about selected works from this exhibition with two art scholars from the Harvard Art Museums.

March 17, 6pm — Kimberly Juanita Brown, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing, Dartmouth College Us Them We | Race Ethnicity Identity This exhibition considers the ways that artists from the last 40 years accentuate concepts like race and ethnicity through four formal devices: text, juxtaposition, seriality and pattern. Artists often employ one or more of these approaches as a means of storytelling, protest, and celebration. Kimberly Juanita Brown, a specialist in visual culture studies, will address selected works in the exhibition and share her thoughts on the stories they tell.

Pierre Subleyras, Maria Felice Tibaldi,1739–1749, oil on canvas, Gift of Helen Bigelow Merriman, 1901.54

April 21, 6pm — Eve Straussman-Pflanzer, Ph.D., Curator and Head of Italian and Spanish paintings, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Pierre Subleyras’ Portrait of Maria Felice Tibaldi This WAM portrait is featured in By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500– 1800, the first exhibition solely dedicated to Italian women artists. The cocurator of the exhibition, which started at the Wadsworth Atheneum and is now in Detroit, will share more about the portrait of this female artist and its role in the show.

May 19, 6pm — Courtney Ann Stewart, Researcher of Islamic art history, and the history of jewelry and gemstones Amulets and Adornments from Islamic Lands As a prelude to the opening of Jewels of the Nile, Courtney Ann Stewart talks about jewelry and gemstones from the Islamic world, highlighting the various associations of such ornaments, from symbols of power to sacred objects of protection. Featuring stunning artwork from the WAM collection and others, Islamic jewelry will be contextualized and connected to precursors from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.