WHAT: Wayne State University's Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute and the Friends of the Freer House are hosting a special lecture by Lee Glazer Curator of American Art, Freer Gallery of Art/Arthur M. Sackler Gallery/Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. The public is invited to listen and explore how Charles Lang Freer's philosophy of collecting art grew out of the design and decoration of his Detroit home. Freer envisioned his house on Ferry Avenue as a haven from the realities of turn of the century industrial life. The collaborative efforts of Freer, his architect Wilson Eyre and various artist friends resulted in "a dream of beauty, inside and out", as one visitor observed.
WHEN AND WHERE: The event will be held on Sunday, Nov. 9th at 2:00 p.m. at the Charles Lang Freer House, located at 71 East Ferry Street in Detroit. RSVP required and can be made by calling (313) 872-1790.
REGISTRATION: Admission is complimentary for members of the Friends of the Freer house; $10.00 for non-members and $5.00 for students.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Lee Glazer is associate curator of American Art at the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art/Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, where her most recent exhibitions include "Surface Beauty: American Art and Freer's Aesthetic Vision" and "Seascapes: Tryon & Sugimoto." An expert on turn-of-the-century American painting, Dr. Glazer has published on a wide range of topics including Whistler, Romare Bearden, and 19th-century popular song and illustration. Her most recent publication is James McNeill Whistler in Context, a multi-author volume of essays delivered at an international symposium held in Glasgow in 2003.
ABOUT THE LECTURE: In the early 1890's, Freer began collecting works by contemporary American artists, notably Thomas Dewing, Dwight Tryon and Pewabic ceramist Mary Chase Perry, whose styles resonated with that of James McNeill Whistler, the artist whose work and artistic ideas had captivated Freer's imagination. By the early 1900's, Freer's focus shifted to Asian art, but his interest in tonal harmonies and textured surfaces in paintings and ceramics remained constant.
It was through the sophisticated decoration of his Detroit home that Freer developed an aesthetic eye, and his ability to discern "points of contact" between Asian and American art ultimately resulted in the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art. This talk will highlight the new exhibit organized by Glazer at the Freer Gallery entitled "Surface Beauty: Freer's Aesthetic Vision".
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