In celebration of Verso University's exploration of the CT Art Trail, join us on January 31 for a our first* presentation from the Yale University Art Gallery. The talk will focus on the exhibit "Munch/Kirchner: Anxiety and Expression," which opens on February 16 and is on view through June 23.
This event will take place in the Komansky Program room on the Library's main level.
*Second Yale University Art Gallery talk scheduled for February 28, more HERE.
Founded in 1832, the Yale University Art Gallery is the oldest university art museum in America. The museum is open to all, free of charge, and is committed to engaging audiences through thoughtful, creative and relevant exhibitions programs, and publications.
About the exhibit:
Featuring more than 60 works, this exhibition is the first to examine the prints of Edvard Munch alongside those of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, elucidating the fascinating overlaps in their creative output and personal biographies and demonstrating how these artists suffered from — and attempted to cope with — the anxieties of their age. Drawing primarily on a large group of prints in the collection of Nelson Blitz Jr., and Catherine Woodard, as well as the Gallery’s own substantial holdings of German Expressionist works on paper and other U.S. museum collections, this exhibition brings into focus the parallels between these two towering figures of Expressionism, highlighting their engagement with themes of anxiety, depression, and trauma.
About our Verso University presenter:
Freyda Spira is the Gallery’s Robert L. Solley Curator of Prints and Drawings. Previously, and for many years, she was in the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. There, she was Associate Curator of Northern drawings, prints, and illustrated books from the Early Modern period, and curated several successful exhibitions, including Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art (2023) and The Renaissance Etching (2019).
Spira holds a BA from Barnard College, an MA from Columbia University, and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.
Image: Edvard Munch, Toward the Forest I (Mot skogen I), 1897, printed 1913–15. Woodcut printed in pink and green. Collection of Nelson Blitz, Jr., and Catherine Woodard
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Each month, Verso University will bring individual curators and/or museum directors, from the CT Art Trail membership to the Library for a deeper dive into that museum’s particular mission and exhibits — past and present. Participants will have an opportunity for deeper learning and gain an insider’s view of the museums, their collections and history, along with an invitation for an on-site visit. The Connecticut Art Trail is a nationally recognized partnership between 23 world-class museums and historic sites, created to promote Connecticut’s rich cultural assets.
Verso University is the Library’s lifelong learning and education initiative, serving up year-round offerings of classes, workshops, and lectures designed to further education and learning. Offerings run the gamut of educational opportunities, ranging from one-time lectures to ongoing courses to classes that meet weekly or perhaps monthly.
Verso University programs are made possible by the generous support of the Nancy J. Beard Lifelong Learning and Education Fund.
