Friends Program: Sebastian Smee, “The Art of Rivalry: Friendships, Betrayals and Breakthroughs in Modern Art”

Mr. Smee, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, will speak about the birth of Impressionism through the lens of war, strife, and a secretive romance. In 1870-71, Paris was rocked by a siege and starvation, culminating in a humiliating surrender to Germany. It was then roiled by an internal revolution - the Commune – and an atrociously violent civil war, as government forces eventually re-took the city. In his talk Mr. Smee will focus on the experiences of the painters Berthe Morisot and Édouard Manet, who lived through this period, and discuss the effect of these traumatic events on their art, and on Impressionism generally.

Sebastian Smee is an art critic for the Washington Post and the author of several books, including his new book "Paris in Ruins: Love, War and the Birth of Impressionism." (Norton). He won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2011 while at the Boston Globe and taught non-fiction writing at Wellesley College from 2010-2022. He wrote “The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art" (2016) as well as several books on Lucian Freud and one on Mark Bradford..

The book will be available for purchase and autographing at the conclusion of this event, courtesy of Wellesley Books.  

This Program is sponsored by the Friends of the Needham Public Library. Registration is required, as we have a current capacity limit of 100. 

***IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION E-MAIL AFTER REGISTERING, PLEASE CALL THE REFERENCE DEPARTMENT (781-455-7559 X2) TO CHECK REGISTRATION STATUS***