The American experiment has allowed for many forms of societal rule-breaking, but historically, women artists often found themselves bound by old-world conventions.

Even so, Lilly Martin Spencer broke the chains.

Perhaps no artist better captures the experience of the day-to-day life of American women in the mid-1800s than Spencer. You'll learn how one of the first American professional women artists balanced her chaotic home life with her career aspirations. See how the American Art Union both liberated and bound Spencer to a particular aesthetic, while also making her famous in her day.

Laugh with her distinctively wry and witty ‘kitchen’ paintings that satirize gender roles, what it meant to be a middle-class, urban, white woman, the anxieties of a rapidly changing modern world, and how the growing women’s movement complicated it all.

Our close look at the art of Lilly Martin Spencer will include:

• A look at the young artist who took an unconventional route to career success
• An understanding of the American Art Union, its effect on the American consumer, and its criteria for supporting and promoting Spencer
• An exploration of the day-to-day life, and anxieties, of urban, white women as a new middle-class emerged
• An analysis of Spencer’s wry and witty ‘kitchen’ series of paintings, satirizing gender roles and middle class propriety
• A consideration of how women artists’ careers were made, perpetuated, and lost to history

You’ll come away with a fresh appreciation for this relevant artist, and who knows, maybe a little flour on your hand.

About the Speaker:

Rena Tobey’s greatest passion is making art accessible, invigorating, insightful, and fun. She has taught art history at the NYU School for Professional Studies and Southern Connecticut State University. Rena provides talks for many community organizations and conducts lively, interactive tours of museum collections, now online. Just for fun, she has created Artventures!® Game--a cheeky party game on the adventures of art and art history.

FAQs

When will the Zoom invite come?

The Zoom invite will be in the confirmation email from your order and it will be sent to your email address at 48hrs, 2hrs, and 10mins before the event. PLEASE CHECK YOUR SPAM AND SOCIAL FOLDERS IF YOU DO NOT SEE THE ZOOM INVITE IN YOUR INBOX. If you do not receive a Zoom invitation by 1hr before the event please get in contact with us.

What time zone is the event scheduled in?

The live event is scheduled for 2:00 pm EST (i.e. New York time). You can watch it in any time zone but please adjust to the time zone you are in. If you purchase a live ticket and miss the event, you will receive a link to the recording, which is active for 7 days.

How long do I have access to the recording?

Recordings are available for 14 days after the event.

I'm an Out Professionals Supporting Member. May I attend free?

This event is in partnership with Oscar Wilde Tours. This partner event is not free with membership. However, your donation helps support LGBTQ tour guides during the COVID crisis. They thank you for your support.