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Adult Program

The Body Perfect: The Greek and Roman Ideals of Beauty
On Beauty and Beyond: The Concept of the Beautiful in the World of Art
SERIES OVERVIEW: This three-part series conducted by Farnsworth Director of Education Roger Dell examines the idea of beauty throughout the ages in Western Europe and America, as well as in Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Using images from museums abroad and in this country, including works from the Farnsworth collection, Dell will trace the idea of what was considered beautiful in early Greek and Roman society to the different theories of beauty in other countries and finally to the current controversies about beauty in today’s art world.

November 4
Cultivating a Taste for the Picturesque Landscape
Andrew Jackson Downing, Frederick Law Olmsted and the Rise of the Public Park Movement in America

How did the American public come to understand and appreciate picturesque aesthetics in both domestic and public landscapes? Andrew Jackson Downing, horticulturalist, landscape designer and tastemaker, exerted his influence on American landscape culture from the middle- class suburbanite who followed Downing’s published plans for villas, cottages and gardens, to the urban dwellers who experienced Downing’s ideas as they were translated by Frederick Law Olmsted in his design for New York City’s Central Park.
 
Artists at Home in the Landscape: Thomas Cole and Frederic Church as Painters, Architects and Garden Designers
In addition to creating landscapes on canvas, both Thomas Cole and Frederic Church actively shaped the architectural and garden features of their respective home-studios in Catskill and Hudson, New York. The Italianate buildings Cole designed for Cedar Grove and the Persian- style house and picturesque paths and vistas Church created at Olana were based on their knowledge of landscape theory and their experience as landscape painters and as artist-tourists abroad.
 
SERIES OVERVIEW: This three-part series conducted by art historian, Julie Levin Caro, explores the various visual and cultural contexts surrounding the Hudson River school of landscape painting.
 
Location: Farnsworth auditorium
American Picturesque: American Landscape Culture in the Mid-Nineteenth Century: Painting, Literature and Tourism

Using well-known Hudson River school paintings by Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, Asher B. Durand and others as a point of departure, this lecture provides an introduction to the broad landscape culture of mid-nineteenth century America. The popularity of literary works by William Cullen Bryant and James Fenimore Copper as well as tourist destinations from the Catskills to Italy are examined for their influence on American painting, vernacular architecture and garden design.

SERIES OVERVIEW: This three-part series conducted by art historian, Julie Levin Caro, explores the various visual and cultural contexts surrounding the Hudson River school of landscape painting.

American Picturesque: Landscape Culture and American Painting, Architecture and Gardens, 1820-1875
SERIES OVERVIEW: This three-part series conducted by art historian, Julie Levin Caro, explores the various visual and cultural contexts surrounding the Hudson River school of landscape painting.
 
Curator's Choice Monthly Gallery Talk: Alvan Fisher and the Scenic, the Spectacular with Jane Bianco
Alvan Fisher (1792-1863) made a successful living as a painter of portraits and the picturesque. Based in Boston, he exhibited and marketed his canvases of various genres, including views of scenic splendor developed after sketches he made during travels throughout New England and abroad. His landscapes graced the walls of the homes of both armchair travelers and those who ventured to feel the spray of Niagara Falls or the breezes and warm light of summers in Maine. Join Curatorial Assistant Jane Bianco for a closer look at Alvan Fisher’s Camden Hills and Harbor and The Falls of Niagara on view in the Rothschild Gallery through December.
Location: meet at the Farnsworth’s main entrance on Museum Street
Seating: limited to 20 people
Curator's Choice Monthly Gallery Talk: Emily Schiffer—Cheyenne River with Michael K. Komanecky
Chief Curator Michael K. Komanecky will lead the group through this exhibition of work by Brooklyn-based photographer Emily Schiffer. The exhibition documents the lives of young people on the Lakota Sioux Cheyenne River Reservation in rural South Dakota, where Schiffer founded the My Viewpoint Youth Photography program in 2005. Schiffer’s intent was to teach photography, partially to share her own enthusiasm for making photographs, but also to provide a means for her students to express themselves and their lives on the reservation.
 
Location: meet at the Farnsworth’s main entrance on Museum Street
Seating: limited to 20 people
Cost: free with admission
Curator's Choice Monthly Gallery Talk: Rug Hooking in Maine and Beyond with Jane Bianco
For about a century hooked rugs have been avidly sought by collectors, artists and connoisseurs as a recognized art form. Originating in the first half of the nineteenth century, the craft of rug hooking spread rapidly throughout the nation from its probable origins in Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. Rug types, makers and movements—all originating in Maine—will be discussed. Curatorial assistant Jane Bianco worked with guest curator Mildred Cole Péladeau in putting together the exhibition.
 
Location: meet at the Farnsworth’s main entrance on Museum Street
Seating: limited to 20 people
Cost: free with admission
Farnsworth Forum: Peter Gelb
The Farnsworth Forum brings Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb to Rockland for an interview with Farnsworth Director of Education Roger Dell on the role of opera in America, crossover music, live high definition broadcasts of Met operas in movie theaters around the world, and many other topics including the future of classical music. There will be a question and answer period following the interview