Brenda Edgar: Art Historian

Bosch’s inventive landscapes startle and amuse, populated as they are with fantastical and grotesque hybrid figures . His art is truly exceptional; his ability to generate alternate universes through his painting was unmatched until the 20th century. In this enchantingly illustrated talk, we'll take a close look at Bosch’s painted visions of Earth, Heaven and Hell, and consider his influence on artists of future decades, and even future centuries, especially the Surrealists of the 1930s and 40s.

 Let’s get better acquainted with one of the most important African-American artists working today! Kehinde Wiley, perhaps best known for his portrait of Barack Obama, has produced a sumptuous body of work in which he casts Black and Brown men in grand contexts inspired by the canon of European art. Art historian Brenda Edgar will guide you through an investigation of Wiley’s astute juxtapositions of traditional styles with contemporary iconography. 

IMPORTANT: THIS MONTH'S AHI IS ON 2ND THURSDA

 You may think you know her intimately, but think again. O’Keeffe’s fame has eclipsed that of her husband, the photographer Alfred Stieglitz, but he deeply influenced the public’s reception of her work. Let’s explore her long life and her essential place in the history of American art, as art historian Brenda Edgar takes us on a visual tour of her most important works, and sorts out fact from fiction.  

 From Gothic cathedrals in Europe, to the Chrysler Building in New York and beyond, spend an evening learning about the history and symbolism of these fantastic sculpted creatures with art historian Brenda Edgar. True gargoyles were created to spit out rainwater through their mouths; along with their purely decorative relatives, grotesques, they were designed to terrify the very forces of Evil.