Welcome to Albiani Art!

Ars lunga, vita brevis... Life is short, but art is long -- revel in it.
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Symbolism Summer 2010
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Albiani Art is the homepage of Rebecca Albiani, a Seattle art historian and lecturer. 


I give a popular monthly lecture series at the Frye Art Museum, and this coming spring I will add a special three-part series on Vermeer.  I also frequently lecture elsewhere in the Puget Sound area (and occasionally farther afield).  This site provides information on my upcoming classes and presentations.

 

Frye Summer Art History Courses:
Symbolism and its Bedfellows in Fin-de-Siecle European Art
 
This course introduces some lesser-known trends in late-nineteenth- to early-twentieth-century European art that deal with the darker side of the human psyche rather than with light and air. While Freud pioneered his psychiatric research, Symbolist and Decadent artists disregarded surface realism in favor of mysticism and dream imagery, mining the imagination in search of a visual language of the soul. Illustrated lectures also explore how Aestheticism rejected moral and social themes in art, elevating purely aesthetic values (“art for art’s sake”) and Secessionist movements broke away from traditional art academies. Finally, this course examines how Symbolism and related currents flourished in Art Nouveau design.
 
July 20-23, 10:15 am-12:45 pm
 
$75 Frye members, $80 non-members
(10 clock hours or 1 credit for educators available for an additional fee payable to Seattle Pacific University.)
 
Frye Art History Lecture Series
 
The 2010-2011 Frye Art History Lectures will be announced in mid-July.  Season passes only will be available for advance sale; individual tickets will be available at the door if space is available (thus far, we have never turned anyone away).  Brochures will be sent to Frye members and participants in last year's series.  Please reserve your season pass as soon as possible in order to ensure yourself a seat.
 
Lectures are held in the auditorium of the Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry, Seattle, WA 98104.  Coffee and dessert are provided after each evening lecture.  
 
Upcoming lectures:  

Bodegon:  The Spanish Still-Life

Thursday, September 9, 7 pm
Friday, September 10, 11 am

A quince suspended by a thread.  Cherries on a gray stone step.  Around 1600, Juan Sánchez Cotán established the austere and haunting language of the Golden Age Spanish still-life, which would be revitalized over a century later by Luis Meléndez.

 

And many more marvelous lectures TBA!

SPECIAL Frye Lecture Miniseries:
LOOKING AT VERMEER
 
In seventeenth-century Holland, Vermeer’s paintings won him little fame and less fortune. Today his works captivate us with their enigmatic mood and peerless craftsmanship.  This three-part lecture series will deepen our understanding of his technique, subject matter, and cultural milieu while enhancing our appreciation of his unique place in the history of art. 
 
Passes for Looking at Vermeer are

$25 members, seniors, teachers, students, artists; $45 nonmembers. Individual tickets are $10 members, seniors, students, teachers, artists; $15 nonmembers. All individual ticket sales are cash only.

 
Lectures are held in the auditorium of the Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry, Seattle, WA 98104.
 
A View of Delft:
Vermeer and His City
 
Thursday, September 16, 2010, 7 pm

 

Vermeer spent his entire career in Delft and left a remarkable cityscape of his hometown. This lecture will locate Vermeer’s art in the unique context of the painters, patrons, and preferences of seventeenth-century Delft.

 

The Art of Painting: Vermeer’s Technique

Thursday, September 23, 2010, 7 pm

One of the finest technicians ever to wield a paintbrush, Vermeer was an extraordinarily painstaking artist. A close examination of his materials and techniques will lend us fresh insight into his achievements.

A Lady Writing: Vermeer’s Accomplished Women
Thursday, September 30, 2010, 7 pm

The majority of Vermeer’s paintings depict women, often reading, writing, or playing music. What does Vermeer’s focus on the domestic milieu of prosperous women tell us about his society and his goals as an artist?

OTHER VENUES:
 

Creative Retirement Institute

at Edmonds Community College:
 
Fall Quarter: 
The Lure of the East in Art
Wednesday, Sept. 22-Oct. 15, 11:30 am-1:30 pm
Edmonds Conference Center, 201 4th Ave N, Edmonds, WA 98020
  
 
Communiversity at Providence Point
 
Picasso!  September 20 & 27; check back for more details.
 
Horizon House
 

I will be back in the fall; check here or with Art Committee head Stu Williamson for details
   

Crocker Art Museum
Sacramento, California
 
 Last January I completed a series of three lectures contracted by the Crocker Art Museum.  If you are interested in seeing me again at the Crocker, please contact
Caren Gutierrez -
Education Programs Manager -
 at 916-808-1987 
  
Private Groups
 
If you are interested in having me speak to your group, please call 206-524-0870 or use the Contact Me page.