Cecilia Beaux in France February 22, 2009

Suzanne Conway, M.A., associate professor of art history at Chestnut Hill College will speak at the Woodmere Art Museum on Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 2 p.m. The topic of Conway’s lecture will be “Cecilia Beaux in France.” The Woodmere Art Museum is located at 9201 Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia.

Cecilia Beaux (1855-1942) was a Philadelphia-born American society portraitist, known for her craftsmanship and extraordinary output of work. Born to a French father who returned to France when she was still very young, Cecilia Beaux had more reasons than most late 19th century American artists to study painting in France. She said that the pull for her to go to Paris was "like a needle to the pole.”

Conway’s lecture will discuss Beaux's period of study in Paris, particularly in the context of the type of the painting ateliers that were open to women students and the kinds of women painters who were attracted to them. The lecture will also consider the "unstructured" summer months Beaux spent in Brittany as part of the American art enclave at Concarneau that were important for her development as a painter.

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Suzanne Conway, M.A. at 215.248.7183 or e-mail [email protected] .

Official Website: http://www.chc.edu