Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic Sebastian Smee and the birth of Impressionism
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Micaela Porta
Exhibitions & Community Engagement Coordinator
New Canaan Library
(203) 594-5011
newcanaanlibrary.org
Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic Sebastian Smee headlines New Canaan Library Stoddard Art Lecture, guiding us From Chaos to Canvas: How Love, Revolution, and Genius Shaped the Birth of Impressionism
New Canaan, Conn., [April 4, 2025] –Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic Sebastian Smee will vividly explore the tumultuous period of the Franco-Prussian War and Paris Commune and their impact on the rise of Impressionism on Sunday, May 4th at 3:00 PM at New Canaan Library at the Stoddard Art Lecture. In Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism, Smee brings a novelist's feel for character and incident to the narrative, weaving together historical events with the lives and works of key Impressionist figures like Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas.
With superb storytelling and a fresh perspective on art history, Smee captures the shifting passions and politics of the art world, revealing how artistic genius can emerge from darkness and catastrophe. The author talk will take place on Sunday, May 4, 2025, from 3:00pm – 4:00pm in the Jim & Dede Bartlett Auditorium at New Canaan Library. Event registration is available on the Library’s website at: https://www.newcanaanlibrary.org/event/hold-stoddard-lecture-sebastian-smee-120415
Sebastian Smee is a Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic at the Washington Post and the author of The Art of Rivalry. Formerly the chief art critic at the Boston Globe and national art critic for the Australian, he has also written for the Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Financial Times, and the Independent, among other publications. He lives in Boston.
The Stoddard Art Lecture Series honors Patricia and Hud Stoddard, both art aficionados, who were longtime friends, users, and advocates of New Canaan Library. The Lecture Series is intended to enrich and broaden the community’s understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts in its various forms by providing educational, historical, and critical commentary on artists and their work and lives. This lecture complements the Library’s current exhibition at the Lightburn Gallery, "Impressionism Then and Now: Dmitri Wright and the American Lineage,” presented with community partner Weir Farm National Historical Park.
Elm Street Books will be on site for book sales and signing.
Photo credit: Amber Davis Tourlentes
For more information, please contact Miki Porta at mporta@newcanaanlibrary.org
-END-
New Canaan Library has been the community's intellectual and cultural center for more than a century. Today, the Library continues to be the community’s core resource for learning and innovation, with an emphasis on transformational knowledge, lifelong learning, and connections.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE