SHELBURNE, Vt. (September 11, 2024)— This fall Shelburne Museum will feature a full slate of scholarly lectures, curators’ tours and artist talks covering topics from the railroad in American art to outsized ceramic jugs from the 19th century to contemporary artists from New England. All programs are included in admission and the museum is open daily through October 20.

The special exhibition All Aboard: The Railroad in American Art, 1840-1955 is the focus of a curator’s tour and two upcoming lectures in coming weeks, starting with a gallery talk with Tom Denenberg, John Wilmerding Director of Shelburne Museum, on September 21. Shelburne Museum along with Dixon Gallery and Gardens and Joslyn Art Museum organized the exhibition of more than 40 paintings that examine the transformative role of the railroad captured by artists in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

On October 5, scholar Michael Leja, James and Nan Wagner Farquhar Professor Emeritus of History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, will explore pictures taken on the rail line between Philadelphia and Niagara Falls by the Langenheim brothers that provided a window into the rich and complex interplay at this time between trains and photographs.

On October 18, Alexander Nemerov, Carl and Marilynn Thoma Provostial Professor in the Arts and Humanities at Stanford University explores Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Celestial Railroad,” published in 1843, which offers a skeptical and satirical view of the era’s new means of transport.

 

List of Talks and Lectures:

Tuesday, Sept. 17, 1 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.
Close Looking Series: History, Context, and the Creative Process in American Art
Contextual, artistic and historical background on selected works followed by close looking activities and discussion with Katie Wood Kirchhoff, Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen Curator of American Decorative Arts, and Kat Redniss, Public Programs Educator.  Limited to 20 participants. This tour also takes place on Saturday, Sept. 21, 11 to 11:45 a.m. and Monday, Sept. 30, 1 to 1:45 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Lecture: Juggernauts: Shelburne Museum’s Oversized Ceramic Jugs
Kory Rogers, Francie and John Downing Senior Curator of American Art, shares an insightful look at the museum’s remarkable collection of mammoth-sized ceramic jugs from the late 18th and 19th centuries. The presentation will explore the rich imagery adorning these oversized masterpieces, exploring the artistic, historical cultural narratives they embody.

Saturday, September 21, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Curator Tour: All Aboard: The Railroad in American Art, 1840-1955
Join Tom Denenberg, John Wilmerding Director, for a gallery talk in the special exhibition that explores the captivating world of trains in American visual culture during the transformative period of industrialization. Limited to 25 participants.

Saturday, October 5, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Lecture: 3D Photographs of a Flattened World: Trains, Stereographs, and the Langenheim Brothers
Michael Leja, James and Nan Wagner Farquhar Professor Emeritus of History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses how high-speed, steam-powered trains gave mid-19th-century travelers a new visual experience of the passing scenery. At the same time, innovative photographers were experimenting with new ways of representing the sights along train routes in a series of stereographs. Pictures taken on the rail line between Philadelphia and Niagara Falls by the Langenheim brothers provide a window into the rich and complex interplay at this time between trains and photographs.

Sunday, October 6, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Artist Talk: Of Monsters and Meaning: In Conversation with Artist Jennifer McCandless
Burlington, Vermont artist Jennifer McCandless creates ceramic sculptures using humor and satirical narratives to challenge the viewer’s perspectives on constructions of identity and societal norms. The pieces offer a social critique of how we interpret the ills of the world, how we interact with one another and how we see ourselves. McCandless will share inspiration and creation stories about her pieces in New England Now: Strange States and give insight into the next evolutions of her artistry.

Friday, October 18, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Lecture: The Celestial Railroad: Nathaniel Hawthorne and American Art
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Celestial Railroad,” published in 1843, offers a skeptical and satirical view of the era’s new means of transport. With a demon manning the engine, and a reassuring conductor named Mr. Smooth-It-Away describing the sights, the train sets out from the City of Destruction, across the Valley of Despond, on its way to the Celestial City. In this illustrated lecture given by Alexander Nemerov, one of America’s leading art historians, learn how Hawthorne’s views match—and do not match—the visions of the railroad in the paintings of American artists of his era. Nemerov is Carl and Marilynn Thoma Provostial Professor in the Arts and Humanities at Stanford University. 

 

Please visit shelburnemuseum.org for more information.

 

High-resolution image are available HERE.

Image caption: Charles Louis Heyde, Steam Train in North Williston, Vermont, ca. 1856. Oil on canvas, 20 9/16 x 35 3/16 in. Collection of Shelburne Museum, gift of Edith Hopkins Walker. 1959-49.1. Photography by Andy Duback.

About Shelburne Museum
Founded in 1947 by trailblazing folk art collector Electra Havemeyer Webb (1888–1960), Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont, is the largest art and history museum in northern New England and Vermont’s foremost public resource for visual art and material culture. The Museum’s 45-acre campus is comprised of 39 buildings including the Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education and Webb Gallery featuring important American paintings by Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer, Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses, John Singleton Copley and many more. For more information, please visit shelburnemuseum.org.    

 

For media inquiries, please contact: 
Leslie Wright
Director of Marketing and Communications
Shelburne Museum
lwright@shelburnemuseum.org

Kristen Levesque
Kristen Levesque Public Relations
kristen@kristenlevesquepr.com