Popular culture’s influence on art is an ongoing relationship. From Rockwell’s snapshots of American culture in The Saturday Evening Post, to Warhol’s artistic riffs on celebrity and advertisements, there has always been a direct connection between the arteries of art and popular culture. Dr. Leo Mazow has his finger on this pulse.
The University of Arkansas Associate Professor of Art History will be speaking at the Hunter Museum on Thursday, Oct. 17 at 6 p.m. Mazow will be weaving together the threads of popular culture throughout history, using famous works on display in the Hunter collection.
Thomas Hart Benton and George Inness are both artists that redefined their field. Benton waved the banner of American Regionalism, and Inness has been considered the father of American landscape painting. These artists painted during two different times in American history and because of this were influenced by different forces of culture. Mazow will touch on both of these artists’ work (including Benton’s “The Wreck of Ole ’97”) and bring to light the influence the times of the time had on them, as well as on many other artists on display at the Hunter. Mazow will use a variety of music to punctuate his comments as well as insights from his recent award-winning book “Thomas Hart Benton and the American Sound”.
For more information about this event (and other installments of the Art Wise series), visit huntermuseum.org
— Keith King