We are pleased to announce the launch of the Amy Stahl Memorial Lecture Series this fall. Established in honor of Amy Stahl, longtime dedicated supporter of The Farms and wife of former Trustee Dr. Don Stahl, the annual series is devoted to lectures of scholarly significance.
Joseph Cunningham, Ph.D will be the first speaker in this series. He will speak on the topic, “Was Gustav Stickley a Modernist?: New Perspectives on Early Masterworks.” Stickley is widely heralded to be among the most important proponents of the Arts and Crafts Movement in America, but, as Dr. Cunningham will discuss in his lecture, it is now possible to take a wider perspective on his exceptional contribution to the development of Modernism. More than a mere advocate of British design reform theory or exponent of good design and honest craftsmanship, Dr. Cunningham proposes, Stickley, his Craftsman Magazine and the United Crafts’ enterprise can be considered as important modernizing forces in American design, beginning around 1900.
The Curator of the American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation, Dr. Cunningham is currently at work on the exhibition The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs, which will open at the Milwaukee Art Museum in June 2009 and travel to the Carnegie Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Art, Huntington Art Galleries and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A book signing of Dr. Cunningham’s book The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs will follow the lecture. The American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation is collaborating with the Dallas Museum of Art on their forthcoming Gustav Stickley exhibition and book, to which Dr. Cunningham will contribute an essay on Irene Sargent and the Ideological foundations of the United Crafts and Craftsman enterprises.
Set for Saturday, November 8 at 4:00 p.m., a book signing will follow the lecture. Light refreshments will be served. Tickets are $5 Members and $10 for Non Members. Purchasing tickets in advance is strongly encouraged.
Saturday, November 8 at 4 p.m.
$5 for Members and $10 For Non Members
For tickets, call 973-540-0311.
Dr. Cunningham has immersed himself in the study of Gustav Stickley and other major players in that Arts & Crafts movement. He will certainly present some interesting perspectives at the November 8 talk at the Farms.
He is also curator of the upcoming exhibition, The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs (organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Chipstone Foundation and the American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation under the curatorial direction of Dr. Joseph Cunningham and Sarah Fayen), as well as the accompanying book of the same name, should provide a wonderful retrospective of Rohlfs’ creativity. Shoow dates and locations are:
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
June 6 – August 23, 2009
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
September 20, 2009 – January 3, 2010
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
January 30 – April 25, 2010
The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA
May 22 – Sept. 6, 2010
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
October 19, 2010 – January 23, 2011