Clark Art Lecture on Race and Celebrity in Historical France

Print Story | Email Story
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — On Saturday, Sept. 21, the Clark Art Institute presents a lecture titled "Race and Celebrity in Historical France: Examining the Chevalier de Saint-George" by Christy Pichichero, Associate Professor of History, French, and African and African American Studies at George Mason University. 
 
This free event takes place at 11 am in the Manton Research Center auditorium.
 
According to a press release: 
 
In her lecture, Pichichero explores race and celebrity in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century France, a topic that connects Guillaume Lethière to his contemporary, Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-George. An expert on eighteenth-century France and the French Empire, Pichichero is also writing an experimental biography on the Chevalier de Saint-George.
 
Guillaume Lethière celebrates the Caribbean-born artist who became a leading figure in revolutionary France, shedding new light on the reception of Caribbean artists in France during his lifetime. The exhibition is on view through October 14 at the Clark and then travels to Paris where it will be presented at the Musée du Louvre from Nov. 13, 2024 through Feb. 17, 2025.
 
Free. Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524.

Tags: Clark Art,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Theater Review: 'Driving Miss Daisy' Is a 'Wondrous' Production

By Alan PetrucelliSpecial to iBerkshires
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Alfred Uhry's "Driving Miss Daisy" rolled into the St. Germain Stage in late May, marking the opening of Barrington Stage Company's 2026 season.
 
And what a wondrous, welcoming production it is. Uhry won a Pulitzer Prize for his work; he won an Oscar for the 1989 film adaptation of the play, which also won the Best Picture Oscar. Yes, that's how good it is.
 
Daisy Werthan is a 72-year-old white Jewish widow in Atlanta whose car accident destroyed her Packard — and her chance to ever drive herself again.
 
"Mama, we are just going to have to hire someone to drive you," her adult son Boolie tells her. 
 
She is adamant: "What I do not want — and absolutely will not have — is some chauffeur sitting in my kitchen, gobbling my food and running up my phone bill."
 
Enter Hoke Colburn, an unemployed African-American illiterate who grew up in rural Georgia during the Jim Crow-era South. Boolie hires him at $20 a week, and in a span of 85 minutes and a decade or so, this odd couple develop a tight bond that overcomes their cultural, gender and class differences. 
 
Though she's living in a racially explosive time in the South, the irascible Miss Daisy doesn't consider herself racist, nor does she fully accept the realities of the racist culture that has even resulted in a bombing at her own synagogue (a true event in Atlanta, in 1958).
 
View Full Story

More Williamstown Stories