Public Parks, Private Gardens: Museum Lecture in Bernardsville

Vivian Gordon, art historian and long-time lecturer in the Education Department at The Metropolitan Museum, will present an illustrated talk at Bernardsville Public Library on Thursday, July 19 at 7:30 pm about the beautiful exhibition now on view at The Metropolitan: Public Parks, Private Gardens.

The show explores how revolutionary changes in French art of the 19th century coincided with great innovations in horticulture. New urban green spaces and country gardens inspired avant-garde artists some of whom, like Monet, became avid gardeners themselves. Paintings by Monet and his fellow Impressionists Pissarro and Cassatt, works by Cezanne, van Gogh and others are displayed along with photographs, prints, and garden tools of the time to show many popular masterpieces in context with contemporary parks and gardens. [The exhibition is on view through July 29.]

Drawn from seven curatorial departments at The Met and supplemented by a selection of private collection loans, Public Parks, Private Gardens: Paris to Provence features some 150 works by more than 70 artists, spanning the late eighteenth through early twentieth century. Laura Manske, contributor to Forbes Magazine, wrote of the show, "… it is unquestionably the paintings — many sumptuous, colorfully lavish, dappled with brushed dashes of sunlight — that make this razzle-dazzle show likely to entice some viewers to secretly toy with magical thinking, wishing that they could step inside the frames in order to stroll the park paths, sniff the flowers and sit on the leaf-shaded benches."

There is no charge to attend the Library program, but advance sign-up is requested. Register online at www.bernardsvillelibrary.org and follow the link from Adult Programs, or call the library at 908-766-0118 to sign up.