Instructor: Joseph Alchermes, PhD

Classes: Thursdays: 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Sept. 13, 20, 27, Oct. 4, 11 (5 sessions)

Fee: $125 members/ $150 non-members

The first session of this mini-course will investigate the origins of Christian art and architecture about 1,800 years ago and track the first major transformation that begins under Constantine in the early fourth century. Subsequent sessions will focus on the ways in which Christian patrons and image makers reshaped the familiar forms of Graeco-Roman art and architecture, creating objects and environments that elicited intense emotional responses in their audiences. The goal of the course will be to strive to recapture their experiences.

In our class sessions, emphasis will be placed on works in The Metropolitan Museum of Art.*

Weekly class will be held in the auditorium of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, 625 Williams Street, New London. Advanced reservations required for the series. Please contact the Education Department at 860-443-2545 x2110 or email us.

**Save the Date! On Saturday, October 13, 2018 the Lyman Allyn will take a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Art History for All instructor Dr. Joseph Alchermes will take participants on a tour of the Byzantine galleries, where you will be able to see all the artwork you have discussed in class. Cost: $80.00 for Museum member class participants, $90.00 for non-member class participants. Contact Caitlin Healy, Director of Education for more information**

---

Joseph Alchermes’ main research interests range from the Roman and Early Christian world to the art and architecture of the Byzantine Empire with links to western Europe. He teaches a comparably broad array of courses, from the survey of ancient and medieval art to specialized investigations of Roman, eastern and western medieval, and Islamic art and architecture. Alchermes has published articles and book chapters on diverse topics such as art and architecture in the age of the Emperor Justinian, the urban scheme of medieval Constantinople, architectural reuse in Late Roman cities, settlements and land use in medieval Greece, and an essay and numerous entries in “The Glory of Byzantium,” the catalogue of a major exhibition held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Current projects include a book on ancient Naples and archaeological field work at several sites in southwestern mainland Greece.

Instructor: Richard Friswell, Faculty, Wesleyan’s Institute for Lifelong Learning

Classes: Thursdays: 10:00 am– 12:00 pm
Nov. 1, 8, 15, 29, Dec. 6 (5 sessions)

Fee: $125 members/ $150 non-members

Although the First World War was life-shattering on many levels, in other ways it manifested a burst of creativity in literature and the arts, especially in Europe and – more specifically – in Paris. Because of this color and creativity returning to Europe more rapidly than in American cities such as New York and Chicago, many American writers and artists migrated to Paris.

Enter the Lost Generation. The term was introduced by writer and art collector Gertrude Stein to her fellow writer Ernest Hemingway. Stein felt that it was a generation lost in the sense that its inherited values had no place and were no longer relevant in the postwar world. The bohemian lifestyle advertised in Paris became much more appealing than post-war life in culturally-conservative America. The names most often associated with this movement are Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot, John Dos Passos, Ezra Pound, and artists like Picasso, Man Ray, among others. A selection of assigned readings, and informational ‘on background’ material is considered. Viewing Allen’s Midnight in Paris is a fun warm-up for class.

The listings below are not required readings/viewings, but the student may choose to examine the material in order to enrich their understanding of the course offering.

Book Purchases:
Gertrude Stein, Three Lives, Penguin, ISBN 0-14-018184-9
Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, Scribner, ISBN 978-1-4391-8271-0
John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer, Mariner Books, ISBN 978-0-618-38186-9
Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night, Scribner, 0-684-80154-X

Weekly class will be held in the auditorium of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, 625 Williams Street, New London. Advanced reservations required for the series. Please contact the Education Department at 860-443-2545 x2110 or email us.

---

Richard J. Friswell holds a M.Ed. from Boston University and an M.Phil. from Wesleyan University, where he was awarded the Rulewater Prize for interdisciplinary scholarship. He is publisher and managing editor of ARTES magazine, an on-line fine arts magazine providing scholarly reviews and in-depth reporting in the art, architecture and design fields.  He is an elected member of the Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art, one of only 450 in the U.S. and an award-winning writer, with two national medals from FOLIO:Magazine for his editorial contributions in the field of art journalism. For the last two decades has dedicated his career to the fine arts and cultural history, with particular focus on the modern era.