December Gallery Talks Focus on Fashion, Famous Taverns, and

Press Room

December Gallery Talks Focus on Fashion, Famous Taverns, and John Sloan's Women at Reynolda House Museum of American Art

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sharyn Turner
336.758.5580
sturner@reynoldahouse.org
or Sarah Mansell
336.758.5524manselss@reynoldahouse.org

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (November 17, 2008) Reynolda House Museum of American Art will host three gallery talks in December based on various themes in the work of artist John Sloan as seen in the current exhibition, "Seeing the City: Sloan's New York." Topics range from women's fashions to famous tavern keepers to Sloan's depiction of women during the early 20th century.

On December 2 Reynolda House Costume Curator Ruth Mullen will discuss women's fashions in a gallery talk titled "As Seen on Broadway." She will use Sloan's images to illustrate what women wore for driving, going to the theater or the park, or even window-shopping. While referencing Sloan's women and their dress in "Seeing the City" Mullen will also draw from the large collection of Katharine Smith Reynolds's gowns and traveling ensembles, worn during the same time period.

In the December 9 gallery talk titled "The He-Pope and the She-Pope of Greenwich Village," Director of Public Programs Phil Archer recounts the colorful lives of two famous New York City tavern keepers, Romany Marie and John McSorley, while also discussing Sloan's images of New York taverns and the men and women who patronized them.

The December 16 gallery talk is titled "Prostitution, Politics, and Public Decency: John Sloan's Women." Reynolda House Assistant Curator Allison Slaby will lead visitors through the exhibition and discuss John Sloan's female subjects who range from factory toilers to society ladies and rooftop gossips.

Gallery talks are held on Tuesday evenings from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. They are informal and usually focus on a specific aspect of an exhibition. Visitors have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in discussion as they stroll through the gallery to consider particular works in the exhibition. Admission is $5, and a cash bar reception follows. For information, please call 336.758.5150 or visit reynoldahouse.org.

"Seeing the City: Sloan's New York" is on view through January 4, 2009 at Reynolda House, the final stop on a four-city tour and its only venue in the South. The exhibition was organized by the Delaware Art Museum.

Reynolda House Museum of American Art is one of the nation's premier American art museums, with masterpieces by Mary Cassatt, Frederic Church, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O'Keeffe and Gilbert Stuart among its permanent collection. Affiliated with Wake Forest University, Reynolda House features traveling and original exhibitions, concerts, lectures, classes, film screenings and other events. The museum is located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the historic 1917 estate of Katharine Smith Reynolds and her husband, Richard Joshua Reynolds, founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Reynolda House and adjacent Reynolda Gardens and Reynolda Village feature a spectacular public garden, dining, shopping and walking trails. For more information, please visit reynoldahouse.org or call 336.758.5150.

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