Join us for a talk to celebrate the publication of The Victorian Painting of Modern Life by Bowdoin College Professor of Art History Pamela Fletcher ’89, P ’25. The book tells the story of the emergence and flourishing of British modern-life paintings in the mid-nineteenth century. These paintings asked sharply contemporary questions about the effects of new technologies, financial and political systems, and rhythms of urban life on people’s private lives and intimate relationships, asking their viewers to reflect on and talk about the emotional contours of modern experience. The book features the Bowdoin College Museum of Art’s own Victorian painting of modern life, William Gale’s The Captured Runaway (1856). In her talk, Professor Fletcher will discuss the book, with a focus on the connections between her research and the collection of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

The talk will be followed by a reception in the Museum. Free and open to the public; no registration required. Presented by the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and the Department of Art History.

Pictured: Cover detail of The Victorian Painting of Modern Life by Pamela Fletcher. Published December 30, 2024 by Routledge.