Lectures
For more information on lectures or for a reservation, please call 800.448.3883.
Lecture: “Ordering the Cosmos: Charles Willson Peale and the Philadelphia Museum”
Tuesday, September 27
6:00 pm, Copeland
In 1790, Charles Willson Peale announced to the citizens of the United States that he was prepared to open a museum of "objects of natural history and things useful and curious," which he hoped might one day be recognized as a cultural and scientific repository for the nation. It was to represent the culmination of a long and distinguished career in art and science that made Peale one of the most remarkably versatile figures of his age. Peale's Philadelphia Museum, which flourished well into the 19th century, raised questions and set standards for other American museums that are still applicable today. Using images of Peale's remarkable collections of paintings and artifacts, Robert McCracken Peck, senior fellow of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, will discuss Peale's seminal contributions to American art and science and place his museum in its broader cultural, artistic, and scientific context. Members $5. Nonmembers $15.
Lecture: “The Flowering Tree: An Exotic Motif that Transcends Time and Place”
Thursday, September 29
Rotunda, 12:15 pm
Linda Eaton, John L. and Marjorie P. McGraw Director of Collections, Winterthur, explores the exotic flowering tree, one of the most popular designs that traveled from Asia to Europe and the Americas, influenced designers around the world from the 17th to the 19th century, and is still fashionable today. Members free. Included with admission.
Concept of Collecting Lecture: “Superfluity and Excess: Classical Splendor in Philadelphia”
Sunday, October 2
1:00 pm, Copeland
The Walns’ furniture has long been admired for its sleek look, extravagantly painted surfaces, and shockingly innovative upholstery. Alexandra Kirtley, curator of American Decorative Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, takes a look into the fascinating parlor furniture that once scandalized many Philadelphians. Reservations encouraged. Members free. $15 per nonmember. Buy tickets online or call 800.448.3883.
Made in the Americas Lunchtime Lecture: “British Cotton Textile Trade Routes to Brazil”
Thursday, October 27
12:15 pm, Rotunda
Sarah B. Parks, project manager, Boston Furniture Archive, Winterthur, explores the 19th-century trade of British printed cotton textiles to Brazil. Members free. Included with admission.
Behind-the-Scenes Ceramics and Glass Study Room Talk
Thursday, October 27
3:30–4:30 pm
Join Leslie B. Grigsby, senior curator of Ceramics and Glass, in Winterthur’s private ceramics and glass study and storage area, where you’ll learn about, and experience up close, ceramics objects of Chinese origin and influence from the collection not regularly on view to the public.
Members-Only Lecture & Reception: “The Taste for Chinese at Winterthur”
Thursday, October 27
Copeland, 5:30–6:30 pm
Senior Curator of Ceramics and Glass Leslie B. Grigsby will focus on the museum’s broad range of Chinese material—from porcelain and paintings to furniture and house rooms. Lecture followed by a 6:30 pm reception in the Visitor Center Garden Café featuring light refreshments and a cash bar. Members only. Members free. (Members may bring 2 guests using guest passes). Reservations encouraged. Buy tickets online or call 800.448.3883.
Lecture: “The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession”
Friday, November 4
6:00 pm, Copeland
Author and historian Andrea Wulf shares this beautifully illustrated story of a garden revolution that began in America with the farmer John Bartram who transformed the English landscape, introducing hundreds of American trees and shrubs. $5 per Member. $15 per nonmember.
Members Appreciation Lecture: "Five Teas that Launched a Revolution"
Sunday, November 6
2:00 pm, Copeland
Ever the storyteller, tea historian Bruce Richardson will guide us through the colorful events that led up to the 1773 Boston tea rebellion and how the five Chinese teas that were tossed into Boston Harbor originated from the same East India Company warehouses that supplied the tea caddies of George III and Jane Austen. The world knows how Britain’s love for tea had given rise to the crafting of countless “tea things,” a term often used by Austen, but the residents of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston had a similar passion for fine furniture, silver, and porcelain dedicated to their own tea ritual. Theirs was a ritual that led to a party that led to a revolution that led to the birth of a nation. All this commotion over a simple cup of tea! Members free. $15 per nonmember. Reservations encouraged. Buy tickets online or call 800.448.3883.
Lasting Impressions Lunchtime Lecture: “No Mere Imitation: The Art of Philadelphia Lithography in Victorian Daily Life”
Thursday, November 10
12:15 pm, Rotunda
Visual culture in the U.S. forever changed when Bass Otis printed the first successful American lithograph in Philadelphia in 1819. Erika Piola, associate curator, Library Company of Philadelphia, will discuss the role the city played in fostering the pervasiveness of lithographs as popular, fine, and commercial art, in Victorian Philadelphia.Members free. Included with admission.
Concept of Collecting Lecture: “Elizabeth Taylor: Collector of Beautiful Jewels”
Sunday, November 20
1:00 pm, Copeland
Ruth Peltason, author, editor, and jewelry authority, explores Elizabeth Taylor’s love affair with jewelry. From her ownership of the 33-carat Krupp diamond to her dazzling Bulgari emerald and diamond suite, both from her favorite husband, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor has long been America’s most captivating figure to follow in the pursuit of her lifelong love affair with jewelry. $5 per Member. $15 per nonmember. Reservations encouraged. Order tickets online by calling 800.448.3883.
“Rock, Paper, Pigments: The Materials and Techniques of Currier & Ives”
Wednesday, November 30
12:15, Rotunda
Join us for a talk focusing on the early manual techniques exemplified by Currier & Ives. Joan Irving, paper conservator at Winterthur, will look closely at prints in Winterthur’s new exhibition, Lasting Impressions: The Artists of Currier & Ives, to reveal subtle lithographic techniques, the watercolor palette, and the little-discussed topic of lithographic papers. A close look suggests that these were well-crafted prints manufactured with high quality materials, begging the question, “Are these really, as the firm’s advertisements suggest, ‘the cheapest ornaments in the world’?” Members free. Included with admission.
