The Newport Art Museum will host three more meetings in 2019 of its art-themed book club known as Read/Eat/Chat. All are welcome to bring a lunch and discuss a predetermined book selection at each meeting. Read/Eat/Chat will take place at 12 pm on September, 19, October 17 and November 21, 2019 in the Newport Art Museum’s historic John N. A. Griswold House located at 76 Bellevue Avenue, Newport. Attending Read/Eat/Chat is free for Museum members and $5 for non-members.
On September 19, guests will discuss Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo by Stephanie Storey. From 1501 to 1505, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti both lived and worked in Florence. Leonardo was a charming, handsome fifty year-old at the peak of his career. Michelangelo was a temperamental sculptor in his mid-twenties, desperate to make a name for himself. Oil and Marble is the story of their nearly forgotten rivalry.
The October 17 meeting of Read/Eat/Chat will cover Broad Strokes: 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History (In Order) by Bridget Quinn, which delves into the lives and careers of 15 brilliant female artists in text that’s smart, feisty, educational, and an enjoyable read. With beautiful reproductions of the artists’ works and contemporary portraits of each artist by Lisa Congdon, this is art history from 1600 to the present day for the modern art lover and reader.
On November 21, guests will discuss Rossetti: Painter and Poet by J.B. Bullen. Dante Gabriel Rossetti is the most intriguing and flamboyant figure in nineteenth-century British art. He inspired the first Pre-Raphaelite generation of 1849 and the second generation ten years later and both brought about significant changes in British art. Rossetti’s mission was to transcend the division that separated body and soul and, through the visionary power of art, reconcile what he saw as elements fundamental to human experience.
More information about Read/Eat/Chat, as well as other Museum programs, is available at newportartmuseum.org.