The Preservation Society of Newport County continues its online Fall Lecture Series with talks on Gilded Age jewelry and 19th-century railroad battles, along with a virtual visit to a Swedish art museum.
Registration is required for each lecture by following the Zoom Webinar link at NewportMansions.org/ learn/adult-programs. Registrants must provide their name and email address; they will receive an email with a Zoom link and passcode for the lecture.
• Thursday, October 8, at 5:30 p.m.: “Elegance and Aspiration: Money, Taste and Jewelry in America’s Gilded Age” with Ulysses Dietz, Chief Curator Emeritus of the Newark Museum of Art.
Dietz will describe how jewelry became an identity badge of social standing and aspiration in 19th-century America. When industrial production made jewelry more affordable for the middle class, the wealthy reacted by embracing jewelry that evoked aristocratic traditions and thus distinguished them from everybody else.
As curator of Decorative Arts since 1980 and Chief Curator since 2012, Dietz was instrumental in expanding and showcasing the Newark Museum of Art’s jewelry collection. He has been the curator of more than 100 exhibitions covering all aspects of the decorative arts from colonial to contemporary.
• Thursday, October 15, at 5:30 p.m.: “Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America” with Michael Hiltzik, journalist for The Los Angeles Times.
Hiltzik, a Pulitzer Prize winner, has written the epic story of the fight for railroad supremacy among the great 19th-century industrialists including Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, J.P. Morgan and E.H. Harriman. Their vicious competition sparked stock market frenzies and crashes, provoked strikes and transformed the nation’s geography.
In three decades with The Los Angeles Times, Hiltzik has served as a financial and political writer, investigative reporter, technology writer and editor, and foreign correspondent in Africa and Russia. He is the author of several other historical books.
• Tuesday, October 20, at 9:30 a.m.: “Zorn Museum Tour” with Dr. Johan Cederlund, executive director of the Zorn Museum in Mora, Sweden.
Anders Zorn (1860-1920) was among Europe’s most celebrated artists, painting portraits of kings, presidents, financiers and cultural figures and creating highly valued etchings. The Zorn Museum, located next to his house, is dedicated to his artworks and attracts visitors from all over the world.
Dr. Johan Cederlund, who received his Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Lund, has been director of the Zorn Museum since 2006. He is also an adjunct professor in Art History at Uppsala University and has written books including “Anders Zorn: Sweden’s Master Painter” (San Francisco, 2013).