Alyona Glushchenkova, Information Assistant, New York Public Library, March 2019
“Rena Tobey gave a marvelous presentation ‘Finding Her Way’ for the Middlesex Institute for Lifelong Education (MILE). I loved the way that she interacted with the audience, and was able to elicit so many great comments, observations, and questions from them … as well as giving us a wealth of information. Our group learned so much from Rena, and we had such fun learning that we could have stayed well beyond the program’s time frame — in fact, several of us did just that!” Nancy Jordan, MILE Advisory Board Member, March 2016
“We were delighted with Rena’s presentation of ‘Clothes Make the Country: Fashion History and American Colonial Portraits.’ Rena’s enthusiasm for the subject was infectious, and the entire audience was enthralled. We look forward to having Rena return to the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum to share even more details on how to read early American portraiture.” Charles Lyle, Executive Director, Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, October 2016
“Rena Tobey did an outstanding presentation for our patrons at the Lucy Robbins Welles Library…We look forward to having her again!” Head of Community Services, Newington, CT, May 2015
Rena conducts exuberant talks on American Art topics, including:
Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones, The Shoe Shop, c1911
2020 has provided us clear vision about the everyday we used to take for granted. Nevermind eating out, shopping, and simply getting together with family and friends, celebrating life events and joining crowds for urban playtime are all a challenge now. Join us for a close look with Rena Tobey at artworks created by American artists from the mid-1800s to the Great Depression. These works exuberantly depict all those small and larger moments of urban life, and you may find they provide just the refresher you’ve been waiting for!
Modern Life in the Modern City: Art in New York 1900-1945
John Sloan, Hairdresser’s Window, 1907
Clothes Make the Country: Fashion History and American Colonial Portraits
John Singleton Copley, Nicholas Boylston, c1769
American colonial portraits provide viewers important clues into the values, aspirations, and daily lives of men, women, and children in the 18th century. By closely examining several works, especially the clothing and accessories portrayed, participants will discover how paintings reflect the shaping of our unique American identity. This interactive session provides fresh ways to consider the formation of a nation.
Finding Her Way: American Women Artists 1845-1945
Alternate Title: Dancing the Boundary: American Women Artists Negotiate Two Worlds
Theresa Bernstein, In the Elevated, 1916
American women artists working before 1945 had to navigate societal expectations of women’s domestic roles with their drive to be professionals. These artists often faced difficult choices–-sacrificing in their personal lives or in their careers. Despite evident talent and success, most fell into obscurity with their death. In this interactive session, come discover and closely examine works by women artists who collectively paint a picture of a changing America.
Edward Hopper. Office at Night. 1940.
Come take a deep look at New York City through the eyes of some of America’s greatest artists who were endlessly inspired by the city. Their depictions of people and places collectively tell the visual story of New York’s rise to a global powerhouse, while also sharing intimate details of daily life. In this highly interactive, image-rich class, we’ll dive into works of art, so that you’ll see your city in fresh ways. Artists include:Urban Realists who described the explosion of the new urban scene; Harlem Renaissance artists who gave voice to the African-American experience; Social Realists who unveiled the challenges of the Depression; and Mid-Century Modernists who altered how we see daily life.
4 sessions; each session can stand alone
Urban Realism
The Harlem Renaissance
Social Realism
Mid-century Modernism
Multi-session courses:
Finding Her Way: American Women Artists Rise to Professionalism, 1845-1945
Lilly Martin Spencer.
Young Husband, First Marketing. 1854
The American experiment has allowed for many forms of societal rule-breaking, but historically, women artists often found themselves bound by old-world conventions. In this course, we take a deep look at the artworks of extraordinary American women artists, some familiar and most less so. You’ll get a better understanding of the strategies these artists employed to become professionals, a reflection of the challenges urban women faced overall. Most of these artists have fallen into obscurity with their death, no matter the successes they achieved while living. Together we will resuscitate and celebrate the art careers of historical women working over 100 years. Join us for this highly interactive course!
Sessions – choose all, some, or one–they can stand alone
Lilly Martin Spencer
The Gilded Age Breakthrough
The Red Rose Girls
The Boston School
Theresa Bernstein and the Urban Realists
The Salons of Gertrude Whitney and Florine Stettheimer
Isabel Bishop and the Social Realists
Shaking Hands with Lilly Martin Spencer
Lilly Martin Spencer Shake Hands? 1854
Perhaps no artist better captures the experience of day-to-day life of American women in the mid-1800s than Lilly Martin Spencer. Come learn how one of the first American professional women artists balanced her chaotic home life with her career aspirations. Laugh with her distinctively wry and witty ‘kitchen’ paintings that satirize gender roles, what it meant to be a middle-class woman, and how the growing women’s movement complicated both. You’ll come away with a fresh appreciation for this relevant artist, and who knows, maybe a little flour on your hand.
The Boston School: Using Beauty to Advance the Story
Ellen Day Hale. June. 1893.
By the turn of the 20th century, more women artists were working in urban centers. Women painting as part of The Boston School provided each other support, critique, and exhibition opportunities. The Boston School advocated for beauty as a key approach to any artwork and took inspiration from Johannes Vermeer and the Dutch masters of the 1600s. Marie Danforth Page was the most successful artist, male or female, to work in Boston’s affluent Back Bay, providing elegant portraits of the elite. Her most intriguing work is a family portrait, with its complex investigation of gender roles, marriage, and the Gilded Age. A generation younger, Elizabeth Okie Paxton typified the New Woman with her companionate marriage and breakthrough art exhibited in New York, a milestone for any Boston artist. Together, these two artists’ portfolios suggest the tensions in a rapidly changing society.
The New Woman Painter: Elizabeth Okie Paxton and The Breakfast Tray.
Elizabeth Okie Paxton, The Breakfast Tray, c1910.
With The Breakfast Tray, Elizabeth Paxton invites us into a world—feminine, messy, sensual, and believable. It is full of personality. We dig into it trying to learn more about a woman who apparently was not shy, but left little record of who she was and what she cared about. The implied presence in The Breakfast Tray is a New Woman. She is educated and the beneficiary of improved health care. She advocates for women’s right to vote, to work outside the home, to go to the theater unaccompanied, and to buy objects she uses to create an intimate space all her own, just as we see in The Breakfast Tray. Come learn more about the opportunities and particular challenges of New Women painters and the unique voice of Elizabeth Okie Paxton.
Theresa Bernstein and the Urban Realists: Exuberantly describing life in the city
Theresa Bernstein. The Milliners. 1919.
Technological innovations affected every aspect of life in America’s exploding cities in the early 20th century. The Urban Realists worked to capture and describe the rapid changes to the landscape of New York City. Theresa Bernstein, in her unprecedented long career, showed the woman’s experience. Intimate, often deeply personal, her paintings also expressed the energy of the age with hot colors and animated brushwork. Her story and women’s stories intertwine through the decades, while also revealing the struggles she and her artist husband faced during the upheavals of the 20th century. Her works reveal the resilience and determination of the American spirit.
Isabel Bishop and the Social Realists: Empathy and Change during the Great Depression
Isabel Bishop. Noon Hour. 1935.
American art tends toward Realism, an art movement focused on the everyday lives of ordinary people expressed naturalistically. During the Great Depression, artists of the Fourteenth Street School used their works to touch the hearts of viewers and evoke action to make change. Isabel Bishop, working in the classically-inspired method these artists favored, provided a window into women’s experiences. Working from her Union Square studio, Bishop studied people in all their circumstances, as they lived the Depression in that one place. Articulate in her vision of the American Dream, she painted the particular, but also a sweeping sociological expression of her vision for a positive future.
Land-People-City
Thomas Cole. View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, MA, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow. 1836.
When you think of America, these are the qualities you may think of first. Come explore how American identity has been shaped by images of the land, people, and city with art historian Rena Tobey. In this interactive series of talks, we’ll dig beyond the surface layers that create a streamlined, but simplistic notion of the American character. We’ll take a slow look at paintings that tell complex, often coded stories, reflecting both the challenges and greatness of our country.
- Shaping the American Identity
- Many Voices of American Art
- Land-People-City
- The Modern City: New York City Art 1900-1945
- Giving Voice to American Women Artists
- Women Artists from the Renaissance to the U.S.
- American Artist Families
- Books and Storytelling in American Art
- Secular Baroque
“Your presentations are superb, and if I can remember even half of all the new names and works of art we saw, I will consider myself well ahead of the game. What a glorious world of women’s art.” Dorothy D, February 2019
Contact Rena to learn more!
To hire Rena or to learn more, contact her today.
“Rena was outstanding: She was extremely knowledgeable, personable, humorous, and willing to answer many questions. She really helped us understand and appreciate the story behind each painting and put each one into perspective.” American Association of University Women, August 2012
“Your presentation yesterday was outstanding. I only wish it had been video-taped for those who were unfortunate enough to have missed it…Your reputation as a must-see has been cemented.” Docent, Delaware Art Museum, October 2010
On Isabel Bishop, “Dante and Virgil in Union Square,” 1932 “Rena’s talk was terrific! Loved it and learned so much–a whole new insight.” Delaware Art Museum, October 2010
On Dorothy and Herb Vogel, “Fifty Works for Fifty States” “What a terrific talk! You looked like you were having such a good time, which is why all the rest of us were having such a good time! Many thanks for sprinkling us with your enthusiasm.” Delaware Art Museum, June 2010