Corey Piper, Brock Curator of American Art at the Chrysler Museum of Art

In this lecture, Corey Piper explores the remarkable career of American painter Susan Watkins, situating her within the dynamic transatlantic art world of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Watkins’s journey—from early training in New York to advanced study in Paris—illustrates both the expanding opportunities and persistent barriers faced by women pursuing professional artistic careers. Drawing from the exhibition and catalogue, Piper examines Watkins not as an isolated “rediscovered” figure, but as part of a broader network of women artists navigating an evolving cultural and institutional landscape. Through analysis of her studio portraits, paintings, and sketchbooks, the lecture considers how Watkins combined academic rigor with aesthetic experimentation to forge a personal artistic vision. At the heart of this talk is a close reading of Watkins’s life as work: a deliberate, determined, and creative process of professionalization in an era of social and artistic transformation.

FREE