Past: Art Nouveau Focus of Crisp Museum’s ‘Historic Tuesday Talk’

“Decadence and Design: Digging Below the Surface of Art Nouveau” will be the focus of the April 16 installment in the “Historic Tuesday Talk” series in the Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum at Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus.

Dr. Joni Hand, associate professor of art history at Southeast, will give the presentation at 7 p.m., which is free and open to the public.

Art Nouveau was a psychological experiment that took place at the turn of the century. Influenced by the melancholy permeating Europe at the fin-de-siècle, the polarity of the femme fate, and the writings of decadent authors like Oscar Wilde, artists working in the “New Style” expressed their concerns about the new century in a highly decorative manner. This lecture will go beyond the surface of Art Nouveau to reveal its true nature.

Hand earned a Bachelor of Arts in graphic design from Kent State University, a Master of Arts in painting from Bradley University, a Master of Arts in art history from Hunter College of the City University of New York and a doctorate in art history from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her research concerns late medieval manuscripts in northern Europe and female patronage. Her work has appeared in several publications, including “Women, Manuscripts, and Identity in Northern Europe, 1350-1550” (Ashgate, 2013) and “Bound for the Midwest: Medieval and Early Modern Religious Manuscripts in the Charles Luce Harrison Collection,” Kent Library, Southeast Missouri State University (Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2017).

Hand is also a practicing artist, working in mixed media, oils and graphite. Her current work explores physical and metaphysical journeys. She leads the viewer on these pilgrimages through the objects, images or drawings she incorporates into each piece. The destination of each trip is different for each viewer and for each time the work is viewed. She lives in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, with her husband Kevin.

The “Historic Tuesday Talk” series takes place at 7 p.m. on select Tuesdays in the Crisp Museum. The talks consist of short, informational presentations and discussion sessions. For more information, semo.edu/museum/education.html.