American painter Lennart Anderson spoke to the Hopkins community on Wednesday evening, and there was certainly no shortage of anecdotes and off-the-cuff commentary that one wishes were included on the museum label or in the textbook.
In no recognizable order, Anderson went through his paintings, slide by slide, telling the audience whatever sprung to mind first.
For example, some street scene paintings prompted stories of his departure from his hometown, Detroit, to New York City, while a few nudes recalled memories of his awful landlord in Pittsburgh.
In addition to the rare insight and colorful commentary, Anderson’s lecture revealed the variety of subjects and forms he has explored throughout his enduring career — a sense of which would be hard to find in a museum or gallery.
As he spoke of how he tried to paint an emotional subject unemotionally, or how he was referencing the face of Caravaggio’s Medusa, Anderson’s lecture resonated as uncontrived and honest.
Both a past student and professor of fine art, Anderson studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and Cranbrook Academy and taught at institutions ranging from Yale and Columbia to the Pratt Institute and Brooklyn College (among others). His lecture included works of his days as a student and a teacher. One can find the artist’s works in the permanent collections of museums across the country. Initially, Anderson’s lighthearted and unpretentious narration of his street scenes, portraits, still lifes and even some landscapes, did not correlate strongly to an artist whose resumé includes many distinguished awards.
However, Anderson’s ability to elevate the everyday subject such that a bowl and pot seem monumental to the viewer was the lasting impression in the audience’s minds.
