American Art Historian & Curator Theodore E. Stebbens, Jr. presents " Rethinking American Art"

The Johann Fust Library Foundation and the Boca Grande Art Center are pleased to present renowned art curator Ted Stebbins. His newest book is Rethinking American Art: Collectors, Critics, and the Changing Canon.

Stebbins will speak about the highlights of his amazing sixty-year career as a curator at Yale, Harvard and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He will describe the discovery of American art in the 1970s, the decline of interest in the traditional canon that began around the year 2000, and the redefinition of “American Art” underway today. 

He will also discuss how museums themselves rise and fall. Of special interest will be his description of several major collectors including Maxim Karolik, who built the Boston collection, Ray and Margaret Horowitz, who helped define American Impressionism, and Alice Walton, who has recently built a spectacular new museum, “Crystal Bridges,” in Bentonville, Arkansas. 

Stebbins book, Rethinking American Art, is a sweeping history of changing critical standards and values in American art across 200 years. Art lovers, perplexed why their favorite artists are no longer on the walls of their local museums, will find an incisive view of why change is constant and a cautionary lesson about the unpredictable future.

Advance event registration will open to our donors via an email invitation in late December, six weeks before the event.

Shortly thereafter, registration will be open to all. 

Open to the public at no charge – Registration is required.