Sunday Lectures

The following single-lecture presentation will be held at The Women's Institute on Sunday afternoons from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Each lecture is followed by refreshments. The fee for each lecture is $30 unless otherwise noted.

Schedule

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An old, yellowed envelope stuffed in a bookshelf; inside, a stack of what looks to be note cards, held together with a thin, almost disintegrating piece of string. Are the contents nothing but long forgotten ephemera? Or, perhaps, have we discovered something of great value?  

So it was that Dr. Irene Guenther discovered valuable World War I postcards that had been collected and saved by her art historian father Dr. Peter Guenther and discovered after his death. This collection, which is in an art form known as the “trench” postcard, was created by Otto Schubert. Prints of his graphics are very rare, since most of the original print plates and blocks were destroyed either by the Nazis, who labeled Schubert as a “degenerate” artist, or by the Allied fire bombings of Dresden during World War II. Even more rare are original paintings, such as these never before exhibited “snapshots” created by Schubert as a 23-year-old soldier stationed on the Western Front. Alternately detached, evocative, and despairing, his exquisitely rendered depictions capture the mundane realities and the tragic truths that surely branded all who survived the Great War. The overarching theme of Germany’s role in World War I resonates through the decades for those who choose to listen and to learn. 

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Great War, we will focus on the contents of the “old, yellowed envelope” in this lecture—how they were discovered, the art form itself, and what the postcards say to us today.

Sunday, 4:00 p.m.

February 12, 2012

$30

The true kingdom of God rests “within” each of us as opposed to resting in the world “outside” the individual or outer world and for too long we have been taught to believe—and have believed—that religion was an “outer” world system of reward and punishment. Further, religion was a structure of doctrine and dogma to help us quell the instincts and civilize the culture. The word religion derives from the Latin root “re-ligare” which means to tie back, or reconnect, or to make whole. It is in this context that we will examine the kingdom of God. This lecture will address the need to see religion as a resource for healing and wholeness.

$30

Spread across steep hillsides that overlook the Rio Tejo, Lisbon is one of the oldest, and one of the most underrated, cities of the world.  Predating other major European capitals like London, Paris, and Rome, its eventful history stretches from the Phoenicians through Julius Caesar, the Moors and the Crusaders to its position as the opulent center of the vast seagoing empire established by such figures as Vasco de Gama and Henry the Navigator. Virtually destroyed by the great earthquake of All Saint’s Day in November 1755, it has risen today, under the protection of its magnificent castle, to a fascinating mix of the old and new—Portugal’s capital and the economic engine that drives its economy. In this presentation we will look at the city’s fascinating past and its invigorating present; its cathedrals, monasteries, and world-famous museums, all part of the colorful cityscape of this immensely rewarding city.

$30

Over the four hundred years of the Roman Empire, the spirit that enthused the Romans changed from a free-wheeling revel in physical beauty that the Romans inherited from the Greeks to a sort of mystic militarism that presaged the art and architecture of the Byzantines.  This change of psyche is beautifully reflected in the evolution of Roman sculpture and architecture from the second to the fourth century AD.  To illustrate this change we will compare Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli with Diocletian’s Villa at Split and then examine the perfect textbook case of Roman art and architecture, the Arch of Constantine.  We will also consider the impact of this mystic militarism on early Christian sculpture and architecture.

$30