Discussing Art and Politics with PSU Laureate John Champagne

Thursday, Sept. 6

David's The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries. Holbein's Anna of Cleves. Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware.

For centuries artists have danced with and around the political climate of their time. After all, for a long while many people, particularly in the lower classes, could not read for themselves, and so art has been a universal method of conveying — or inciting — a feeling, an emotion.

Penn State University's Laureate for 2018, John Champagne, Ph.D., knows this well. The Behrend-based lecturer's discussion, Art and Politic: the Case of Corrado Cagli, examines how the Jewish, Italian-born painter spent the early part of his career taking up his brush in support of the Italian fascist regime, which rose to power in the 1930s. A profoundly gifted artist, Cagli worked for what we now recognize as the "wrong side of history;" so how should we approach his pieces?

The presentation is open to the public, with light refreshments served alongside some thought-provoking commentary which addresses a conundrum as contemporary as it is polarizing. — Cara Suppa

4 p.m. to 5 p.m. // Trippe Hall lobby, Aquarius Drive // Free and open to the public // behrend.psu.edu