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Portsmouth Historical Society’s
Illuminating Tarbell
Lecture Series
At Discover Portsmouth
April – May 2016
"First rate show" - Boston Globe
Portsmouth, New Hampshire…Illuminating Tarbell, the Portsmouth Historical Society’s blockbuster exhibition (“first rate show” – Boston Globe) at Discover Portsmouth, continues its popular lecture series through April and May, prior to the end of the exhibition on June 3. Lecture Admission:$10 members/students; $20 non-members; For reservations for the lectures, please call Discover Portsmouth at603-436-8433 or purchase tickets online at
About Illuminating Tarbell
Renowned American Impressionist painter Edmund C. Tarbell is featured in a two part exhibition – a retrospective of his work done here on the Seacoast, and a legacy show of those painting in the Tarbell style today. Free and open to the public.
About the Lecture Series
After an SRO opening lecture by author Laurene Buckley, the organization looks forward to its Curators Lecture Thursday April 14. The evening will kick off with a brief Annual Meeting for members of the Portsmouth Historical Society and flow into a 6pm lecture with Jeremy Fogg, curator of the retrospective exhibition and then with Alastair Dacey, who curated the legacy exhibition in the balcony.Next up will be two of the featured artists from the legacy show, Paul Ingbretson and Jean Lightman on Thursday April 28 at 5:30pm. On Saturday May 7 at 1pm, curator and artist Alastair Dacey will host a panel with Paul Ingbretson and another featured artist, Mary Minifie.The lecture series will close out on Thursday May 19 at 5:3opm with author Elizabeth Ives Hunter.
Illuminating TarbellLectureSeries
CuratorsLecture: Jeremy Fogg and Alastair Dacey
Thursday April 14, 2016
Discover Portsmouth 10 Middle Street, Portsmouth
Galleries open 5pm; Lecture 6pm
Portsmouth Historical Society AnnualMeeting 5:30-6pm
Lecture Admission:$10 members/students; $20 non-members
Jeremy Fogg, painting conservator and guest curator for Illuminating Tarbell: Life and Art on the Piscataqua and Alastair Dacey, artist and guest curator for Illuminating Tarbell: Legacy in Action will join us for a fascinating evening. We’ll hear their stories about how they created this two-part exhibition that weaves the Tarbell retrospective and Tarbell today into a cohesive and stunning Spring exhibition.
Note: Members will want to arrive early for theAnnualMeetingof the Portsmouth Historical Society, which will briefly cover a look back at 2015, and votes on the bylaws and new board members.
For reservations for the lecture, please call Discover Portsmouth at603-436-8433or purchase tickets online at
Illuminating Tarbell Lecture Series
Paul Ingrebetson and Jean Lightman
Thursday April 28, 2016 5:30pm
Doors open at 5pm; galleries open through the evening
Discover Portsmouth 10 Middle Street, Portsmouth
Admission:$10 members/students; $20 non-members
Co-hosted with The Guild of Boston Artists
Get a firsthand look inside the painter's head. Artists Paul Ingbretson and Jean Lightman, two of six artists featured in the companion exhibition, Illuminating Tarbell: Legacy in Action, give a briefpower pointpresentation showing the individuals and ideas that make up the Boston School thinking that Tarbell so ably taught. They will include among others the works of Da Vinci,Velasquez, Vermeer and Monet. Then they will take you on a walk through the exhibition pointing out how the artists on the walls put these concepts into practice.
For reservations for the lecture, please call Discover Portsmouth at603-436-8433or purchase tickets online at
Illuminating Tarbell Lecture Series
The Education of the Artist
Panel discussion with featured artists:
Mary Minifie, Paul Ingbretson and Alastair Dacey
Saturday May 7, 2016 1pm
Galleries open for artist sketching after the lecture
Discover Portsmouth 10 Middle Street, Portsmouth
Admission:$10 members/students; $20 non-members
Three of our show’s featured artists have been recipients of Tarbell’s Boston School training legacy. They are also teachers. At this event, they will discuss the unique ideas and skills they pass on to their students enabling them to master the truth and beauty of the visual impression. The training begins with the classical skills acquired through cast drawing and modeling, then in still life and figure painting, always aiming towards achieving the vibrant beauty of color in natural light. Let them show you how that training plays out in their work and why it is a vial and dynamic form in today’s world.
For reservations for the lecture, please call Discover Portsmouth at603-436-8433or purchase tickets online at
Illuminating Tarbell Lecture Series
Elizabeth Ives Hunter
May 19, 2016 5:30pm
Doors open at 5pm; galleries open through the evening
Discover Portsmouth 10 Middle Street, Portsmouth
Admission:$10 members/students; $20 non-members
Noted art consultant and independent curator Elizabeth Ives Hunter joins us for an intimate look at the Boston School. Both her late husband Robert Douglas Hunter, and her godfather R.H. Ives Gammell were famed Boston School painters. The longtime executive director of the Cape Cod Museum of Art, she was the editor ofBoston Painters 1900-1930 (Parnassis Imprints), a wonderful, in-depth study of this select group of painters, including Edmund C. Tarbell, and Contemporaries, as well as The Guild of Boston Artists.
For reservations for the lecture, please call Discover Portsmouth at603-436-8433or purchase tickets online at
Tarbell Sponsors
The Tarbell Charitable Trust
2016 Season Sponsors
Brown & Company Design
Devine Marketing Group
Exhibition Sponsors
FREEMAN'S
Central Signal Corporation
Anthony Moore Painting Conservation
HOEFLE, PHOENIX, GORMLEY & ROBERTS, P.A.
George Beland Furniture
Guido Frames
Puttin' on the Glitz
Old as Adam Antiques & Vintage Haberdashery
About Portsmouth Historical Society, founded in 1920, is a tax-exempt 501©3 nonprofit devoted to introducing, interpreting and stimulating the study of Portsmouth history and to maintaining collections of historical artifacts and documents.It operates two facilities – Discover Portsmouth and the John Paul Jones House.
About Discover Portsmouth is a cultural gateway that houses a welcome center/clearinghouse for residents and visitors interested in the city’s history, arts and culture; a museum of exhibitions and programs (on site and in elementary schools) devoted to Portsmouth history; a museum shop of unique Portsmouth gifts and books, including those offered by its in-house publishing division, andHistoric Tours, including of the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail. A gathering place for Portsmouth nonprofits, it is a popular location for event rentals.Discover Portsmouth, located at 10 Middle Street, Portsmouth, NH. Open daily from 9:30-5pm, Discover Portsmouth remains open until 8pm for Art Round Town, the first Friday of each month (5/6 and 6/3). For further information on exhibitions, publications, gift shop, lectures, rentals, and tours, please call 603-436-8433 or visit PortsmouthHistory.org.