NextThreeDays: Event Display

B. Scott Crawford Lecture Series: Domesticity, Death, and Photography in 19th Century Portraiture
Venue: Alexander Black House & Cultural Center, Blacksburg
Directions: Google Map Link
Date: Thursday, April 17, 2025
Time: 5:30 - 6:30 PM
Event Types: Arts & Theatre, Speaking Engagements
Cost: Free

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Description:
The Blacksburg Museum & Cultural Foundation continues the B. Scott Crawford Lecture Series with the third event titled "You Cannot Paint her too Beautiful for my Imagination”: Domesticity, Death, and Photography in 19th Century Portraiture" on Thursday, April 17, 2025 at the Alexander Black House & Cultural Center.

We are thrilled to welcome B. Scott Crawford to our museum for a new lecture series! His expertise on art and history makes for compelling theories and conjures up new questions about the world in which we live.

Portraiture is so often thought of as being a means to capture the image of a sitter determined to have his or her likeness preserved on canvas. However, not all sitters were alive. While not entirely new in the 19th century, the Victorian Age witnessed a unique culture of death with mourning portraiture being an important part of this culture. Lilly Martin Spencer, known for her reflections of 19th century domesticity, had a fairly lucrative career painting postmortem portraits.

While she admitted that the new technology of photography threatened traditional portraiture, she was able to actually embrace this new technology to open new opportunities for revenue due to photography. Specifically, a painting in the Taubman Museum of Art’s collection will serve as the focus for how Spencer adapted to new technology and was able to remain relevant as an artist, finding a means to augment her household income and directly challenge the 19th century norms tied to domesticity so many of her portraits paradoxically reinforced.

B. Scott Crawford holds a master’s degree in history from Old Dominion University and has an extensive background in education, having taught at the high school and college levels, as well as serving as the social studies coordinator, K-12, for a Virginia school division and as the Director of Education for the Museum of Western Virginia and then Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia. Scott currently serves as President & CEO for Virginia 811.

Admission is free and all are welcome.

The Alexander Black House & Cultural Center is located at 204 Draper Road in Blacksburg, VA.

To view the event flyer, visit: https://i.postimg.cc/nz1M0KhF/image.png.

For more information, visit: https://blacksburgmuseum.org/event/b-scott-crawford-lecture-series-2/ or https://www.facebook.com/blacksburgmuseum/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/1363088131739739/ or https://www.instagram.com/blacksburgmuseum/ or call 540-558-0746.