Chinese painting topic at SUNY New Paltz lecture

NEW PALTZ — Literature about a painting can offer quite a lot of insight into the work of art and its artist. Elizabeth Brotherton, assistant professor of art history at the State University of New York at New Paltz, will explore this topic as it relates to Chinese art in a slide lecture titled “Colophons on Chinese Paintings” on Wednesday, Feb. 27. The lecture will be held at 5 p.m. in the campus’ Honors Center, located in College Hall.

“Any piece of writing attached to a painting is very important because it tells people about many aspects of the painting — the artist, subject, and the time and circumstances in which the painting was made,” explains Brotherton. The writing sometimes includes criticism as well.

“Colophons on Chinese Paintings” is the third of eight lectures scheduled for the spring 2002 Honors Center Faculty Lecture Series at SUNY New Paltz. The remaining lectures in the series will cover psychology, sociology, political science, chemistry and philosophy.

“The series is building ties between the campus community and local community, and between the faculty and students,” said Jeff Miller, director of the Honors Program and assistant political science professor at SUNY New Paltz.

Glenn Geher, assistant professor of psychology, will give the next lecture on Wednesday, March 13. It is titled “The Importance of Construal in Understanding Evolutionary Accounts of Behavior.”

All lectures are free and open to the public. For further information on future speakers and lectures in this series, visit the SUNY New Paltz online calendar at www.newpaltz.edu/calendar.