Dr. Emily Weeks, Ph.D. Jean-Léon Gérôme, The Black Poet, 1888
Lyme Academy Principal Art Historian Emily Weeks is in Doha, Qatar, installing a major exhibition featuring the art of Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904). Opening on 2 November, Seeing is Believing: The Art and Influence of Gérôme addresses the legacy of Gérôme across three centuries, multiple mediums, and diverse geographies, in approximately 400 artworks. Weeks, the current expert on Gérôme, is one of three curators invited by Qatar Museums to develop the exhibition, marking the artist’s bicentennial year. “As the 19th century’s most popular and influential Academic and Orientalist artist, Gérôme’s global impact on artists’ technique and the Western public’s understanding of the MENASA region (Middle East, North Africa, South Asia) cannot be overestimated,” Weeks states. “And yet, as this exhibition suggests, we have yet to truly understand the complexities of his art.” Gérôme’s centrality to the pedagogic traditions followed by Lyme Academy students is something that Weeks is particularly aware of, and is what has made her work in Doha feel so close to home.
For more information about the exhibition, please see: https://mathaf.org.qa/en/calendar/jean-leon-gerome/
For more information about Emily M. Weeks, please see: https://lymeacademy.edu/core-drawing-painting/faculty/emily-m-weeks/