Wednesdays, March 4 – March 25, 2 – 4pm
Interior of the music room of the Breakers Vanderbilt mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Image © xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0
$220; members $198
(4 classes)
About the Class
The Gilded Age, named after Mark Twain’s biting satire, was an era marked by explosive industrial and economic growth. Between the 1870s and 1890s, tycoons like Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt used their fortunes to build art collections, museums, and libraries, turning the East Coast into an artistic capital to rival Paris and London. However, this prosperity masked widespread poverty and working-class exploitation, realities that many of these “robber barons” sought to obscure through acts of cultural philanthropy.
This course examines the relationship between art and industry during this complex era. We will study influential artists and patrons, the grand mansions that reflected the period’s opulence, and the growing wealth gap. We will look closely at institutions established during the Gilded Age, such as the Frick Collection, the Morgan Library, and the Carnegie Museums, to understand how art became both a symbol of prestige and a public good. We will also consider how the cultural ambitions of this period continue to shape American museums today.
The class is online-only. More about online classes.
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Barnes classes will:
- Sharpen your observational and critical thinking skills.
- Improve your ability to communicate about art.
- Deepen your appreciation for cultures and histories outside your own.
Instructor
Caterina Y. Pierre
Pierre is a professor of art history at the City University of New York at Kingsborough Community College and visiting associate professor at the Pratt Institute, New York. She has taught about art and crime at CUNY Kingsborough, Pratt, and Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York. She is working on books about cemetery sculpture as political art in the late 19th century, and Ernest Durig, a forger of the sculptor Auguste Rodin.
What Our Students Say
“The instructor is a gifted individual who is able to [engage] with all different kinds of learners and motivate us to want to learn more, see more, and experience more. I would highly recommend any course by this instructor.” —Collection Concentration: Medieval Modern with Kaelin Jewell
“Martha Lucy knows how to balance her lecture with fact, excellent painting selections, and inclusion of the students.” —The Art and Life of Toulouse-Lautrec with Martha Lucy
“The best class to understand the elements of art. The instructor’s expertise and warmth, along with the excellent discussions with my classmates, made it a truly wonderful experience.” —The Elements of Art with William Perthes
“This class offered rich insight into Picasso and his contemporaries—the gallery scene, turn-of-the-century politics, Catalan culture, along with Picasso’s approach to composition and contemporary European culture. It was so informative.” —Picasso in Focus: New Discoveries at the Barnes with Christine Romano and Naina Saligram
“Caterina loves the material she presents and infuses all her classes—of which I have taken many—with that infectious enthusiasm.” —Rendez-vous au Café: Café Culture in 19th-Century Art with Caterina Pierre
Go Further
Close-Looking Immersion: Cézanne’s Portrait of a Woman
Spend an hour with Cézanne’s haunting Portrait of a Woman. Instructor: William Perthes
Surrealism, Then and Now
Revisit the movement’s origin and global expansion and consider its legacy today. Instructor: Naina Saligram
Caravaggio: Revolutionary Painter of the Roman Baroque
Learn how Caravaggio rejected classical idealism for raw naturalism, fueling works with psychological intensity. Instructor: James Harper