Today, many artists may take painting outside for granted, but it wasn’t always that easy. Although landscapes have been an important aspect of paintings for hundreds of years painting outside itself wasn’t easily possible until much more recently. Come learn the history of plein air painting with the Barnes Foundation’s Bill Perthes and explore examples of this approach in the Wayne Art Center’s 15th Annual Plein Air Festival.

 

William M. Perthes is the Bernard C. Watson Director of Adult Education at the Barnes Foundation. Bill is an art historian whose scholarship focuses on Modernism, particularly in the United States, with a special concentration on the Abstract Expressionist painter Robert Motherwell. Bill has a background in philosophy, specifically John Dewey and American pragmatism. His recent work has focused on how experiences with works of art, both short and long term, can impact and inform fields as varied as business, medicine, and criminal justice.