Schemel Forum Announces Collaborative Programs for Spring

The University of Scranton’s Schemel Forum will offer Collaborative Programs exploring unique topics in music, art and wine. The events are sponsored by Munley Law.

On Thursday, April 9, Richard Kogan, M.D., professor of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, and artistic director, Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Program, will return for a presentation — hosted in collaboration with the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) — exploring the life and music of George Gershwin. The event, “George Gershwin: Music and Healing,” will include a performance and lecture, followed by a reception.

A child of immigrants in New York City, Gershwin was a hyperactive, behaviorally challenged youngster whose life was transformed when he heard a classmate’s violin recital through an open window. He was a creative phenomenon, a man who was able to extract music out of what others considered to be merely noise, a man who was inspired to write “An American in Paris” after hearing the sounds of Parisian taxi horns.

Dr. Kogan will reveal Gershwin’s thought processes during his artistic journey from “Rhapsody in Blue” to “Porgy and Bess” until his death at age 38 from a brain tumor. His presentation will be illuminated with performances of some of Gershwin’s most beloved music.

The event will begin at 6 p.m. at GCSOM, 525 Pine St., Scranton. Admission to the event, which includes a reception, is $40 for the general public and free for Schemel Forum members and University of Scranton and GCSOM employees and students.

On Thursday, April 30, the Schemel Forum will partner with Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library and the Hope Horn Gallery for an unveiling of Niccolò Betti’s “Madonna and Child with the Young St. John the Baptist.”

The public unveiling of this newly restored treasure will feature insights from art restorer John Powell, co-owner, Chelsea Restoration Associates, and art historian Robert Simon, Ph.D., president, Robert Simon Fine Art. A reception will follow.

When the Morgan family gifted a remarkable Madonna and Child painting to The University of Scranton, its black, featureless background suggested a work of quiet simplicity. During restoration, however, conservators made an astonishing discovery — the black backdrop had been added long after the painting’s creation.

The reveal came through a meticulous process by Powell, a skilled restorer of fine art whose clients include the Everhart Museum in Scranton. Given the age of this piece, Powell said it was important to proceed slowly and with caution.

After first securing any loose elements to prevent further loss, Powell cleaned the surface of years of soot and dirt to brighten the colors in the painting. From there, he used solvents to selectively remove old varnishes and previous restoration, starting with the lighter, more stable colors. It wasn’t until he began working with the background that Powell began to wonder what might be beneath the black paint.

“There was just something about how stark the figures of Mary and Jesus were against the backdrop,” Powell said. “It seemed unresolved.”

As he continued to work, some flesh colors began to emerge.

“I thought to myself, ‘This is interesting,’” he said.

And then, the figure of an infant St. John the Baptist emerged.

“There was this beautiful figure so typical of Florentine Renaissance painting, which is precisely the work I love,” he said.

The addition of a third figure against a rich, dark woodland setting changes the character of the painting, said Powell, with action and more depth.

Working in collaboration with art historian Dr. Simon, the work has been attributed to the 16th-century Italian Renaissance painter Niccolò Betti, best known for “The Sack of Corinth” in the Studiolo of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.

The collaborative process between in-house curators and conservators is typically found in museums, and not the private sector, said Dr. Simon, adding that he and Powell were able to profit from each other's expertise in order to tease out the background and historical context of the painting. 

“In this case it helped that my academic specialty is Florentine painting of the 16th century,” said Dr. Simon. “Each painting that one studies, whether in the conservation lab or in the library, is a puzzle — here a 500-year-old puzzle in which we try to understand who painted the work of art, what was originally intended, the religious significance, what changes have been made to the picture over time, and how can we make it understandable to today's audience. Paintings like this are like messages in a bottle, coming from across the planet and centuries in time.”

It’s uncertain why the original work was painted over, although it appears to have something to do with the top panel, according to Powell.

“The original panel had some kind of damage at some point, and a piece of wood was added,” he said.

The event, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Charles Kratz Scranton Heritage Room of the Weinberg Memorial Library, is open to the public free of charge, courtesy of the Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library and the Hope Horn Gallery. The restored painting will be on permanent display on the fourth floor of the Weinberg Memorial Library.

On Friday, May 29, the Schemel Forum will host “Vin et Vues: Loire Valley and its Wines.” This hands-on wine education event will feature a four-course wine tasting, hors d’oeuvres, a presentation on wines of Loire Valley, France, and an interactive discussion led by wine writer David Falchek, CAE, IOM, CMP.

Participants will explore France’s under-appreciated wine region, Loire Valley. The region looms large in French consciousness for history, the arts and agriculture, yet is less recognized for wine, despite pioneering a number of varieties and styles. Falchek will lead participants in a deep dive of this influential region carved by Europe’s longest wild river and will host a sampling of a range of wine styles.

Falchek is a wine writer and critic for publications including “Wine & Spirits Magazine” and The Scranton Times-Tribune and is former executive director of the American Wine Society.

The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Charles Kratz Scranton Heritage Room of the Weinberg Memorial Library.

The cost for the wine tasting, hors d’oeuvre and lecture is $60 per person, $110 per couple for non-Schemel Forum members. There is no additional fee for Schemel Forum Members, Angels, and Archangels to attend this event. University of Scranton and GCSOM students, staff, and faculty must purchase tickets. All participants must be 21years or older.

For additional information or registration information, call 570-941-4740 or email schemelforum@scranton.edu.

Additional Schemel Forum events can be found on the Schemel Forum’s webpage.