Press Release
This month, the Gibbes Museum of Art will unveil a landmark exhibition exploring the queer influences on the Charleston Renaissance, the interwar period when Charleston flourished as an arts hub. By examining the stylistic affinity of a collection of works by Charleston Renaissance artist Edward “Ned” I.R. Jennings (1898–1929) and famed English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898), this special exhibition will, for the first time, establish the British Aestheticism Movement, defined by its resistance to Victorian social conventions, its call for artistic, sexual and political experimentation and its close association with Oscar Wilde, as an important influence on the visual arts of Charleston. Something Terrible May Happen: The Art of Aubrey Beardsley and Edward Ned I.R. Jennings will be on display from Oct. 20, 2023 – March 10, 2024.
The exhibition will coincide with exciting programming that will bring the curator of drawings and paintings at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France to the Gibbes, a masquerade ball, and more! Special programming offered throughout the exhibition includes:
Curator-led Tour, Oct. 26
The Gibbes will offer a special tour of Something Terrible May Happen led by the exhibition's curator Chase Quinn, co-director of education and programs and curator of special projects at the Gibbes Museum of Art. This tour will examine the underpinnings of the Renaissance and the influence of queer culture and aesthetics more broadly. For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3Q44W6f.
Queering the Charleston Renaissance with Harlan Greene, Nov. 15
Join award-winning author and historian, Harlan Greene, who has written extensively about the Charleston Renaissance and Charleston's LGBTQ history, for a special talk illuminating the people, places and artists that shaped the Renaissance and the visual arts in Charleston in the 20th and 21st centuries with a special focus on the contributions and presence of Charleston's LGBTQ community members of the time. For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3tdfFDm.
In a Grotesque Way – The Art of Aubrey Beardsley, Dec. 16
Featured in the exhibition Something Terrible May Happen, Aubrey Beardsley depicts the grotesque, the decadent and the erotic at the turn of the century, defining the British Aestheticism movement and disturbing the social mores of the Victorian Era. Join Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, curator of drawings and paintings at the Musée d'Orsay, in conversation with Something Terrible May Happen curator Chase Quinn. They will explore what inspired the artist and defined his images of the Fin de siècle. For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3ZGvmiF.
For more information about Something Terrible May Happen: The Art of Aubrey Beardsley and Edward Ned I.R. Jennings, visit www.gibbesmuseum.org.
