B. Scott Crawford Lecture Series
April 17 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Presentation #3
“You Cannot Paint her too Beautiful for my Imagination”: Domesticity, Death, and Photography in 19th Century Portraiture
Portraiture is so often thought of as being a means to capture the image of a sitter determined to have his or her likeness preserved on canvas. However, not all sitters were alive. While not entirely new in the 19th century, the Victorian Age witnessed a unique culture of death with mourning portraiture being an important part of this culture. Lilly Martin Spencer, known for her reflections of 19th century domesticity, had a fairly lucrative career painting postmortem portraits. While she admitted that the new technology of photography threatened traditional portraiture, she was able to actually embrace this new technology to open new opportunities for revenue due to photography. Specifically, a painting in the Taubman Museum of Art’s collection will serve as the focus for how Spencer adapted to new technology and was able to remain relevant as an artist, finding a means to augment her household income and directly challenge the 19th century norms tied to domesticity so many of her portraits paradoxically reinforced.
B. Scott Crawford holds a master’s degree in history from Old Dominion University and has an extensive background in education, having taught at the high school and college levels, as well as serving as the social studies coordinator, K-12, for a Virginia school division and as the Director of Education for the Museum of Western Virginia and then Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia. Scott currently serves as President & CEO for Virginia 811. He has been with the Notification Center since December 2016, serving as Director of Operations and then Vice President prior to moving into his current position in July 2020.
This event is free and part of our 2025 Lecture Series which will focus on Blacksburg history, community, and culture plus intriguing history and arts topics in general.
