Members' Celebration of Eric Carle's Modernist Inspirations

October 3, 2026
5:30 - 8 pm

Free for Museum members and donors

Join us for a Members-only celebration of this unique exhibition that examines the movements and artists that shaped Eric Carle’s distinctive visual language, featuring works by modernist figures such as Anni Albers, Marc Chagall, Sonia Delaunay, Shizuo Fujimori, Paul Klee, Oscar Kokoschka, Fernand Léger, August Macke, René Magritte, Franz Marc, and Pablo Picasso. (Note: there will be two rotations of works on view, one from September 19, 2026–February 28, 2027, and the second from March 6, 2027–September 6, 2027.)

The evening begins at 5:30 pm with hors d’oeuvres in the Great Hall, followed by a conversation in the Auditorium from 6:30-7:30 pm moderated by Guest Curator Isabel Ruiz Cano, with Aprile Gallant, the Mary Walcott Keyes 1931 Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Smith College Museum of Art, and Karen Kurcynszki, Professor and Chair of History of Art and Architecture at UMASS, Amherst, specializing in modern and contemporary art. The evening concludes at 8 pm.

Please register by September 25.

Not yet a member? Join now for always free admission and shop discounts for a year!

Who You'll Meet

Aprile Gallant

Aprile Gallant is the Mary Walcott Keyes 1931 Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Smith College Museum of Art. She has been at SCMA since 2002. She manages the Museum’s collection of over 24,000 prints, drawing, photographs, collages and illustrated books, including organizing exhibitions, making acquisitions, and supervising the Cunningham Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs.

Karen Kurczynski

Karen Kurczynski is Professor and Chair of History of Art and Architecture at UMASS, Amherst, specializing in modern and contemporary art. She has published widely on the art of the 1950s Cobra movement in Europe and the Danish artist Asger Jorn. She is now working on a new book on contemporary feminist art of the 1990s, focusing on the medium of drawing in relation to histories of race, gender, and colonialism in the U.S.

Isabel Ruiz Cano

Isabel worked at The Carle from 2022-2026, most recently as Associate Curator. She is currently a doctoral student in the History of Art department at UC Berkeley.

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