Renowned scholar of American culture and jazz studies to give two lectures at University of Richmond on role of art in politics

University of Richmond will host Robert O’Meally for two lectures on the relationship between artistic movements and politics in both current and historic settings.

O’Meally is a professor of English and comparative literature and director of the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University. His areas of focus include 19th- and 20th- century American and African-American literature and jazz culture.

His first lecture, “Art in a Time of Urgency: Paintings by Romare Bearden and Norman Lewis,” is Feb. 23 at 5 p.m. in the Gottwald Science Center auditorium. O’Meally will explore the two artists’ painted responses to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The lecture will also examine artistic responses to current political changes and question the role of citizens in the changing global political landscape.

On Feb. 24, O’Meally will discuss “The Promise of American Democracy” connecting the current political state and the 2016 presidential election to changing literary and artistic movements throughout the past several decades. This lecture will be held in Boatwright Memorial Library, Adams Auditorium, at 4:30 p.m.

Both events are free and open to the public and are sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office.

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