Skiffs, 1877
Gustave Caillebotte. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of the Milwaukee Journal Company, in honor of Miss Faye McBeath, M1965.25. Photo by John R. Glembin.
Gustave Caillebotte’s lifelong passion for boating and shipbuilding marks an important intersection of art, sport, and society within the broader context of the 19th-century sailing boom.
From the vibrant sailing culture of Paris to Chicago maritime traditions like the historic Race to Mackinac, sailing shaped elite social circles, inspired artists on both sides of the Atlantic, and connected cities through shared cultural tides.
Join Gloria Groom, Winton Green Curator of Painting and Sculpture of Europe at the Art Institute, and Madeline Crispell, curator at the Chicago Maritime Museum, for a lively conversation on how boating emerged as a gentleman’s sport in both France and the United States.
About the Speakers
Gloria Groom is chair and Winton Green Curator, Painting and Sculpture of Europe, and executive director of initiatives in France at the Art Institute of Chicago. Gloria has been involved in numerous major monographic exhibitions and their accompanying catalogues, including the exhibition Gustave Caillebotte: Painting Men (2025), Monet and Chicago (2020–21), Manet and Modern Beauty (2019), Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist (2017), Van Gogh’s Bedrooms (2016), and Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity (2012–13).
Madeline Crispell is a curator and historian whose work centers material culture, decorative arts, and the built environment. Currently she is the curator at the Chicago Maritime Museum where she’s explored the work of Chicago Impressionist James Bolivar Needham, the legacy of maritime industry on Midwestern architecture. and more. Her exhibitions at institutions across Chicagoland have focused on subjects ranging from American travel and historic preservation in Pullman to the Thorne Miniature Rooms.
If you have any questions about programming, please reach out to museum-programs@artic.edu.
Closed captioning will be available for this program. For questions related to accessibility accommodations, please email access@artic.edu.
