Eliot Clark, Storm, Virginia, undated, oil on canvas. Support: 6 x 8 1/2 inches; Image: 5 3/4 x 8 inches; Framed: 16 5/8 x 18 1/2 x 2 inches. On Loan from The Johnson Collection, Spartenburg, South Carolina.

Following the American Civil War, American artists quieted their paintings, embracing blurred contours, muted palettes, and introspective atmospheres. Often considered the moody counterpoint to Impressionism’s vibrant and light-filled canvases, Tonalism offered a harmonious space for respite and reflection in a rapidly changing world. This lecture will explore the foundations of this often-misunderstood artistic movement and how the landscape of the American South became a subject for the art of painting softly.

About the Speaker:

Erin Corrales‑Diaz is the Curator of American Art at the Toledo Museum of Art, where she oversees the breadth of the historic American collection, spanning the seventeenth to the mid-twentieth centuries across all media. Prior to joining Toledo, Corrales-Diaz was the Assistant Curator of American Art at the Worcester Art Museum. She has also held dual posts as Curator of the Johnson Collection and Visiting Scholar at Wofford and Converse Colleges in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She has lectured widely on topics related to nineteenth-century American art and visual culture at institutions including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Library of Congress, the Muse d’Orsay, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Corrales-Diaz holds an M.A. in art history from Williams College and earned her Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.