- Category
- Members
Member Book Club—The Picture of Dorian Gray
Member Lecture and Book Club events are available exclusively to Museum Members. Join today!
Explore the artistic world of Oscar Wilde’s 1891 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray with Melissa Wolfe, curator of American art.
Beginning with Aestheticism, Wolfe will examine Wilde’s embrace and critique of the mantra “art for art’s sake,” through works in SLAM’s collection by James McNeill Whistler, William Merritt Chase, and Louis Comfort Tiffany. Wolfe will then turn her attention to 1945 Hollywood, where the film adaptation brings Gray’s moral decay from imagination to the silver screen with artist Ivan Albright’s shocking vision of physical decay in his painting Picture of Dorian Gray. Through this fascinating painting, Wolfe will explore the enduring influence of Wilde’s novel, Albright’s place within mid-century Surrealism, and the intersection of art and Hollywood.
Melissa Wolfe, curator of American art
Book Selection
Oscar Wilde’s 1891 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray follows a handsome young man who makes a fateful wish to keep his youthful beauty forever, while a portrait of him grows old and records every one of his sins.
This book is available to purchase at the Museum Shop. Members always save 10% on Museum Shop purchases.
Ticket information
Advance tickets can be reserved in person or through MetroTix using your Member ticket code. All tickets reserved through MetroTix incur a service charge; the service charge is waived for tickets reserved at the Museum. For your ticket code or more information, visit slam.org/MemberLectures.
What is the Member Lecture Series?
Member Lectures are exclusive, live, in-person events held in the Museum’s Farrell Auditorium. Members enjoy a deeper look at the fascinating changes and ongoing scholarship by the Museum’s curators and researchers. Learn more here.