Join SVMoA for an in-person conversation with Lloyd DeWitt, Janet and Richard Geary Curator of European and American Art at Portland Museum about their current exhibition, German Expressionism in Art and Film. As part of SVMoA’s MUSEUM PASSPORT series, this talk will explore the influential movement of German Expressionism and its lasting impact on art and cinema in the early 20th century. Emerging during a period of profound social and political change, German Expressionism rejected traditional realism in favor of dramatic imagery, distorted forms, vivid contrasts, and emotionally charged storytelling. From the striking paintings of artists such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Emil Nolde to the atmospheric shadows and unconventional sets of landmark films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Metropolis, the movement challenged convention and offered a powerful new way to explore the anxieties, desires, and complexities of modern life.
The exhibition is organized by the Institut für Kulturaustausch and coordinated for the Portland Art Museum by Lloyd DeWitt, Ph.D., The Richard and Janet Geary Curator of European & American Art Pre-1930.
About the Speaker
Lloyd DeWitt has been the Janet and Richard Geary Curator of European and American Art at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon since 2024. He has reinstalled the European and American galleries and also installed Monet to Matisse: French Moderns from the Brooklyn Museum, Pissarro to Picasso, Loans from the Kirkland Family Collection, and Monet’s Floating Worlds, and recently opened German Expressionism in Art and Film. He is currently working on As above, so Below: Alchemy in Art. His exhibitions at the Chrysler Museum, Toronto and Philadelaphia ranged from Thomas Jefferson’s architecture and Michelangelo’s drawings to Rembrandt’s Faces of Jesus. His PhD dissertation on Jan Lievens at the University of Maryland became a large monographic exhibition at the National Gallery of Art and Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam. He earned his Master's at the University of Massachusetts, and undergrad degree at the University of Guelph in Canada.
This lecture is presented as part of SVMoA's series Museum Passport, featuring museum directors, curators, and art historians discussing artists and exhibitions at major museums across the country. Check our website for details about upcoming Museum Passport talks and to register.
