Reprising a program he presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for their special exhibit “Turner’s Whaling Pictures,” Tom Lee will read from Melville’s magnificent novel, Moby Dick, and guide a visual exploration of Turner’s pictures, Melville’s prose, and the book that links the two together.

This connection between Melville and the great English painter JMW Turner leads some art historians to the tantalizing theory that Melville may have had Turner’s painting  “Whalers” in mind while describing the immense “boggy, soggy, squitchy picture” that hangs above the fireplace in the Spouter-Inn in chapter three of Moby-Dick. As additional proof, on the title page of his personal copy of Thomas Beale’s ‘Natural History of the Sperm Whale” Herman Melville wrote a brief notation in pencil, "Turner’s pictures of whalers were suggested by this book."

Tom Lee is a professional storyteller with 30 years’ experience performing traditional stories, folktales, and myths for adults and for children. He is the artistic director of artsVOYAGE at Spencertown Academy in Spencertown, NY, and a roster artist with Arts for Learning in Connecticut. He also performs for adults in theaters, museums and at festivals throughout the country.  Join us for this engaging, evocative experience when Lee weaves the synergy of art and language between Turner and Melville.

Free with Museum Admission

For more information please call 508-896-3867, ext. 133