Once disdained as possessing only “a petty, imitative monkey talent” (as described by the artist John Opie in 1848), still-life painters gained respect through the 19th century as they celebrated America’s new culture of abundance. In the post–Civil War era, painters of the first rank—John La Farge, William Michael Harnett—adopted the still life as a major mode of expression. By the 20th century, in the hands of artists such as Paul Strand, Stuart Davis, and Georgia O’Keeffe, it had become a medium for innovation. In this lecture, Carol Troyen, B.A. 1971, M.A. 1974, Ph.D. 1979, the Kristin and Roger Servison Curator Emerita of American Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, examines the evolution of the still life from marginal subject to a genre essential to modernism. Followed by a reception. Generously sponsored by the Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Fund.