Political Science Professor to Guide Conversation at Crystal Bridges

Photo Submitted

Rosie the Riveter by Norman Rockwell (1943).

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Angie Maxwell and Niki Stewart will partner for a program at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 16, in the Early Twentieth-Century Art Gallery of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.

“Conversations about Rosie the Riveter” will focus on the changing role of women in the work force during the 1940s and their challenges in nontraditional work roles during World War II. The event is part of the Art Talks series at the museum that pairs an art historian with other scholars to have a public conversation about a single work.

“Niki Stewart and I will be discussing the power of Rockwell’s iconic Rosie the Riveter both in its historical moment and for contemporary audiences,” said Maxwell. “My research with the Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society on attitudes towards women in the workplace and towards female political candidates, particularly Hillary Clinton, will be juxtaposed against the popularity of Rockwell’s landmark image. The opportunity to consider the impact of art on politics at such a formidable institution as Crystal Bridges is a dream for any interdisciplinary scholar, particularly since it compliments perfectly the mission of the Blair Center.”

Maxwell is the Diane D. Blair professor in southern studies and an assistant professor of political science in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. She is the co-editor of Unlocking V. O. Key, Jr.: Southern Politics for the Twenty-first Century. She has also been published in many scholarly journals, including Presidential Studies Quarterly and the Journal of Black Studies.

Niki Stewart is director of education and exhibitions at the museum.

The conversation honors Women’s History Month and is part of the programming for the exhibition American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell. The program is free and open to the public, and a reception will follow. The American Chronicles exhibition is on display until Monday, May 27.