CHESTERTOWN, MD—Well-known etiquette columnist and author Judith Martin comes to Washington College on Wednesday, December 4, at 4 p.m. for an on-stage conversation about an Italian city close to her heart, Venice. Martin will appear with her friend Eric Denker, the art scholar and collector who curated the current exhibition in the Kohl Gallery, “Reflections and Undercurrents: Ernest Roth and Printmaking in Venice, 1900-1940.”  Sponsored by the Friends of the Miller Library, the event will take place in Decker Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts, and is free and open to the public.

Martin and Denker co-wrote the book No Vulgar Hotel: The Desire and Pursuit of Venice, which captures their shared passion for the ancient city. They will sign copies of the book in the lobby beginning at 3:30 p.m.    

“An Afternoon in Venice with Judith Martin” is the final event in a series of offerings centered on Reflections and Undercurrents. The Kohl Gallery exhibition features an impressive collection of etchings of Venice made by some of the finest printmakers of the twentieth century. It continues through December 8. Gallery hours are Wednesday to Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (Closed Thanksgiving Day.)

Eric Denker is a senior lecturer in the Education Department of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and frequently lectures in Italy for the Smithsonian Institute and for the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica. His expertise includes artists James McNeill Whistler and Ernest David Roth, the history of printmaking, and Italian art and culture.

Judith Martin is a columnist, novelist, journalist and wit who has established a reputation as the nation’s leading civility expert. She spent 25 years at the Washington Post, where she worked as a reporter, feature writer, and drama and film critic.

Below: image of Venice by Shaun Dunmall.