Curators and guest curators introduce exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art, sharing the exhibition content, themes, and behind-the-scenes details.
Additional lecture program recordings in this series will be made available as podcasts in the coming months.
"Shock of the News" Judith Brodie, curator and head, department of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art
In 1909 F. T. Marinetti's futurist manifesto appeared on the front page of Le Figaro; less than four years, later Pablo Picasso incorporated a fragment of real newspaper into a work of art. The modern mass-media newspaper had colonized fine art. The exhibition Shock of the News examines the many manifestations of the "newspaper phenomenon" from 1909 to 2009, a century during which major artists engaged in a vibrant and multifaceted relationship with the printed news by co-opting, mimicking, defusing, memorializing, and rewriting newspapers. In this podcast recorded on September 23, 2012, at the National Gallery of Art for the exhibition opening, Judith Brodie presents work by more than 60 European and American artists from Marinetti, Picasso, and Man Ray to Adrian Piper, Robert Gober, and Mario Merz.
"Gilbert Stuart": An Introduction to the Exhibition Ellen G. Miles, curator of painting and sculpture, National Portrait Gallery
Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828) was the most successful portraitist of early America. Known for his renderings of the most famous American men and women of the era, including George Washington and John Adams, Stuart painted nearly 1,000 portraits over the course of his 50-year career. In this lecture recorded on April 3, 2005, Ellen G. Miles, cocurator of the exhibition Gilbert Stuart, illustrates the artistˈs career through documents of his sitters and business partners. The exhibition, which was on view from March 27 to July 31, 2005, presented 91 exceptional works that showcase Stuart’s mastery of 18th-century English portraiture, revealing the paintingsˈ elegant, refined beauty and historical importance. Of the Galleryˈs unequaled collection of 43 paintings by Stuart, 16 were conserved in 2012 through a Bank of America Art Conservation Project Grant.
Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868 Robert T. Singer, curator of Japanese art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The exhibition Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868—on view from November 15, 1998, to February 15, 1999, at the National Gallery of Art—was the first comprehensive survey of Japanese art of the Edo period in the United States. In this podcast recorded on November 15, 1998, exhibition curator Robert T. Singer highlights some of the 281 objects presented in the exhibition, including painted scrolls and screens, costumes, armor, sculpture, ceramics, and woodblock prints. Forty-seven of the works were designated National Treasures of Japan, and many had never before left the country. The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, in collaboration with the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Government of Japan, and The Japan Foundation.
"Elegance and Refinement: The Still-Life Paintings of Willem van Aelst" Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator of northern baroque paintings, National Gallery of Art, and Melanie Gifford, research conservator, National Gallery of Art
Few artists were more skilled than Willem van Aelst (1627–1683) at depicting luscious fruits, luxurious fabrics, and spoils of the hunt. His renowned still lifes are remarkable for their fine finish, carefully balanced composition, jewel-toned palette, and elegant subject matter. Bringing together 28 of these sumptuous paintings and his only known drawing, this exhibition—the first devoted solely to this artist—celebrates the most technically brilliant Dutch still-life painter of his time. It is also accompanied by the first comprehensive publication on his work. In this opening day lecture, curator Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. discusses van Aelst's life and talent, including his impact on late-17th-century still-life painting. Conservator Melanie Gifford discusses the technical research that revealed how van Aelst created his luxurious illusions. Elegance and Refinement: The Still-Life Paintings of Willem van Aelst is on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 24 to October 14, 2012.
"George Bellows": An Unfinished Life Charles Brock, associate curator, department of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art
Curator Charles Brock discusses the National Gallery of Art's landmark exhibition George Bellows, the first comprehensive presentation of the artist's career in more than three decades. In this opening-day lecture recorded on June 10, 2012, Brock explores Bellows' paintings, drawings, and lithographs depicting tenement children, boxers, sporting events, family portraits, World War I subjects, Maine seascapes, scenes of Woodstock, NY, and the urban landscape of New York City. This exhibition, on view through October 8, 2012, charts the full range of Bellows' artistic achievement, represented by some 130 works arranged thematically and chronologically throughout 9 galleries.
Miró: Two Views Harry Cooper, curator and head of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art, and Matthew Gale, head of displays, Tate Modern
Celebrated as one of the greatest modern artists, Joan Miró (1893–1983) developed a visual language that reflected his vision and energy in a variety of styles across many media. On view at the National Gallery of Art from May 6 through August 12, 2012, the retrospective exhibitionJoan Miró: The Ladder of Escape reveals the artist's politically engaged side. Harry Cooper, the Gallery's consulting curator for The Ladder of Escape, presented an overview of the exhibition's 120 paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints in his opening day lecture, which is recorded in this podcast. Following the lecture, Cooper sat down with Matthew Gale, one of the exhibition's two organizing curators from Tate Modern, and discussed the creation and production of this landmark retrospective. The exhibition was organized by Tate Modern, London, in collaboration with Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, and in association with the National Gallery of Art.
Itō Jakuchū's Colorful Realm: Juxtaposition, Naturalism, and Ritual Yukio Lippit, professor of Japanese art, Harvard University
Exhibition curator Yukio Lippit discusses one of Japan's most renowned cultural treasures, the 30-scroll set of bird-and-flower paintings by Itō Jakuchū, in this lecture recorded on April 29, 2012. To mark the closing of the month-long exhibition Colorful Realm: Japanese Bird-and-Flower Paintings by Itō Jakuchū (1716–1800), Lippit provides an overview of the 30 scrolls and the Buddhist triptych that served as their centerpiece. In addition to celebrating the centennial of Japan's gift of cherry trees to the nation's capital, the exhibition represents the first time these works were shown together in the United States—being lent to the National Gallery of Art by the Imperial Household Agency and the Zen monastery Shōkokuji in Kyoto. Lippit also offers a multifaceted understanding of Jakuchū's virtuosity and experimentalism as a painter—one who not only applied sophisticated chromatic effects but also masterfully rendered the richly symbolic world in which he moved.
Édouard Vuillard Kimberly A. Jones, assistant curator of French paintings, National Gallery of Art
To celebrate the opening of Édouard Vuillard at the National Gallery of Art on January 19, 2003, coordinating curator Kimberly A. Jones introduced the career of Parisian artist Édouard Vuillard (1868–1940). The exhibition—on view through April 20, 2003—presented 233 objects, some of which had never before been on public display, and included paintings, folding screens, theater programs, prints, drawings, photographs, and ceramics. A series of decorative panels, The Public Gardens (1894), were shown together for the first time since 1906. The exhibition was co-organized by the National Gallery of Art with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; the Réunion des musées nationaux/Musée d'Orsay, Paris; and the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
A Sense of Place—Cézanne in Provence Philip Conisbee, senior curator of European paintings, National Gallery of Art
The exhibition Cézanne in Provence—on view from January 29 to May 7, 2006, at the National Gallery of Art—marked the centenary of the artist's death and showcased more than 115 paintings, watercolors, and lithographs by Paul Cézanne of the landscape and people of Provence. In this podcast recorded on January 29, 2006, curator Philip Conisbee highlights the Provençal sites that Cézanne depicted, including the Cézanne family estate, the fishing village of L'Estaque, the countryside hamlets of Gardanne and Bellevue, the isolated landscape of Bibémus, the Château Noir near Aix-en-Provence, and Montagne Sainte-Victoire. He also discusses a group of late landscapes and the monumental painting Large Bathers, on loan from the National Gallery, London. The exhibition was co-organized by the National Gallery of Art; Musée Granet, Communauté du Pays d'Aix, Aix-en-Provence; and the Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris.
The Pastrana Tapestries of King Afonso V of Portugal: The Invention of Glory Barbara von Barghahn, professor of art history, The George Washington University The Pastrana Tapestries are among the finest surviving Gothic tapestries in the world and are on view for the first time in the United States in the exhibition The Invention of Glory: Afonso V and the Pastrana Tapestries at the National Gallery of Art from September 18, 2011, through January 8, 2012. From Jan van Eyck's commemoration in Ghent of the 1415 conquest of Ceuta to Passquier Grenier's documentation in Tournai of the 1471 taking of Tangiers, Portuguese and Spanish art specialist Barbara von Barghahn considers "portraits of power" in the context of chivalric ideals; the imaging of triumph in the clash of arms; the palatine display of tapestries as a visual chronicle of a contemporary epic; and the fame accrued from the North African campaigns that initiated an age of navigation and a transformation of the medieval world picture in this lecture recorded on December 18, 2011.
Antico: The Making of an Exhibition Eleonora Luciano, associate curator of sculpture; Dylan Smith, Robert H. Smith Research Conservator; Naomi Remes, exhibition officer; Donna Kirk, senior architect and designer; Brad Ireland, publishing designer, National Gallery of Art
Gallery staff reveal behind-the-scenes stories from the making of Antico: The Golden Age of Renaissance Bronzes, a special exhibition organized in association with the Frick Collection on view at the National Gallery of Art from November 6, 2011, through April 8, 2012. This exhibition is the first in the United States devoted to the Mantuan sculptor and goldsmith Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, known as Antico (c. 1455–1528) for his expertise in classical antiquity. Antico also developed and refined the technology for producing bronzes in multiples. Antico's bronzes are so rare that the nearly 40 works—including medals, reliefs, busts, and the renowned statuettes—constitute more than three quarters of the sculptor's extant oeuvre. In this program recorded on November 20, 2011, Gallery staff explain the exhibition from the perspective of a conservator, curator, exhibition designer, exhibition officer, and publishing designer.
Harry Callahan at 100 Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs, National Gallery of Art
In celebration of the exhibition opening, curator Sarah Greenough introduces Harry Callahan at 100 on view at the National Gallery of Art from October 2, 2011, through March 4, 2012. As Greenough notes, this exhibition celebrates the 100th anniversary of Callahan's birth in 1912. The exhibition explores all facets of Callahan's rich contribution to 20th-century American art from his earliest work made in Detroit during World War II, to photographs made in Chicago in the late 1940s and 1950s, to works made in Providence in the 1960s and 1970s, to his final pieces made during travels around the world in the later 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
In the Tower: Mel Bochner James Meyer, associate curator of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art
In the Tower is a series of presentations of works by significant artists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Held in the Tower Gallery of the East Building of the National Gallery of Art, the series has included installations of works by Philip Guston, Mark Rothko, and most recently, Nam June Paik. The newest presentation, by Mel Bochner, is the first by a living artist. Focusing on his famous Thesaurus portraits of the 1960s and his recent Thesaurus paintings and drawings, the exhibit explores Bochner's reexamination of his early conceptual practice during the last decade. Exhibition curator James Meyer discusses the show within the context of the In the Tower series and the broader arc of Bochner's career in this podcast recorded on November 6, 2011.
A New Look: Samuel F. B. Morse's "Gallery of the Louvre" Peter J. Brownlee, associate curator, Terra Foundation for American Art
Samuel F. B. Morse, best known for his role in the development of the electronic telegraph, began his career as a painter. One of his most important works, the newly conserved Gallery of the Louvre, is on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 25, 2011, through July 8, 2012, in the exhibition A New Look: Samuel F. B. Morse's "Gallery of the Louvre." In honor of the exhibition, curator Peter J. Brownlee utilizes facets of the painting's recent conservation as a jumping off point for a discussion of Morse's artistic training, his technique and experimental use of materials, and the theoretical underpinnings of and pictorial sources for his monumental painting.
Warhol: Headlines Molly Donovan, associate curator of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art
In 1975 Andy Warhol wrote: "I'm confused about who the news belongs to. I always have it in my head that if your name's in the news, then the news should be paying you." True to form, this quote exemplified the many questions Warhol posed during his celebrated career. The exhibition Warhol: Headlines examines the media, methods, and messages of the news headlines. To mark the exhibition's opening day at the National Gallery of Art, curator Molly Donovan discusses some of Warhol's artistic practices in relation to the headline theme in this podcast recorded on September 25, 2011.
Meeting Metsu: ANOTHER Dutch Master Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator of northern baroque paintings, National Gallery of Art; Pieter Roelofs, curator of 17th-century paintings, Rijksmuseum; and Adriaan E. Waiboer, curator of northern European art, National Gallery of Ireland
Curators Arthur Wheelock, Pieter Roelofs, and Adriaan E. Waiboer discuss the paintings of Dutch artist Gabriel Metsu. A contemporary of Johannes Vermeer, Metsu had the ability to capture ordinary moments in 17th-century Dutch life with sensitivity and realism. Recorded on April 22, 2011, this lecture was held in conjunction with the exhibition Gabriel Metsu, 1629–1667, on view at the National Gallery of Art from April 10 to July 24, 2011.
Gauguin: Maker of Myth Mary Morton, curator and head of the department of French paintings, National Gallery of Art, and Belinda Thomson, guest curator
Exhibition curators Mary Morton and Belinda Thomson mark the opening of the exhibition Gauguin: Maker of Myth in this lecture recorded February 27, 2011. On view at the National Gallery of Art from February 27 to June 5, 2011, the exhibition features nearly 120 works by Gauguin. Organized by Tate Modern, London, in association with the Gallery, the exhibition is the first major look at the artist's oeuvre at the Gallery since the blockbuster retrospective The Art of Paul Gauguin in 1988.
Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals Charles Beddington, guest curator
Canaletto expert Charles Beddington marks the opening day of the exhibition Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals in this lecture recorded February 20, 2011. The exhibition features 20 of Canaletto's finest paintings of Venice alongside 33 paintings by his most important contemporaries, including Michele Marieschi, Francesco Guardi, and Bernardo Bellotto. Beddington explains that the exhibition is unique for revealing the rivalry between the artists by these side-by-side comparisons.
Edvard Munch: Understanding His Master Prints Elizabeth Prelinger, Keyser Family Professor of Art History, Georgetown University, and Andrew Robison, senior curator of prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art
Elizabeth Prelinger and Andrew Robison, curators of the exhibition Edvard Munch: Master Prints, discuss how Munch ignored the artistic establishment to create his own vanguard of color printmaking. In this podcast recorded on September 26, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art, Prelinger and Robison consider the nearly 60 works in the exhibition and examine the evolution of printmaking throughout Munch's career, as he repeatedly revised his prints to reflect the broader and ever-changing world of art.
Sculpture Comes to Life: Splendor, Color, and Realism in Baroque Spain and Elsewhere Nicholas Penny, director, The National Gallery, London
On March 7, 2010, the National Gallery of Art welcomed back former senior curator of sculpture Nicholas Penny, now director of the National Gallery, London. In this podcast, Penny discusses the sculptural masterpieces in the exhibition The Sacred Made Real—in particular, Francisco Antonio Gijón's magnificent Saint John of the Cross, which the Gallery purchased during Penny's tenure in Washington.
The Sacred Made Real: The Making of an Exhibition Xavier Bray, assistant curator, European paintings, National Gallery, London
The groundbreaking exhibition The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture, 1600–1700, a landmark reappraisal of religious art from the Spanish Golden Age, contains masterpieces created to shock the senses and stir the soul. In this podcast recorded at the National Gallery of Art on February 28, 2010, curator Xavier Bray discusses the conception and realization of The Sacred Made Real, which includes 11 paintings by Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Zurbarán, and others, displayed for the very first time alongside 11 of Spain's remarkable polychromed (painted) sculptures. Many of the sculptures have never before left Spain and are still passionately venerated across the Iberian Peninsula in monasteries, churches, and processions.
Transforming Destiny into Awareness: Robert Frank's The Americans Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs, National Gallery of Art Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans, an exhibition organized by the National Gallery of Art, is the most comprehensive and in-depth exploration ever undertaken of the preeminent book of photographs published since World War II.
In this Notable Lectures podcast, recorded on January 18, 2009, the opening day of the exhibition, Greenough discusses Frank's process in creating this powerful and provocative book as well as the publication's legacy 50 years later. The exhibition catalogue is available for purchase from the Gallery Shops.
Martin Puryear: "How Things Fit Together" John Elderfield, chief curator emeritus of painting and sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art curator John Elderfield, the organizing curator of the Martin Puryear retrospective exhibition, discusses the work of his friend Martin Puryear in this podcast recorded on September 28, 2008, at the National Gallery of Art. Puryear's oeuvre draws on forms inspired by a wide range of interests—including ornithology, falconry, archery, and objects of shelter—and incorporates not only traditional sculpture techniques but also processes associated with furniture making, boatbuilding, and basketry, such as joinery and weaving. The artist's materials include a variety of woods, tar, wire, mesh, rawhide, and found objects.
Martin Puryear: "Sculpture that Tries to Describe Itself to the World" Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art
In this podcast recorded on June 22, 2008, for the Martin Puryear retrospective exhibition opening at the National Gallery of Art, curator Ruth Fine discusses the work of District of Columbia native Martin Puryear. The retrospective included 46 sculptures made between 1975 and 2007. The first exhibition in the Gallery's history to be installed in both the East and West Buildings, it provided a unique opportunity to view Puryear's sculpture in modern and classical settings. Fine discusses the installation process for Puryear's work at the Gallery, designed in collaboration with the artist, as well as the intentions behind the placement of sculptures.
Jan Lievens: Out of Rembrandt's Shadow; Jan Lievens in Black and White: Etchings, Woodcuts, and Collaborations in Print Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator of northern baroque paintings, National Gallery of Art, and Stephanie S. Dickey, Bader Chair in Northern Baroque Art, Queen's University
Recorded on October 26, 2008, this podcast celebrates the major international loan exhibition Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered, which was on view at the National Gallery of Art from October 26, 2008, to January 11, 2009. In the first of two lectures, Arthur Wheelock places Lievens in historical context—particularly in relationship to his friend and colleague from Leiden, Rembrandt van Rijn—and focuses on the evolution and character of Lievens' paintings. In the second lecture, Stephanie Dickey examines Lievens' remarkable achievements as a printmaker.
