Release Date: September 26, 2012
Fall Lecture Series at the National Gallery of Art Highlights Artists Joel Shapiro, John Cage, and Tony Smith, Plus Fall Exhibitions, Kaufman Installation, the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art, and a Conversation about the Collecting of African American Art
Andreas Henning, curator of Italian paintings, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, presents the annual Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art on Sunday, November 11, at the National Gallery of Art. Photo © Stefan Morét, Rome
Washington, DC—This fall, the National Gallery of Art offers an array of public lecture programs featuring a distinguished group of notable authors, artists, and scholars. Rounding out the season are two public symposia, four book signings, the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Lecture, the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art, and a conversation on the collecting of African American art.
Overview
The fall lecture season opens September 9 with the program "PASSAGE 7: John Cage"— incidents, texts, conversations, and music, presented in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of American composer John Cage. The exhibition George Bellows, which closes October 8, serves as the inspiration for a public symposium on October 5 and 6 featuring scholars David Curry, Adam Greenhalgh, David Lubin, Carol Troyen, David C. Ward, Mark White, Sean Wilentz, and Rebecca Zurier. On December 1, noted artists and scholars participate in the public symposium Tony Smith at 100.
Artist Joel Shapiro will give a public lecture titled Inside Out for the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Lecture Series on Sunday, October 28. Shapiro's work, from early minimal objects to increasingly expansive and complex forms, deals with such central issues of the sculptural tradition as size and scale, balance and imbalance, figuration and abstraction. The Gallery owns 16 works by the artist including drawings, prints, and sculptures.
In honor of Masterpieces of American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection, 1700–1830—one of the largest and most refined collections of early American furniture in private hands—Wendy A. Cooper, Wendy A. Cooper, Lois F. and Henry S. McNeil Senior Curator of Furniture, Winterthur Museum, presents a lecture on October 28.
Two lecture programs will be held in honor of Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective, the first major exhibition of the artist's work since his death in 1997. On opening day, October 14, Harry Cooper, curator and head, department of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art, introduces the exhibition with a lecture and book signing of the exhibition catalogue. On December 16, Avis Berman, writer, art historian, and consultant for oral history for the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, visits the Gallery to present Roy Lichtenstein: Voices from the Archives.
On November 11, Andreas Henning, curator of Italian paintings, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, delivers the sixteenth annual Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art (http://www.nga.gov/podcasts/freedberg). In his lecture, Henning will speak on the 500th anniversary of Raphael's Sistine Madonna, revealing the fraught history of the painting and providing an in-depth examination of its composition, provenance, and reception. Washington-based collector Darryl Atwell joins Jeffreen Hayes, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow in African American Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art, on November 18 for the discussion The Collecting of African American Art IX: Collecting Black: An Anachronism. The complete history of The Collecting of African American Art series is available as audio podcasts on at http://www.nga.gov/podcasts/collectors.
All lecture programs are presented free of charge and take place on Sundays at 2:00 p.m. in the East Building Auditorium unless otherwise noted. Seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis.
Public Symposia
George Bellows
Friday, October 5, noon–5:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 6, 1:00–5:00 p.m.
Illustrated lectures by noted scholars, including David Curry, Adam Greenhalgh, David Lubin, Carol Troyen, David C. Ward, Mark White, Sean Wilentz, and Rebecca Zurier
Tony Smith at 100
Saturday, December 1, 2:00 p.m.
Participation by noted artists and scholars, including sculptor Charles Ray
This program is held in collaboration with Kiki Smith, Seton Smith, and the Tony Smith Estate.
Lecture Programs
"PASSAGE 7: John Cage"—incidents, texts, conversations, and music
Sunday, September 9, 2:00 p.m.
Jenny Lin, pianist, and Roger Reynolds, University Professor, University of California, San Diego
This program is held in collaboration with the John Cage Centennial Festival, Washington DC.
Gérôme: Celebrated, Vilified, Reconsidered
Sunday, September 16, 2:00 p.m.
Mary Morton, curator and head, department of French paintings, National Gallery of Art
Introduction to the Exhibition—"Shock of the News"
Sunday, September 23, 2:00 p.m.
Judith Brodie, curator and head, department of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art
Book signing of Shock of the News follows.
The Serial Portrait: Photography and Identity in the Last One Hundred Years
Sunday, September 30, 2:00 p.m.
Ksenya Gurshtein, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, National Gallery of Art, and Sarah Kennel, associate curator, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art
Roy Lichtenstein: Reading between the Dots
Sunday, October 14, 2:00 p.m.
Harry Cooper, curator and head, department of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art
Book signing of Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective follows.
Imperial Augsburg: A Flourishing Market for Innovative Prints
Sunday, October 21, 2:00 p.m.
Gregory Jecmen, associate curator, department of old master prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art
Book signing of Imperial Augsburg: Renaissance Prints and Drawings, 1475–1540 follows.
THE DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL LECTURE SERIES
Inside Out
Sunday, October 28, noon
Joel Shapiro, artist
Triumphs in Craftsmanship: Masterpieces of American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection, 1700-1830
October 28, 2:00 p.m.
Wendy A. Cooper, Wendy A. Cooper, Lois F. and Henry S. McNeil Senior Curator of Furniture, Winterthur Museum
THE SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG LECTURE ON ITALIAN ART
"Not a painting, but a vision!": Raphael's Sistine Madonna Turns 500
Sunday, November 11, 2:00 p.m.
Andreas Henning, curator of Italian paintings, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
The Collecting of African American Art IX: Collecting Black: An Anachronism
Sunday, November 18, 2:00 p.m.
Darryl Atwell, collector, and Jeffreen Hayes, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow in African American Art, Birmingham Museum of Art
Germany in the 1920s: Expanding the Film Avant-Garde beyond the Political Divide
Sunday, December 2, 2:00 p.m.
Thomas Elsaesser, senior fellow, International College of Cultural Technologies and Media Theory, Weimar, Germany
Living with the Dead in France: Nineteenth-Century Tomb Sculpture
Sunday, December 9, 2:00 p.m.
Suzanne Glover Lindsay, adjunct associate professor in the history of art, University of Pennsylvania
Book signing of Funerary Arts and Tomb Cult—Living with the Dead in France, 1750–1870 follows.
Roy Lichtenstein: Voices from the Archives
Sunday, December 16, 2:00 p.m.
Avis Berman, writer, art historian, and consultant for oral history, Roy Lichtenstein Foundation
Works in Progress
All lectures take place on Mondays in the East Building Small Auditorium at 12:10 and 1:10 p.m.
"Mme Lesbos was run over by a tourist omnibus drawn by six horses. It happened in Versailles": Artists and the Modern Newspaper
Monday, September 10, 12:10 and 1:10 p.m.
Judith Brodie, curator and head, department of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art
"Eyear": The OHO Collective's Work across Media
Monday, September 24, 12:10 and 1:10 p.m.
Ksenya Gurshtein, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, National Gallery of Art
Art and Espionage: Michael Straight's Giorgione
Monday, October 1, 12:10 and 1:10 p.m.
David Alan Brown, curator of Italian and Spanish paintings, National Gallery of Art
"Lest We Be Shamed": Italian Renaissance Taste for Textile Ensembles
Monday, October 15, 12:10 and 1:10 p.m.
Rosamond Mack, independent scholar
The Legacy of Farm Security Administration Imagery in Postwar Italian Photography
Monday, October 29, 12:10 and 1:10 p.m.
Lindsay Harris, exhibition research assistant, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art
From Brush to Burin: Portrait Prints from the Kraus Collection
Monday, November 5, 12:10 and 1:10 p.m.
Molli Kuenstner, image specialist for northern European art, National Gallery of Art
Gauguin's "Brittany Landscape": Compositional Transformation and Intentional Ambiguity
Monday, November 19, 12:10 and 1:10 p.m.
Carol Christensen, senior painting conservator, National Gallery of Art
Winslow Homer's Risk Analysis: Perils of the Sea, Salvation, and Insurance
Monday, December 3, 12:10 and 1:10 p.m.
Adam Greenhalgh, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, National Gallery of Art
"Common Painting" and "Diligent Fiddling": Technical Study for Insight into Dürer's Early Styles
Monday, December 10, 12:10 and 1:10 p.m.
Melanie Gifford, research conservator, National Gallery of Art
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