National Gallery Of Art | Audio

Teju Cole, artist, curator, novelist, photography critic for New York Times Magazine (2015–2019), and Gore Vidal Professor of the Practice of Creative Writing, Harvard University, in conversation with Fazal Sheikh, artist and Artist-in-Residence at the Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University Teju Cole was born in the United States in 1975. The son of Nigerian parents, he was raised in Lagos. He returned to the US to complete a BA at Kalamazoo College in Michigan followed by studies in art history at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London as well as at Columbia University. Cole’s work examines race, gender, migration, culture, and privilege. Born in New York City in 1965, Fazal Sheikh earned his BA from Princeton University in 1987 and has since worked as a photographer documenting the lives of individuals in displaced and marginalized communities. Upon witnessing an increase in xenophobia and authoritarian politics on a global scale, Sheikh turned to Cole for a

Reginald Dwayne Betts- poet and PhD in Law candidate, Yale Law School; Candice C. Jones, president and CEO, Public Welfare Foundation of Washington, DC; Richard Ross, artist and Distinguished Research Professor of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara In a previously recorded conversation, artist Richard Ross; Candice C. Jones, president and CEO of Public Welfare Foundation; and poet and legal scholar Reginald Dwayne Betts discuss the role of the arts in eliciting, supporting, perhaps demanding social change. Together, as activists and artists, they unpack the complex interplay between art, institutions, and advocacy. An award-winning memoirist and poet, Betts has written extensively on the American legal and justice system, telling his own stories of injustice and bringing to light those of others. He conceptualized and brought to life—through a joint partnership with Yale Law School’s Justice Collaboratory and support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation—the Million Book Project, which will dis

Mary Kelly, artist and Judge Widney Professor in the Roski School of Art and Design, University of Southern California, in conversation with Shelley Langdale, curator and head of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art. Mary Kelly is a conceptual artist and writer who lives and works in Los Angeles. For four decades she has explored ideas concerning identity, sexuality, history, and memory through large-scale narrative installations. Kelly has been a central figure in discussions of feminism in art, and her practice incorporates the personal residue and material processes of daily life that inform her political reflections. Kelly, who was engaged in feminist theory and the women’s movement, began her critique of conceptualism after moving to London in 1968, at the height of the student movements and civil unrest throughout Europe. Her ground-breaking series Post-Partum Document (1973-1979), which explores the intimate relationship between a mother and her child, caused a media frenzy when it opene

American film director, writer, and producer Julie Dash is a member of the L.A. Rebellion, a generation of African and African American artists who studied at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television from the late 1960s to the late 1980s. These young filmmakers crafted a new Black cinema—an alternative to the classical Hollywood canon. Dash discusses her early life in New York City and her involvement with the art and politics of filmmaking through her association with the Studio Museum of Harlem, a connection that ultimately led to her participation in the L.A. Rebellion. Her 1991 feature Daughters of the Dust, a fictionalized retelling of her father’s Gullah family roots, became the first full-length film directed by an African American woman to obtain general theatrical release in the United States.

In this lecture, released on October 30, 2020, Megan Holmes of the University of Michigan discusses the handled surfaces of panel paintings. Collections of Italian Renaissance panel paintings were in many cases assembled through a process of connoisseurial evaluation. The National Gallery of Art collection is no exception: a number of the paintings passed that evaluative scrutiny in spite of surface damage in the form of intentional scratches—noted in later conservation reports as “vandalism.” Defacement and disfiguration are, in fact, fairly common features of panel paintings, but they are rarely mentioned in art-historical accounts. The paintings, once installed in religious, domestic, and civic spaces in Renaissance Italy, were acted upon and transformed by the people who encountered and used them in their daily lives. The recovery of representational scratches provides a timely opportunity to tell the history of Italian Renaissance art differently, revealing the complex earlier “lives” of paintings in the

David Bomford (former conservation chair, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and 2018 Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professor at the National Gallery of Art) discusses the importance of Édouard Manet’s The Railway (1873), painted at a pivotal moment both in the artist’s life and for the city of Paris. Identifying the setting and the sitters in the painting as well as Manet’s innovations in painting technique, Professor Bomford shares what makes this painting one he most admires in the collection.

Introductory remarks by Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery of Art, and Lonnie G. Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; conversation with artists Lyle Ashton Harris, Curlee Raven Holton, Keith Morrison, Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Jefferson Pinder, Frank Stewart, and Carrie Mae Weems, moderated by Sarah Workneh, codirector of Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture; and Q&A joined by scholars Valerie Cassel Oliver, Julie L. McGee, and Alvia J. Wardlaw Kaywin Feldman and Lonnie G. Bunch III introduce this artist conversation held on September 17, 2020, as part of the John Wilmerding Symposium on American Art, A Tribute to David C. Driskell. Moderated by Sarah Workneh, artists Lyle Ashton Harris, Curlee Raven Holton, Keith Morrison, Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Jefferson Pinder, Frank Stewart, and Carrie Mae Weems gather to discuss Driskell’s impact on their own practices as artists and teachers. During a public Q&A, the artists are joined by scholars Valerie Cassel Oliver, Julie L. McGee, and

David Gariff, senior lecturer, National Gallery of Art The 2020 summer series of lectures presented by the education division explores the theme of Staycation. Many of us may be spending this summer close to home, but we can still dream and learn about beautiful places. In these talks, Gallery lecturers will present a tour of six of the world’s great cities. Few regions of Europe can rival the French Riviera’s combination of magical light, mild climate, colorful landscapes, and living history. Long a magnet for foreign artists—including Monet, Renoir, Bonnard, Matisse, Picasso, and Chagall—the Côte d’Azur and its scenery, people, and traditions have inspired some of modern art’s most iconic paintings and sculptures. In this lecture, recorded on DAY, 2020, senior lecturer David Gariff discusses the historical significance and impact of the French Riviera on 20th-century art, examining the inspiration artists found in locations such as Nice, Saint-Tropez, and Collioure.

David Gariff, senior lecturer, National Gallery of Art. The 2020 summer series of lectures presented by the education division explores the theme of Staycation. Many of us may be spending this summer close to home, but we can still dream and learn about beautiful places. In these talks, Gallery lecturers will present a tour of six of the world’s great cities. Milan, Italy, is very much a tale of two cities—one that looks back to an illustrious past, while the other celebrates its present and reinvents itself for the future. In this lecture, recorded on DAY, 2020, senior lecturer David Gariff presents a survey of the city’s rich history and explores some of its contributions to politics, economics, religion, art, literature, music, architecture, fashion, and design. Milan’s native-born and temporary residents included at various times Saint Ambrose, Leonardo da Vinci, and Giuseppe Verdi, to name only a few. In 2020, Milan announced an ambitious scheme to carry the city into a new future, stressing sustainabili

Terence Washington, departments of academic programs and modern art, National Gallery of Art Between the late 19th and the mid-20th centuries, white Americans conducted thousands of lynchings, using these extrajudicial killings to intimidate non-whites and mete out what they considered to be justice. Increasingly, photographs were taken of lynchings and spectators and were distributed to extend the effect of the mobs’ violent tactics. A 1930 photograph by Lawrence Beitler (1885–1960) of a lynching in Marion, Indiana, inspired the song “Strange Fruit” and contributed to the anti-lynching movement in the United States. Terence Washington examines the photograph and the events surrounding the lynching, taking the blurry figure in the photograph’s foreground as a point of departure to discuss the mechanisms of American white supremacy.

Kimberly Drew, writer, curator, and activist; Alicia Hall Moran, artist, composer, and mezzo-soprano; and Imani Uzuri, composer, librettist, and 2019-2020 Hutchins Fellow, W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University. Edgar Degas's (1834–1917) renowned images of the Paris Opéra are among the most sophisticated and visually compelling works he created. Celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Opéra’s founding, Degas at the Opéra presents approximately 100 of the artist’s best-known and beloved works in a range of media. In celebration of this exhibition on June 17, 2020, Kimberly A. Jones, curator of 19th-century French paintings, welcomes Kimberly Drew, Alicia Hall Moran, and Imani Uzuri to discuss the influence of opera on contemporary artists’ practices. Their conversation expands upon an Office magazine interview conducted by Drew about the possibilities of opera as the architecture for Black cultural production. Together they explore th

Thomas Kren (former associate director for collections, J. Paul Getty Museum and 2016 Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professor at the National Gallery of Art) examines Saint Apollonia Destroys a Pagan Idol, part of an altarpiece by Giovanni d’Alemagna. Kren describes the inherent tension between the artist’s use of pious subjects and the beautiful, at times sensual, representation of the nude. Even as the early Christian saint attacks the pagan statue of Apollo, this painting exemplifies a paradoxical embrace of ancient sculptural and architectural forms that characterized Renaissance art.

Julie Carmean, manager of national teacher programs, National Gallery of Art, and Sara Lesk, manager of Art Around the Corner, National Gallery of Art. Using Harvard Project Zero’s Artful Thinking Routines and the Gallery’s collection, Julie Carmean and Sara Lesk transformed research into practice by creating the Gallery’s first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). The MOOC provides pre-service, K–12, and museum educators with a free opportunity to bring critical thinking through art to students around the world. In this conversation, held on January 27, 2019, as part of the Works in Progress Lecture Series, Julie and Sara present an overview of the history of the project, a glimpse inside the course, and current data from online learners and discuss the project’s future.

Cecilia Frosinini (Opificio delle Pietre Dure e Laboratori di Restauro, Florence, and former Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professor at the National Gallery of Art), explores how Giotto conveys a new painterly language of feeling and devotion that expresses human relationships and bodily presence.

Paul Mellon, American philanthropist, art collector, and founding benefactor and trustee of the National Gallery of Art. The National Gallery of Art was created on March 17, 1937, by a joint resolution of Congress accepting the gift of financier and art collector Andrew W. Mellon. Designed by John Russell Pope, the West Building was made possible by construction funds provided by the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust. In this speech, recorded during evening ceremonies on March 17, 1941, Paul Mellon presents the completed West Building of the Gallery and the art collection of Andrew W. Mellon to the people of the United States. He describes the realization of his father’s gift, which was made possible by the support of the president and other government officials; acknowledges the generosity of others who supported his father’s vision; and commends the contributions of individuals and craftsmen involved in the building’s construction.

Charles Evans Hughes, 11th chief justice of the United States (1930–1941) and chairman of the National Gallery of Art (1937–1941). The National Gallery of Art was created on March 17, 1937, by a joint resolution of Congress accepting the gift of financier and art collector Andrew W. Mellon. Designed by John Russell Pope, the West Building was made possible by construction funds provided by the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust. In this speech, recorded during evening ceremonies on March 17, 1941, Chief Justice Hughes describes Mellon’s efforts to create a national art gallery for the people of the United States and introduces Paul Mellon, one of the featured speakers.

Samuel H. Kress, American businessman and philanthropist. The National Gallery of Art was created on March 17, 1937, by a joint resolution of Congress accepting the gift of financier and art collector Andrew W. Mellon. Designed by John Russell Pope, the West Building was made possible by construction funds provided by the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust. In this speech, recorded during evening ceremonies on March 17, 1941, Kress describes his collection of Italian paintings and sculptures, and gifts these artworks to the Gallery and the people of the United States.

Heidi Applegate, guest lecturer. In this lecture, presented at the National Gallery of Art on December 9, 2019, guest lecturer Heidi Applegate explored the depiction of cats across a wide range of artistic media, genres, and styles in the Gallery’s collection. Throughout history, artists have represented lions as the trusted companions of gods and saints and as a symbol of royalty, courage, and strength. Other feline species—domestic cats in particular—may often represent less noble qualities.

Mary Morton, curator and head of French paintings, National Gallery of Art Auguste Renoir rebelled against the standards of the official art world, like other impressionists, pushing the limits of painting and creating his distinct style. But Renoir, in particular, has become an all-too-easy target for museumgoers who find his late female figures contrived and his palette cloying. Marking the centennial of the artist’s death in 1919, Mary Morton counters the anti-Renoir movement by reaffirming the artist’s achievement and lasting significance within the history of Western art in her lecture on December 3, 2019.

Kellie Jones, Columbia University. In this lecture, presented on November 6, 2019, Kellie Jones, of Columbia University, looks at international conceptual art networks and the making of global community in the late twentieth century. The lecture considers moments in the global reach of performance art in the 1970s in locales from Mexico City to London to Los Angeles, considering projects by artists including Felipe Ehrenberg, Lourdes Grobet, Adrian Piper, Senga Nengudi, and David Lamelas.