This audio series offers entertaining, informative discussions about the arts and events at the National Gallery of Art. Notable Lectures podcasts gives access to special Gallery talks by well-known artists, authors, curators, and historians. Included in this podcast listing are established series:
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.
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Part II David Bindman, emeritus professor of the history of art, University College London; Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University; and Sharmila Sen, executive editor-at-large, Harvard University Press. Moderated by Faya Causey, head of academic programs, National Gallery of Art.
Since the initial Washington launch of the Image of the Black in Western Art series at the National Gallery of Art in December 2010, two new volumes have been published, bringing the total to six of the ten planned. This panel discussion celebrates the publication of the latest two volumes in this landmark series, which examines the 16th through the 18th century. The 18th century, in particular, was a significant period that saw European slavery reach its apogee and the rise of the abolition movement. Recorded on December 11, 2011, this podcast features Professor David Bindman, who briefly introduces the series and highlights selections from the new volumes; Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. discusses portraits of the real people depicted; and editor Sharmila Sen speaks on the publication of the new volumes.
Florence: Days of Destruction Bryan Draper, Collections Conservator, University of Maryland Libraries; Norvell Jones, retired Chief of the Document Conservation Branch, National Archives; and Sheila Waters, calligrapher
Recalling the 45th anniversary of the catastrophic flood of Florence in 1966, the National Gallery of Art—in association with the University of Maryland Libraries—
presented a rare screening of Franco Zeffirelli's Florence: Days of Destruction (Per Firenze) on November 5, 2011. The famed Italian director's sole documentary is a heartfelt call to action containing the only known footage of the flood, accented by Richard Burton's voiceover commentary. The film is in the collection of the University of Maryland Libraries, College Park. Program speakers included Bryan Draper, Collections Conservator, University of Maryland Libraries; Norvell Jones, retired Chief of the Document Conservation Branch, National Archives; and Sheila Waters, calligrapher, who participated in the conservation efforts in post-flood Florence.
Some Pages from Michelangelo's Life Leonard Barkan, Class of 1943 University Professor and chair, department of comparative literature, Princeton University
Michelangelo is justly revered not only for his painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, his Moses sculpture, and the plans for St. Peter's Basilica, but also for having produced one of the most exquisite collections of drawings the art world has ever known. It is rarely noticed, however, that fully a third of his drawings also contain his handwriting, including everything from poetry to letters to throwaway memos. In this lecture recorded on October 16, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, Professor Leonard Barkan discusses the new Michelangelo who emerges when these sheets of paper are examined and attention is paid to the draftsmanship and the poetry, the doodles and the scribbles.
Leonardo da Vinci: Artist of Sketchbooks and Notebooks Carmen Bambach, Andrew W. Mellon Professor, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art
Leonardo da Vinci is famous for his masterpieces of painting, such as the Ginevra de' Benci portrait at the National Gallery of Art. He is no less famous for his profoundly modern, inquisitive mind as a thinker and inventor. Little is understood about his activity as an author of sketchbooks and notebooks, which provide an important key to understanding his masterpieces. In this podcast recorded on October 30, 2011 at the National Gallery of Art, Carmen Bambach discusses how the drawings and writings of Leonardo da Vinci offer a moving and intimate insight into the complex and sometimes paradoxical workings of his genius mind.
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.
Teaching Connoisseurship: Paul Sachs at Harvard University and Bernard Berenson at Villa I Tatti David Alan Brown, curator of Italian and Spanish paintings, National Gallery of Art
Curator David Alan Brown discusses the impact that American art historians Paul Sachs (1878-1965) and Bernard Berenson (1865–1959) had on connoisseurship in this Works in Progress lecture recorded on December 7, 2009 at the National Gallery of Art. Sachs and Berenson agreed on the nature of connoisseurship and its importance on the history of art, but disagreed greatly on how to teach it. Brown compares and contrasts how the two men imparted the discipline, and what their methods reveal about their individual personalities and goals.
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.
Introduction to the Exhibition—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.
The Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art 2011: Bernard Berenson and Lorenzo Lotto Carl Brandon Strehlke, adjunct curator, John G. Johnson Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art
In 1895 Bernard Berenson (1865–1959), American art historian and connoisseur, published a long-awaited monograph on Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto; it was Berenson's first statement about the then relatively new science of connoisseurship. Toward the end of his life Berenson remembered that since writing that book, in which he had tried to regulate every knowable mood of an artist, he had almost never again "taken creative interest in the private, biological, and sociological lives of painters." As part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series, recorded on November 13, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, Carl Brandon Strehlke explores why Berenson selected Lotto as an artist and as a subject for a study that he described as "an essay in constructive art criticism."
Conversations with Artists: Mel Bochner Mel Bochner, artist, in conversation with James Meyer, associate curator of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art
Mel Bochner is one of the leading figures of conceptual and post-conceptual art. Between 1966 and 1968, he developed a series of portrait drawings based on the thesaurus. These works enlist a private language of synonyms and shapes to depict such contemporaries as Eva Hesse, Robert Smithson, and Sol LeWitt. In 2001, after a hiatus of more than three decades, Bochner again turned to the thesaurus to develop a series of paintings and drawings derived from everyday speech. Boldly colored and impressive in scale, these works are among the most ambitious of the artist's career. To mark the opening of the exhibition In the Tower: Mel Bochner, Bochner appears in conversation with exhibition curator James Meyer in this podcast recorded on November 9, 2011.
Morse at the Louvre David McCullough, author and art historian
A two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning author and recipient of the National Book Award, David McCullough discusses his new book, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. In this podcast recorded on September 26, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, McCullough tells the story of America's longstanding love affair with Paris through vivid portraits of dozens of significant characters. Notably, artist Samuel F. B. Morse is depicted as he worked on his masterpiece The Gallery of the Louvre. McCullough spoke at the Gallery in honor of the exhibition A New Look: Samuel F. B. Morse's "Gallery of the Louvre," on view from June 25, 2011, to July 8, 2012. The exhibition and program were coordinated with and supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Warhol: Headlines Symposium
The Warhol: Headlines exhibition, on view at the National Gallery of Art from September 25, 2011, through January 2, 2012, defines and brings together works that Andy Warhol based largely on headlines from the tabloid news. Held in conjunction with the exhibition, this symposium features four lectures, each offering new perspectives from which to consider Warhol's multifaceted treatment of the media.
Introduction Molly Donovan, associate curator of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art, and curator of Warhol: Headlines
Mass, Collectivity, and All the Rest Fred Tomaselli, artist
"A Kind of Mental Braille:" Reading, Writing, and Touch in Warhol's Early Newspaper Drawings Neil Printz, editor of The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné
Andy Warhol and the Color-line Jonathan Flatley, associate professor of English, Wayne State University
Warhol among the Art Directors Thomas Crow, Rosalie Solow Professor of Modern Art and associate provost for the arts, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
The Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art 2004: The Third Italian Renaissance: Art of the Lombard Plain Charles Dempsey, professor of Italian Renaissance and Baroque art, The Johns Hopkins University
In this podcast recorded on November 14, 2004, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series, Charles Dempsey argues that Lombard colorism— exemplified by Correggio and Garofalo—ought to be considered the third Italian Renaissance. Giorgio Vasari's 16th-century account of Renaissance and High Renaissance art as bipolar opposites—Renaissance art as the perfect union of Florentine disegno with the legacy of classical art in Rome and High Renaissance art prominent in Venice as a naturalistic style deficient in disegno but worthy in its color—led the art of the Lombard Plain to be unsatisfactorily assimilated into the general history of the period. Dempsey explains that paintings by the Carracci demonstrate their recognition of all three Renaissance styles. In combining these styles, the Carracci made a reform of painting that led to baroque art in the 17th century.
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.
Americans Collect Italian Renaissance Art David Alan Brown, curator of Italian and Spanish paintings, National Gallery of Art
As part of the Works in Progress lecture series on March 2, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, curator David Alan Brown discusses the formation of great collections of Italian Renaissance art in the United States. Brown emphasizes the important role that Bernard Berenson (1865–1959), American art historian and connoisseur, and Joseph Duveen (1869-1939), British art dealer, played in late 19th-century American collections. Equally important were the wealthy industrialists of America's gilded age, including Henry Clay Frick, Samuel H. Kress, Andrew W. Mellon, and Joseph E. Widener, who sought to revamp the country's cultural landscape by collecting these masterpieces and giving them to museum collections for the public.
Introduction to the Exhibition—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.
The Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art 2000: The Fashioning of a Public Persona: Duchess Eleonora di Toledo's Ceremonial Dress and Her Portraits by Bronzino Janet Cox-Rearick, distinguished professor of art history, City University of New York
Professor Janet Cox-Rearick reveals the secret of Bronzino's success as the only portrait painter for Eleonora di Toledo, wife of Cosimo de' Medici, duke of Florence, in this Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art recorded on November 12, 2000. In the Renaissance, fashion and the act of fashioning could transform the wearer. Following from the Italian proverb that cloth and color lend honor to a man, the choice of clothing and jewels and their degree of traditionalism, innovation, and luxury was dictated by a social hierarchy. After 1537 under Duke Cosimo I, ceremony clothes became a semiological system designed to present the public persona of their princely wearers. In this lecture, Cox-Rearick explains four types of documentary and visual evidence about the ceremonial dress worn by Eleonora di Toledo.
The Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art 2002: The Turning Figure Nicholas Penny, senior curator of sculpture and decorative arts, National Gallery of Art
For the annual Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art, recorded on November 17, 2002, Nicholas Penny discussed aspects of the relationship between painting and sculpture in the 15th and 16th centuries. In particular, Penny focused on a subject no one has addressed with greater eloquence than Sydney J. Freedberg: the way that figures occupy and define space in early 16th-century Italian art. This contest between the qualities proper to painting and sculpture in the representation of space and linear perspective is explored through works in the National Gallery, London, and National Gallery of Art collections.
The Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art 2001: Michelangelo and the Medici: From Florentine Prodigy to Tuscan Icon Caroline Elam, editor, The Burlington Magazine, London
In this Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art, recorded on November 11, 2001, Caroline Elam explains the historical actualities of Michelangelo's relationship with the Medici and its effect on his reputation. Unwilling to remain under the authority of Medici dukedom and the republican government in Florence, Michelangelo lived outside his native city for 30 years until his death in 1564. During this absence from Florence, Michelangelo became the greatest living artist in Italy and the preeminent embodiment of an ideal Tuscan cultural supremacy. His status as a Tuscan icon was due in part to Medici propaganda. Duke Cosimo I recognized the importance of cultural politics in controlling the state and needed Michelangelo to that end. Elam explores how Michelangelo was unusually successful at resisting this propaganda, as well as the complexity of his own political beliefs and allegiances.
Art Theft and the Tate's Stolen Turners Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London
In 1994 two important paintings by J.M.W. Turner were stolen from a public gallery in Frankfurt, Germany, while on loan from the Tate in London. In this podcast recorded on September 15, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art Sandy Nairne reveals his own involvement, as then director of programs at the Tate, in the pursuit of the pictures and in the negotiation for their return. Nairne shares this story in his new book, Art Theft and the Tate's Stolen Turners, also examining other high-value art thefts and trying to solve the puzzle of why thieves steal well-known works of art that cannot be sold, even on the black market.
The Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art 1999: Art and Science in the Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci James S. Ackerman, professor emeritus of the history of art and architecture, Harvard University
Leonardo da Vinci was the only artist of his time to have an intense interest in science. Evident in his sketchbooks, this interest led to his detailed biology and nature studies. In this podcast recorded on November 14, 1999, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art Series, Professor James S. Ackerman discusses how Leonardo occupied himself by expressing the forces of nature, not just the experience of nature. Leonardo established art as a communication of visual experience and as a means to discover both nature and invention. As Leonardo said, "Painting compels the mind of the painter to transform itself to the very mind of nature—to become an interpreter between nature and art."
The Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art 1998: A Carpaccio Masterpiece Rediscovered William R. Rearick, professor emeritus, University of Maryland
Following the disastrous Venice floods on November 4, 1966, the Venice Committee of the International Fund for Monuments was established to restore and preserve the artistic heritage of the city. In 1971 Sydney J. Freedberg and John and Betty McAndrew established Save Venice Inc., an American branch of the Venice Committee. Following Freedberg's death in 1997, Save Venice Inc. decided to restore a painting in his honor. Supper at Emmaus (1513), in the Church of San Salvador, was chosen for this project; restoration began in January 1998. In this podcast recorded on November 22, 1998, at the National Gallery of Art, Professor William R. Rearick discusses the ensuing process of attribution from Bellini to Carpaccio, including fitting the painting into the arc of Carpaccio's career.
The Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art 1997: The Young Michelangelo Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt, professor, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
Little is known about the formative years of Michelangelo's career. Professor Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt discusses the myths of Michelangelo's early life generated by his biographical authors. Citing Vasari and Condivi's narratives, Professor Brandt tracks Michelangelo's professional infancy, revealing cover-ups of the setbacks, mistakes, and failures that plagued his early artistic career. Rather than deceitful omissions, Professor Brandt thinks of them "like other myths, as narratives reconstructed in each epoch to serve their narrators." Recorded on November 23, 1997, at the National Gallery of Art, this program is the inaugural lecture in the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series.
The Film-Makers' Cooperative at Fifty Jonas Mekas, filmmaker, poet, cofounder of Film Comment and the New America Cinema Group, and founder of Anthology Film Archives; Ken Jacobs, filmmaker, distinguished professor of cinema, S.U.N.Y. Binghampton, and founder of the Millenium Film Workshop; and M. M. Serra, filmmaker and executive director, Film-Makers' Cooperative
Fifty years ago, more than two dozen filmmakers wrote the manifesto of the New American Cinema Group/Film-Makers' Cooperative—a communal, collaborative organization founded on the principles of "self-sufficiency and free expression through the art of cinema." In celebration of the organization's formal incorporation on July 14, 1961, the National Gallery presented a series of five programs of films from the Co-op's impressive catalogue and hosted filmmakers Jonas Mekas, Ken Jacobs, and executive director M. M. Serra in July 2011.
My Faraway One: The Letters of Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, 1915-1933 Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs, National Gallery of Art
Sarah Greenough talks about her new book on the letters of Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, Volume One, 1915-1933, in this podcast recorded on September 18, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art. Greenough notes the insights provided by the correspondence on their art, their friendships with many key figures of early twentieth-century American art and culture, and, most especially, their relationship with each other.
In the Tower: Nam June Paik Symposium Christine Mehring, associate professor of art history and director of graduate studies, University of Chicago, and Stephen Vitiello, associate professor of kinetic imaging, Virginia Commonwealth University. Following the lectures is a conversation with Ken Hakuta, executor of the Nam June Paik estate, and Jon Huffman, curator of the Nam June Paik estate. Moderated by Harry Cooper, curator and head of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art.
Recorded on September 23, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, as the exhibition In the Tower: Nam June Paik drew to a close, this symposium considers the work of this pioneer of new media from his earliest explorations of television to his later experiments with sound and video. This exhibition is the third installation for the In the Tower series, which presents work by significant artists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This program is coordinated with and supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea.
Diamonstein-Spielvogel Lecture Series: Ann Hamilton Ann Hamilton, artist
On September 16, 2011, Ann Hamilton presented a lecture on her nearly 30-year career as part of the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Lecture Series at the National Gallery of Art. Hamilton has made multimedia installations with stunning qualities and quantities of materials: a room lined with small canvas dummies, a table spread with human and animal teeth, the artist herself wearing a man's suit covered in a layer of thousands of toothpicks. Along the way, she has constantly set and reset the course of contemporary art. Often using sound, found objects, and the spoken and written word, as well as photography and video, her objects and environments invite us to embark on sensory and metaphorical explorations of time, language, and memory. Textiles and fabric have consistently played an important role in her performances and installations—whether she is considering clothing as a membrane or (more recently) treating architecture itself as a kind of skin. The Gallery owns fifteen works by the artist, including photographs, prints, sculptures, and a video installation.
Conversations with Artists: Nancy Graves and Donald Saff Nancy Graves and Donald Saff, artists, in conversation with Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art
Artists Nancy Graves and Donald Saff, artist and founding director of Graphicstudio, discuss the formation of the Graphicstudio archive at the National Gallery of Art with Ruth Fine in this podcast recorded on October 6, 1991. This program was held in honor of the exhibition Graphicstudio: Contemporary Art from the Collaborative Workshop at the University of South Florida, which was on view from September 15, 1991, to January 5, 1992, and for which Graves completed her most recent work, Canoptic Legerdemain. The archive consists of 140 paintings, photographs, sculptures, and works in other media created by 24 artists who worked in collaboration with Graphicstudio's printers and artisans.
Michael Kahn and Shakespeare's Italy Michael Kahn, artistic director, Shakespeare Theatre Company, in conversation with Eric Denker, lecturer, National Gallery of Art, and Faya Causey, head of the department of academic programs, National Gallery of Art
Although he never traveled to Italy, William Shakespeare set many of his plays there. In this lecture Michael Kahn discusses many of Shakespeare's plays set in Italy, concentrating on The Merchant of Venice, which opened at the Harman Center for the Arts on June 21, 2011. This program, recorded on May 22, 2011, was organized in conjunction with the Gallery's exhibition Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals, on view from February 20, 2011, to May 30, 2011.
Conversations with Artists: Scott Burton and George Segal Scott Burton and George Segal, artists, in conversation with Nan Rosenthal, curator of 20th-century art, National Gallery of Art
In honor of A Century of Modern Sculpture: The Patsy and Raymond Nasher Collection, an exhibition on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 28, 1987, to February 15, 1988, Scott Burton and George Segal discussed their work with Nan Rosenthal. The exhibition featured a selection of 70 works of 20th-century sculpture, collected for the Nashers' home in Dallas, Texas, and for installation at a Dallas shopping center and office complex. Held on December 6, 1987, this conversation was the one of the first programs at the Gallery to feature two living artists. Both artists focused on making sculpture for public spaces in the late 1980s—spaces whose users represent a heterogeneous group in respect to their knowledge of art and their taste.
Conversations with Artists: Richard Misrach, Desert Cantos and Other Landscapes Richard Misrach, photographer
To coincide with the exhibition Carleton Watkins: The Art of Perception, on view from February 20 to May 7, 2000, Richard Misrach discussed his photographs of desert cantos and other landscapes as following in Watkins' legacy. The lecture took place on March 26, 2000. Misrach distinguished himself in his 30-year career as one of the most accomplished photographers of our time. His passionate and intelligent records of the American West present the chilling details of assaults on the landscape by contemporary civilization, while also eloquently revealing its enduring beauty. Misrach explains that although he was not conscious of Watkins' photographs, which evidence the man-made in Pacific Northwest landscapes and were taken more than a hundred years ago, the profound influence of his work is unmistakable.
Conversations with Artists: Ed Ruscha Ed Ruscha, artist
Ed Ruscha discusses his artistic processes and influences, and their relationship to photography, drawing, and pop culture in this podcast recorded on February 13, 2005, at the National Gallery of Art. This lecture marked the opening of Cotton Puffs, Q-Tips®, Smoke and Mirrors: The Drawings of Ed Ruscha, the first museum retrospective of the artist's drawings. The title of the exhibition refers to a quote from Ruscha about some of his drawing tools (cotton puffs and Q-tips®) and illusionary effects (smoke and mirrors). Featuring 89 works and 6 studio notebooks dated from 1959 to 2002, the retrospective traces Ruscha's career from early pop images of American commercial logos and gas stations to later images depicting words and phrases as subject matter.
Conversations with Artists: Pat Steir Pat Steir, artist, and Kathan Brown, founder and director of Crown Point Press, in conversation with Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art
In this podcast recorded on March 25, 1990, at the National Gallery of Art, Pat Steir appears in conversation with Kathan Brown to celebrate the exhibition The 1980s: Prints from the Collection of Joshua P. Smith. Moderated by exhibition curator Ruth Fine, the conversation explores the role that printmaking and the artist's involvement with Crown Point Press have played in her career. Also examined is Steir's use of paintings and drawings to address many of the important visual and conceptual issues of her generation.
Fifty-First A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts
The Moment of Caravaggio Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Professor and director of the Humanities Center, The Johns Hopkins University
In a series of six lectures, Michael Fried offers a compelling account of what he calls "the internal structure of the pictorial act" in the revolutionary art of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The accompanying publication, The Moment of Caravaggio, is available for purchase from the Gallery Shops.
Part 1: A New Type of Self-Portrait
In this audio podcast of the first lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 14, 2002, Professor Michael Fried opens the lecture series with a discussion of Caravaggio's Boy Bitten by a Lizard. He argues for its significance as a disguised self-portrait of the artist in the act of painting.
Part 2: Immersion and Specularity
In this audio podcast of the second lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 21, 2002, Professor Michael Fried addresses Caravaggio's engagement with the act of painting, and contrasts that with specular moments of detachment. Fried argues that this divided relationship lies at the heart of Caravaggio's most radical art.
Part 3: The Invention of Absorption
In this audio podcast of the third lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 28, 2002, Professor Michael Fried argues that Caravaggio's depiction of his figures as so deeply engrossed in what they are doing, feeling, and thinking is revolutionary.
Part 4: Absorption and Address
In this audio podcast of the fourth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 5, 2002, Professor Michael Fried explores how two polar entities in Caravaggio's art—absorption and address—lead to the emergence of the gallery picture.
Part 5: Severed Representations
In this audio podcast of the fifth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 12, 2002, Professor Michael Fried discusses how the "violent" birth of the full-blown gallery picture (as seen in Judith and Holoferenes) is figured in Caravaggio's art as beheading or decapitation, an allegory for the act of painting.
Part 6: Painting and Violence
In this audio podcast of the sixth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 19, 2002, Professor Michael Fried argues that Caravaggio's art should be understood not simply as a monument to a revolutionary style of pictorial realism, but also as an investigation into the psychic and physical dynamic that went into its making. Fried evokes this dynamic with concepts introduced in earlier lectures, including immersion and specularity, absorption and address, painting and mirroring, and optical and bodily modes of realism—what he calls "the internal structure of the pictorial act."
Conversations with Artists: Jim Dine Jim Dine, artist, in conversation with Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art
Shortly after the opening of the exhibition Graphicstudio: Contemporary Art from the Collaborative Workshop at the University of South Florida, Jim Dine discussed his works in the Graphicstudio archive at the National Gallery of Art with Ruth Fine on September 29, 1991. On view from September 15, 1991, to January 5, 1992, the exhibition featured 140 works by 24 artists, including two sculptures given by Dine from his own collection to complete the archive formed in 1986. Instead of looking back on his well-documented career, the conversation also focused on his recent work in printmaking and on a drawings series completed in the dead of night at a European museum.
The Unknown Modigliani Meryle Secrest, author
In this podcast recorded on June 19, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, author Meryle Secrest reveals a portrait of one of the 20th century's master painters and sculptors, Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920). Secrest is an accomplished biographer of art-world personalities such as Bernard Berenson, Joseph Duveen, Salvador Dalí, Kenneth Clark, and Frank Lloyd Wright. In her new book, Modigliani: A Life, Secrest shows to what lengths Modigliani went to hide his tuberculosis and cement his status as a major artist.
Conversations with Artists: Roy Lichtenstein Roy Lichtenstein, artist, in conversation with Jack Cowart, curator of 20th-century art, National Gallery of Art; introduction by Ruth Fine, curator of the department of graphic arts, National Gallery of Art
American artist Roy Lichtenstein appears in conversation with curator Jack Cowart to celebrate the exhibition Gemini G.E.L.: Art and Collaboration, on view at the National Gallery of Art from November 18, 1984, to February 24, 1985. In this recording from January 27, 1985, Lichtenstein discusses some of his 134 prints in the Gemini G.E.L. collection. Gemini G.E.L. (Graphic Edition Limited) is an artists' workshop and publisher of hand-printed limited-edition lithographs. Gemini G.E.L. played a pivotal role in the formation of the Gallery's contemporary collection when Sidney B. Felsen and Stanley Grinstein, owners of Gemini, donated 256 prints and sculpture editions by 22 contemporary American artists working at Gemini G.E.L. of Los Angeles. The archive collection now has more than 1,200 works, establishing the Gallery as a primary research center in the field of contemporary graphic art and edition sculpture.
Decoding Baltz's Prototypes Britt Salvesen, curator and head, Wallis Annenberg Photography Department and prints and drawings department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
In his Prototypes series of photographs, Lewis Baltz represented the built environment of the 1960s and 1970s. He critiqued modernist aspirations while examining commercial realities. In this lecture recorded on June 5, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, Britt Salvesen examines Baltz's work and several different visual sources available to him, from the Case Study houses as photographed by Julius Shulman to minimalist painting and sculpture, to Ed Ruscha and New Topographics. This lecture was presented in conjunction with the Gallery's exhibition Lewis Baltz: Prototypes/Ronde de Nuit, on view until July 31, 2011.
Conversations with Artists: Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, artists, in conversation with Germano Celant, senior curator of contemporary art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; introduction by Marla Prather, associate curator of 20th-century art, National Gallery of Art
Claes Oldenberg (born 1929) and Coosje van Bruggen (1942-2009) transform familiar objects through their sculptures and give them a new reality filled with mystery, humor, and sensuality. Gemano Celant, organizing curator of the travelling exhibition Claes Oldenburg: An Anthology, on view at the Gallery from February 12 to May 7, 1995, joins the artists in this lecture. In this recording from March 5, 1995, the trio discuss the art in the exhibition—the first survey of their art since 1969—and how it offers a sense of interaction unlike anything else in a museum.
Celebrating Seventy Years Maygene Daniels, Chief of Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art
On March 17, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the completed West Building of the National Gallery of Art and the collection of financier and art collector Andrew W. Mellon on behalf of the people of the United States. To commemorate the 70th anniversary of this event, Maygene Daniels presented this lecture on March 17, 2011. Daniels provides a comprehensive and fascinating overview of the Gallery's past seven decades, including the opening of the East Building on June 1, 1978, when President Jimmy Carter accepted it on behalf of the nation; and the May 23, 1999, opening of the 6.1-acre Sculpture Garden. Blockbuster exhibitions and visits by celebrities, royalty, and heads of state are also highlighted.
Conversations with Artists: Christo and Jeanne-Claude Christo and Jeanne-Claude, artists
To celebrate the opening of the exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude in the Vogel Collection on February 3, 2002, at the National Gallery of Art, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude discussed their realized and non-realized projects. Featuring 72 works representing four decades of the artists' careers, the exhibition included preparatory drawings, collages, scale models for proposed large-scale works, and photographs of completed projects. In this podcast, the artists share their thoughts on The Gates, Project for Central Park, New York City; Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin; and Valley Curtain, Grand Hogback, Rifle, Colorado.
The Role of Art in Diplomacy Robert Storr, Yale School of Art, and artists Odili Donald Odita, Joel Shapiro, and Carrie Mae Weems. Moderated by Harry Cooper, curator of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art
In collaboration with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE), the National Gallery of Art hosted this panel discussion on May 20, 2011. The panel discussed FAPE's landmark project at the US Mission to the United Nations in New York City. FAPE contributed the art collection for this important post, including three site-specific installations and more than 200 works by more than 50 American artists. Odili Donald Odita completed two wall murals in the lobby and on the second floor, and Carrie Mae Weems donated her photographs to the collection. Also discussed was Joel Shapiro's future installation at the Consulate General of the United States in Guangzhou, China, commissioned by FAPE for 2012.
Download FAPE information sheet (PDF 3.36MB)
Gauguin's Selves: Visual Identities in the Age of Freud Richard Brettell, Margaret McDermott Distinguished Chair of Art and Aesthetics, Interdisciplinary Program in Arts and Humanities, University of Texas at Dallas
Professor Richard Brettell examines the self-exploration that is present in the many portraits artist Paul Gauguin painted of himself. Brettell offers a new and introspective insight into the artist's life, showing him not only as a painter, but also as a man. This podcast was recorded on June 4, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, during the last weekend of the exhibition Gauguin: Maker of Myth.
Elson Lecture 2004: Jim Dine Jim Dine, artist, in conversation with Judith Brodie, curator of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art
In the first of two appearances at the National Gallery of Art to celebrate the Drawings of Jim Dine exhibition, Jim Dine participated in the annual Elson Lecture Series with Judith Brodie on March 16, 2004. Dine begins by discussing his life as an artist, the formative events in his career, and the emotional and romantic qualities entailed in the act of drawing. A consummate draftsman, Dine explains that "drawing is not an exercise. Exercise is sitting on a stationary bicycle and going nowhere. Drawing is being on a bicycle and taking a journey. For me to succeed in drawing, I must go fast and arrive somewhere. The quest is to keep the thing alive..."
Elson Lecture 2003: Sam Gilliam Sam Gilliam, artist, in conversation with Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art
For the 10th annual Elson Lecture, recorded on April 28, 2003, at the National Gallery of Art, Sam Gilliam discussed his artistic training at the University of Louisville (BFA 1955, MFA 1961) and his DC-based career since 1962. In conversation with Ruth Fine, Gilliam explained his transition from an expressionistic figurative style to the abstract painting associated with the Washington Color School. His painting took on several three-dimensional formats, starting with his draped canvases that eschewed the use of stretchers to take their own forms in space. By 2003, Gilliam's work had been the subject of more than 30 solo exhibitions internationally and was represented in dozens of museum collections and public installations. His painting titled Relative (1969) was acquired by the Gallery in 1994.
Elson Lecture 2005: Andy Goldsworthy Andy Goldsworthy, artist
Two weeks after finishing his site-specific installation, Roof, on the Ground Level of the East Building of the National Gallery of Art, British artist Andy Goldsworthy returned to the Gallery to present the Elson Lecture on March 17, 2005. His lecture describes the working process involved for his concurrent exhibitions The Andy Goldsworthy Project and Andy Goldsworthy: Roof, which first showed the permanent sculpture of nine stacked slate domes, completed over the course of nine weeks in the winter of 2004-2005. Goldsworthy notes that the installation required him to stay in one place longer than he had in nearly 20 years. As an artist who uses natural materials to create both ephemeral work in landscapes and permanent sculptures, Goldsworthy explains his interest in change and the value of returning to the same place to get deeper and deeper into it.
Elson Lecture 2002: Christo and Jeanne-Claude Christo and Jeanne-Claude, artists
Artists Christo (b. 1935) and Jeanne-Claude (1935–2009) redefined the artistic practice by taking their art out of a museum setting and into urban and natural environments. In this podcast recorded on March 13, 2002, the pair makes their second appearance at the Gallery while the exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude in the Vogel Collection was on view. By examining their past and future projects, Christo and Jeanne-Claude explain how the communal construction efforts and the temporary status of their installations have contributed to their impressive qualities.
Elson Lecture 2000: Wayne Thiebaud: "The Painted World" Wayne Thiebaud, artist
American artist and teacher Wayne Thiebaud discusses the important differences between "painting" and "art" in this podcast recorded on March 1, 2000, at the National Gallery of Art. This lecture was held in conjunction with the exhibition Twentieth-Century American Art: The Ebsworth Collection, on view at the Gallery from March 5 through June 11, 2000, which featured Thiebaud's Bakery Counter (1962). Emblematic of his signature commentary on mass culture, Bakery Counter compliments the Gallery's own Cakes (1963), purchased as a gift to commemorate the Gallery's 50th anniversary in 1991.
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.
Fifty-Sixth A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts
Last Looks, Last Books: The Binocular Poetry of Death Helen Vendler, A. Kingsley Porter University Professor, Harvard University
This six-part lecture series considers the final works of five modern American poets, as they "take the last look"—reconciling the interface of life and death, without the promise of an afterlife. The accompanying publication, Last Looks, Last Books: Stevens, Plath, Lowell, Bishop, Merrill, is available for purchase in the Gallery Shop. Poems in Order of Quotation | Copyright Credits
Part 1: Introduction: Sustaining a Double View
In this audio podcast of the first lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 15, 2007, the esteemed poetry critic and professor Helen Vendler frames the binocular styles of modern and premodern poets as they examine life and death "in a single steady gaze." Poems in Order of Quotation | Copyright Credits
Part 2: Facing the Worst: Wallace Stevens, "The Rock"
In this audio podcast of the second lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 22, 2007, the esteemed poetry critic and professor Helen Vendler discusses Wallace Stevens' The Rock, a collection of poems reflecting on "the last face of being, when life faces death." Poems in Order of Quotation | Copyright Credits
Part 3: The Contest of Melodrama and Restraint: Sylvia Plath, "Ariel"
In this audio podcast of the third lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 29, 2007, the esteemed poetry critic and professor Helen Vendler surveys select works by Sylvia Plath, as she moves from autobiographical violence to impersonal objectivity. Poems in Order of Quotation | Copyright Credits
Part 4: Death by Subtraction: Robert Lowell, "Day by Day"
In this audio podcast of the fourth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 6, 2007, the esteemed poetry critic and professor Helen Vendler discusses Robert Lowell's last book, Day by Day, which withdraws from his earlier narrative style and instead offers spare, literal "snapshots." Poems in Order of Quotation | Copyright Credits
Part 5: Caught and Freed: Elizabeth Bishop, "Geography III"
In this audio podcast of the fifth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 13, 2007, the esteemed poetry critic and professor Helen Vendler traces the placement of life and death in Elizabeth Bishop's late works as they move between division and integration. Poems in Order of Quotation | Copyright Credits
Part 6: Self-Portraits While Dying: James Merrill, "A Scattering of Salts"
In this audio podcast of the sixth and final lecture of the series, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 20, 2007, the esteemed poetry critic and professor Helen Vendler discusses James Merrill's "montage of self-portraits while dying," as he bids farewell in various lyric genres, sketching his life-death state in verse. Poems in Order of Quotation | Copyright Credits
Elson Lecture 1999: Ellsworth Kelly Ellsworth Kelly, artist, in conversation with Marla Prather, curator and head of the department of 20th-century art, National Gallery of Art
Contemporary artist Ellsworth Kelly joins curator Marla Prather in this podcast recorded on April 21, 1999, at the National Gallery of Art. Spanning more than 60 years, Kelly's career has shown commitment to abstraction and humanism. His intuitive ability to merge space, color, and shape has positioned him as one of the leading postwar American artists working today. The Gallery has more than 200 works by Kelly in its collection including paintings, prints, and sculptures. Kelly's Stele II was one of the 17 major works to be included in the Gallery's Sculpture Garden when it first opened a month after this Elson Lecture program.
Calling the Earth to Witness: Paul Gauguin in the Marquesas June Hargrove, professor of 19th-century European painting and sculpture, University of Maryland at College Park
Professor June Hargrove discusses artist Paul Gauguin's struggle in the final months of his life, after moving to the Marquesas Islands, to show the world his contributions to the creative process. Recorded on May 15, 2011, and held in conjunction with the exhibition Gauguin: Maker of Myth, this lecture examines the paintings from 1902 and attests that, for all his talk of savagery and cannibalism, Gauguin created some of his most serene masterpieces during this time.
Introduction to the Exhibition— 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.
Elson Lecture 2011: Terry Winters: Notes on Painting Terry Winters, artist
A prodigious painter, draftsman, and printmaker, Terry Winters has pushed the boundaries of modern art while he has maintained a keen sense of its history and craft. In this podcast recorded on April 14, 2011, for the Elson Lecture Series at the National Gallery of Art, Winters explains his use of the "low-tech, shape-shifting capabilities" of paint, as he puts it, to engage the complex experience of a high-tech world. The Gallery owns two important paintings by Winters: Bitumen (1986) and Composition (1991).
For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism Gerald Peary, director; Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader; David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
With newspapers and periodicals downsizing and devoting less space than ever to film criticism, what is happening to professional critics? After a screening of his 2010 film For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism at the National Gallery of Art on March 5, 2011, director Gerald Peary joined film critics Jonathan Rosenbaum (Chicago Reader) and David Sterritt (Christian Science Monitor) to discuss the role and importance of film criticism.
Sights and Sounds of 18th-Century Venice Symposium
Venice during the time of Canaletto was examined in this public symposium held in conjunction with the Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals exhibition, on view at the National Gallery of Art from February 20 through May 30, 2011. Recorded on April 2, 2011, this podcast includes lectures by exhibition curators David Alan Brown, Dawson Carr, and Charles Beddington. Scholars William Barcham, Emanuela Pagan, Massimo Ossi, and Oliver Tostmann are also featured.
Introduction (0:51-17:22)
David Alan Brown, curator of Italian paintings, National Gallery of Art, and Washington coordinating curator of the exhibition
Exhibiting Canaletto in London and Washington (17:23-55:47)
Dawson Carr, curator of Italian and Spanish painting 1600–1800, National Gallery, London, and London coordinating curator of the exhibition
Sea Level Changes and Pollution in Venice Based on Veronese's and Canaletto's Paintings (55:48-1:32:25)
Emanuela Pagan, National Research Council, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate
Carlevarijs and Canaletto: Painters of Ceremonies (1:36:30-2:03:08)
Oliver Tostmann, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, National Gallery of Art
Public Life and Festivals in Eighteenth-Century Venice (2:03:09-2:43:49)
William Barcham, professor emeritus, department of the history of art, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York
Carlo Goldoni, Baldassarre Galuppi, and the New Venetian Opera Buffa (2:48:34-3:40:03)
Massimo Ossi, associate professor of music, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University
Panel Discussion (3:40:03-3:59:04)
Led by Charles Beddington, guest curator of the Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals exhibition
and author of the exhibition catalogue. Other panelists include David Alan Brown; Dawson Carr; and Frederick Ilchman, Mrs. Russell W. Baker Curator of Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Conversations with Artists: Jim Dine Jim Dine, artist, in conversation with Judith Brodie, curator of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art
Marking the opening of the Drawings of Jim Dine exhibition on March 21, 2004, Dine discussed his career and work with exhibition curator Judith Brodie at the National Gallery of Art. The artist has embraced drawing since the 1970s and is considered one of America's greatest living draftsmen. His images of tools, self-portraits, and studies from nature and after antiquity are among the most accomplished and beautiful drawings of our time.
Neorealismo 1941–1954: Days of Glory Millicent Marcus, professor of Italian, Yale University
The film series Neorealismo 1941–1954: Days of Glory, presented in early 2011, focused on iconic works from the neorealism movement, including Vittorio De Sica and Cesare Zavattini's Miracle in Milan (1951). Millicent Marcus, professor of Italian at Yale University, introduced this unique work on February 5, 2011, placing it within the context of a tumultuous, postwar Italy.
The Rodin Touch David J. Getsy, Goldabelle McComb Finn Distinguished Professor of Art History, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Rodin's touch grew to be infamous, infecting each of the sculptures he created and becoming the metaphor for his famously eroticized persona. David Getsy, author of Rodin: Sex and the Making of Modern Sculpture, joins us for this podcast, recorded on March 20, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art. He examines Rodin's material practices and demonstrates how the artist’s persona was disseminated through them. Getsy also discusses unexpected and contradictory traces of the legendary Rodin touch in his often-overlooked marble sculptures of the 20th century.
The Collecting of African American Art III: A Peculiar Destiny: The Mission of the Paul R. Jones Collection Amalia K. Amaki, professor of art history, University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, and Paul R. Jones, collector
For the third program in the National Gallery of Art lecture series The Collecting of African American Art, recorded on February 24, 2008, Paul R. Jones discusses collecting with Amalia K. Amaki, editor and contributing author of A Century of African American Art: The Paul R. Jones Collection, which features his acquisition of work, by nearly 70 artists, most of which he has given to the University of Delaware. Jones discusses his dedication to supporting emerging African-American artists, including his efforts to see that they are better represented in public collections. Jones also reveals that he began collecting art while he was pursuing a career in public service, including working in civil rights, housing and urban development, and the Peace Corps.
Gabriel Metsu, 1629–1667 Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator, northern baroque paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, and Pieter Roelofs, curator of 17th-century paintings, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
One of the leading painters of 17th-century Holland and a contemporary of Johannes Vermeer, Gabriel Metsu was a gifted visual storyteller who infused his narrative paintings with suspense, drama, and emotion. On the occasion of the first monographic exhibition of Metsu’s work in the United States, Wheelock talks with Roelofs about the artist’s ability to capture ordinary moments with spontaneity and unerring realism.
The Collecting of African American Art II: Reflections on Collecting Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, director of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, and Walter O. Evans, collector
n this conversation recorded on February 17, 2008, as part of the National Gallery of Art lecture series TheCollecting of African American Art, retired surgeon Walter O. Evans discusses his extraordinary collection with Andrea Barnwell Brownlee. Brownlee was the primary author of The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art, a catalogue that accompanied an international exhibition of mid-19th- to late-20th-century works from Evans' holdings. Their conversation explores how Evans began acquiring African American art, his friendships with artists and writers, and his future plans for the collection.
Conversations with Artists: Wayne Thiebaud Wayne Thiebaud, artist, in conversation with Kathan Brown, president, Crown Point Press, and Ruth Fine, curator of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art
In this podcast recorded on June 8, 1997, to celebrate the opening of the Gallery’s Thirty-Five Years at Crown Point Press exhibition, artist Wayne Thiebaud discusses his career with Kathan Brown, president of Crown Point Press, and curator Ruth Fine of the National Gallery of Art. The conversation focuses on Theibaud's prints, which feature themes that also appear in his paintings and drawings. These works depict a wide variety of sumptuous foodstuffs as well as the colorful California landscape.
The Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art 2003: Ovid's "Metamorphoses" in the Art of Renaissance and Baroque Masters Paul Barolsky, Commonwealth Professor of Art History, University of Virginia
Paul Barolsky discusses the self-conscious artfulness of Ovid's Metamorphoses and its relation to the visual wit of major European artists. Beginning with a discussion of Ovid's myth of Io and Correggio's rendering of the subject, Barolsky then explores Ovidian threads in the fabric of works by Perugino, Michelangelo, Cellini, Poussin, Rubens, and Velázquez. This podcast was recorded on November 9, 2003, at the National Gallery of Art, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series.
Elson Lecture 1998: I. M. Pei in conversation with Earl A. Powell III I. M. Pei, architect, in conversation with Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art
Legendary architect I. M. Pei appears in conversation with Gallery director Earl A. Powell III to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the opening of the East Building of the National Gallery of Art. In this podcast recorded on March 26, 1998, Pei discusses the evolution of the East Building's design and construction from the time Pei was awarded the commission until the building was dedicated by President Jimmy Carter on June 1, 1978.
Elson Lecture 1996: Elizabeth Murray Elizabeth Murray, artist, in conversation with Marla Prather, curator and head of the department of 20th-century art, National Gallery of Art
Elizabeth Murray (1940–2007) is one of the few artists to be credited with both rehabilitating the abstract movement and bringing new energy to figuration. Her sculpted canvases blur the line between the painting as an object and the painting as a space for depicting objects. In this podcast recorded on October 9, 1996, at the National Gallery of Art, Murray discusses her personal connection to painting with curator Marla Prather—and how being a woman in a field generally dominated by men has influenced her work.
Lewis Baltz: Prototypes/Ronde de Nuit Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art, and Matthew S. Witkovsky, exhibition guest curator
Featured are some 50 Prototypes—on view together for the first time—and the mural-sized 12-panel color work Ronde de Nuit. Greenough and Witkovsky discuss the artist's interest in the postwar American landscape, as revealed in Prototypes, and his continuing preoccupation with industrially manufactured environments and how they are used to control contemporary society, as shown in Ronde de Nuit.
Elson Lecture 1995: Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, artists
Working in collaboration since 1976, husband and wife artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen (1942–2009) redefined the nature of outdoor sculpture in public spaces. In this podcast recorded on October 12, 1995, at the National Gallery of Art, Oldenburg and Van Bruggen discuss the design and installation of their larger-than-life sculptures. These works have been installed all over the world and have become iconic images of large-scale public art. This program was presented in conjunction with the traveling exhibitionClaes Oldenburg: An Anthology, which was on view at the Gallery from February 12 to May 7, 1995.
Elson Lecture 1994: Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rosenblum Roy Lichtenstein, artist, in conversation with Robert Rosenblum, professor of art history, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and the Stephen and Nan Swid Curator of 20th-Century Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997) appears in conversation with art historian and curator Robert Rosenblum in this podcast recorded on October 26, 1994, at the National Gallery of Art. Lichtenstein discusses his career and life as an artist, and the impact that his art has had on popular culture. Rosenblum notes that Lichtenstein turned the popular into the elite and that the popular, in turn, turned Lichtenstein into the popular. This program coincided with the traveling exhibition The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein, the first comprehensive survey of the artist's prints in more than two decades, which was on view at the Gallery from October 30, 1994, to January 8, 1995.
Elson Lecture 1993: Frank Stella Frank Stella, artist
In this podcast recorded on October 27, 1993, at the National Gallery of Art, leading contemporary artist Frank Stella delivers the first annual Elson Lecture. Regarded as one of the foremost postwar American artists, Stella has pursued his career over five decades, creating prints, sculpture, and works on canvas. Stella discusses the current state of painting and how his own creative process is influenced by inspirational lessons from art of the past. The Gallery owns more than 140 works by Stella, including eight major paintings.
Introduction to the Exhibition—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.
The Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art 2005: Illuminated Choral Manuscripts of the Italian Renaissance Jonathan J. G. Alexander, Sherman Fairchild Professor of Fine Arts, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
Recorded on November 13, 2005, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series, this talk by Professor Jonathan Alexander explores the manuscript choir books, known as corali, used by Christian churches on the Italian peninsula during the 15th and 16th centuries. This lecture coincided with the Masterpieces in Miniature: Italian Manuscript Illumination from the J. Paul Getty Museum exhibition on view at the National Gallery of Art from September 25, 2005, to March 26, 2006.
Gauguin: Maker of Myth Mary Morton, curator of French paintings, National Gallery of Art, and Belinda Thomson, exhibition guest curator
On the occasion of the exhibition Gauguin: Maker of Myth, Morton and Thomson discuss Gauguin's talent for storytelling across media through his remarkable images of Brittany and the islands of the South Seas.
Fifty-Ninth A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts
Art and Representation in the Ancient New World Mary Miller, Yale University
This five-part lecture series offers an overview of pre-Columbian art history, with detailed discussion of time, beauty, and truth in the visual cultures of ancient and colonial Mesoamerica.
Part 1: The Shifting Now of the Pre-Columbian Past
In this audio podcast of the first lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 18, 2010, art historian and archaeologist Mary Miller presents a history of the reception of pre-Columbian art from its arrival in Europe in the 16th century to the present day, as new discoveries continually transform the field.
Part 2: Seeing Time, Hearing Time, Placing Time
In this audio podcast of the second lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 25, 2010, art historian and archaeologist Mary Miller discusses Maya systems of timekeeping, the most sophisticated in the New World, and explains how Maya art engaged and inflected notions of past, present, and future.
Part 3: The Body of Perfection, the Perfection of the Body
In this audio podcast of the third lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 2, 2010, art historian and archeologist Mary Miller explores the signification and cultural import of beauty in Maya and Aztec aesthetics.
Part 4: Representation and Imitation
In this audio podcast of the fourth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 9, 2010, art historian and archaeologist Mary Miller discusses the paradox of truth and deception in the depiction of natural objects in Maya and Aztec art, exploring the pleasures of illusion and the virtue of mimesis when materiality is suspended.
Part 5: Envisioning a New World
In this audio podcast of the fifth and final lecture, originally delivered at the National
Gallery of Art on May 16, 2010, art historian and archaeologist Mary Miller argues that 16th-century pictorial documents by indigenous artists offer a lens on the vanishing pre-Columbian world, showing how Mesoamerican visual culture exposed a cultural transformation that texts alone could not convey.
The Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art 2006: Modernity is Old: The Landscape of Italy as Seen by the Painters of the Early 19th Century Anna Ottani Cavina, professor of art history, Università di Bologna
Professor Anna Ottani Cavina examines the aesthetic of the Italian landscape as depicted by foreign painters during the first half of the 19th century, in this podcast recorded on November 5, 2006, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series. In the wake of Rousseau, these painters left the atelier and chose to paint en plein air—inevitably modifying painting technique itself, as well as the relationship between painters and nature. As a result, the idea of the Italian landscape dramatically changed: the Arcadian vision traditionally offered by Poussin finally gave way to a new picturesque and modern idea of the Italian countryside.
The Sculpture of Edgar Degas at the National Gallery of Art: Launch of a Landmark Publication Daphne Barbour, senior conservator, department of object conservation, National Gallery of Art; Suzanne G. Lindsay, adjunct associate professor in the history of art, University of Pennsylvania; and Shelley Sturman, senior conservator and head of the department of object conservation, National Gallery of Art
This podcast, recorded on January 30, 2011, celebrates the publication of Edgar Degas Sculpture, The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue, which documents the Gallery's collection of the artist's lifetime sculptures—the largest of its kind in the world. Catalogue authors Daphne Barbour, Suzanne Lindsay, and Shelley Sturman present their contributions to the landmark publication, including essays on Degas' life and work, his sculptural technique and materials, and the story of the sculptures after his death. The technical analysis reveals that Degas usually built his own armatures from wires, wood, and metal pins, and formed the sculptures over them and fillers he had at hand: cork stoppers, paper, rope, rags, and even discarded objects such as the lid of a saltshaker.
The Diamonstein-Spielvogel Lecture Series: Andy Goldsworthy Andy Goldsworthy, artist
Held in conjunction with the exhibitions The Andy Goldsworthy ProjectandAndy Goldsworthy: Roof, Andy Goldsworthy spoke about his career and current projects in this podcast recorded on January 23, 2005, at the National Gallery of Art. Goldsworthy has gained worldwide renown for works both ephemeral and permanent that draw out the endemic character of a place. The artist employs natural materials such as leaves, sand, ice, and stone that often originate from the site of the project. Roof, a site-specific sculpture, consists of nine hollow, low-profile domes of stacked slate, each with a centered oculus, that run the length of the ground-level garden area on the north side of the Gallery's East Building. Goldsworthy selected the dome form as a counterpoint to the many architectural domes in Washington, DC. The Andy Goldsworthy Project catalogue is available for purchase in the Gallery Shop.
Fragonard's "Progress of Love" at the Frick Collection: A Site-Specific Installation? Colin B. Bailey, associate director, and Peter Jay Sharp, chief curator, The Frick Collection
Jean-Honoré Fragonard's Progress of Love is considered by many to be one of the great works of 18th-century French art. In this podcast recorded on January 9, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, Colin B. Bailey examines the circumstances surrounding the commission, installation, and eventual rejection of the four canvases painted from 1771 to 1772 for Madame du Barry's pavilion at Louveciennes.
The Moran Gondola Mark Leithauser, senior curator and head of design and installation, and Eric Denker, lecturer, National Gallery of Art
On the occasion of the exhibition Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals, the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, has loaned the National Gallery of Art one of the world's oldest gondolas, once owned by American artist Thomas Moran. Leithauser and Denker discuss the legacy of gondolas.
Film Design: Translating Words into Images Patrizia von Brandenstein, Academy Award–winning production designer
Production designers define the appearance of a film, bringing to life written scripts by working with producers, directors, and their crews to achieve the desired look of a picture. Academy Award winner Patrizia von Brandenstein shared her practical knowledge of production design and used clips from several of her films, including Amadeus (1984), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), and The Last Station (2010), to illustrate the result of many years of research and visual interpretation.
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.
Dutch Paintings at the National Gallery of Art: The Untold Stories behind the Acquisitions of the Rembrandts, Vermeers, and Other Treasures in the Collection Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator of northern baroque paintings, National Gallery of Art
In this podcast recorded on November 28, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art, Arthur Wheelock reveals the provenance of various Dutch masterpieces that hang in the West Building galleries. Wheelock explores the growth of the Dutch collection from the time the Gallery opened in 1941 to the present day, when it is considered one of the most celebrated collections of Dutch paintings in the world.
Elson Lecture 2008: A Conversation with Artist Robert Gober Robert Gober, artist, in conversation with Harry Cooper, curator and head of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art
For 25 years the sculptural and pictorial installations of American artist Robert Gober have proved difficult to ignore, assimilate, or forget. In this podcast, recorded on March 27, 2008, at the National Gallery of Art, Gober speaks with Harry Cooper. They discuss Gober's life as an artist and the consistently unpredictable and affecting nature of his oeuvre, which has had singular importance for contemporary art.
The Early Modernists in America
Held in conjunction with the exhibition American Modernism: The Shein Collection, this public symposium provides an analysis of the paintings, sculptures, and drawings created by the first generation of American avant-garde artists. In this podcast recorded on November 6, 2010, noted scholars Michael C. FitzGerald, Didier Ottinger, Debra Bricker Balken, Carol Troyen, and Jay Bochner present illustrated lectures that chronicle the advent of the modernist movement.
Introductory Remarks (0:52-3:11)
Nancy Anderson, curator and head of the department of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art
Introductory Remarks (3:12-7:18)
Harry Cooper, curator and head of the department of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art
Introductory Remarks (7:24-8:34)
Charles Brock, associate curator, department of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art
Picasso and American Art (8:35-47:40)
Michael C. FitzGerald, professor of fine arts, Trinity College
The Rise of Cubism: An International Idiom (47:53-1:20:22)
Didier Ottinger, deputy director, Centre Pompidou, Paris
John Storrs: Machine-Age Modernist (1:20:38-1:55:54)
Debra Bricker Balken, independent curator
Charles Sheeler: Last Works (1:56:09-2:35:22)
Carol Troyen, Kristin and Roger Servison Curator Emerita of American Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
American Modernist: A Portrait (2:35:22-3:21:53)
Jay Bochner, honorary professor of English, University of Montreal
Closing Remarks (3:22:03-3:27:20)
Charles Brock, associate curator, department of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art
Edgar Degas Sculpture: The Systematic Catalogue Daphne Barbour, senior object conservator, and Shelley Sturman, head of object conservation, National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art holds the greatest collection in the world of original wax sculptures created by Edgar Degas. Celebrating the publication of the Gallery's newest Systematic Catalogue, Edgar Degas Sculpture, Shelley Sturman and Daphne Barbour, two of the authors who are senior conservators, discuss their extensive research on the art, history, and techniques of the Gallery's unsurpassed collection of 52 works in wax, clay, and plaster, as well as a dozen posthumously cast bronzes.
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