National Gallery Of Art | Audio

Elizabeth Alexander, poet, essayist, playwright and scholar; chancellor, Academy of American Poets; director of creativity and free expression, Ford Foundation; and Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University. Elizabeth Alexander is the author of six books of poetry, including American Sublime, a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize; two collections of essays; and The Light of the World, her critically acclaimed memoir on love and loss. Her writing explores such subjects as race, gender, politics, art, and history. Alexander earned her BA in English from Yale University in 1984, her MA in English (Creative Writing) from Boston University in 1987, and her PhD in English from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. She has received many awards, fellowships, and honorary degrees, among them grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. She received the Anisfield-Wolf Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry and is the inaugural recipient of the Jackson P

Jenny Holzer in conversation with Harry Cooper, curator and head of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art, Washington. Jenny Holzer discusses her powerful text-based work with curator Harry Cooper in this podcast recorded on May 6, 2011, as part of the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Lecture Series at the National Gallery of Art. Having enlivened public spaces all over the world for nearly 35 years, Holzer is best known for her LED (light-emitting diode) signs. In 1990, she was the first woman to have a solo presentation in the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, for which she was awarded the Golden Lion. Since 2004, she has mined declassified documents for her series Redaction Paintings, of which she donated six to the Gallery In 2010. Holzer lives and works in New York.

Daphne Barbour, senior conservator, department of object conservation, National Gallery of Art; Jay Krueger, head of painting conservation, department of painting conservation, National Gallery of Art; Molly Donovan, associate curator of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art; and Dylan Smith, Robert H. Smith Research Conservator, National Gallery of Art. FACTURE: Conservation · Science · Art History is a biennial journal published by the conservation division to celebrate the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art. Named for "the manner in which things are made," FACTURE explores themes in the materiality and history of art, addressing all aspects of the discipline from conservation treatment and history to technical art history to fundamental scientific research. Volume 2: Art in Context presents great works of art in new contexts. Examining the art of two very different eras—the Italian Renaissance and the 20th century—the essays in this volume share a common approach. Essays sta

Linda B. Parshall, professor of German literature and language, Portland State University; John Beardsley, director of garden and landscape studies, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. In 1826, the prince of Pückler-Muskau embarked on an extended tour of England, Wales, and Ireland to acquire a wealthy bride and restore the dream of transforming his estate into an ideal landscape park. His masterpiece, Letters of a Dead Man, published in 1830, discusses his acute portrayals of the British aristocracy, their country houses and art collections, the rise of industry and urban poverty, and, above all, the beauty of the landscape. In this lecture recorded on June 19, 2016 at the National Gallery of Art, Linda B. Parshall discusses her new unabridged translation of Prince Pückler’s Letters of a Dead Man. A conversation moderated by John Beardsley follows.

Elizabeth Walmsley, painting conservator, National Gallery of Art, and Steve Wilcox, senior conservator of frames, National Gallery of Art. When the National Gallery of Art opened its doors in March 1941, the original Andrew W. Mellon gift was augmented by a collection of Italian art donated by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Kress was the first to offer a donation in response to Andrew Mellon's call for contributions for the new national art museum. For the Gallery's opening, Kress gave almost 400 paintings and sculptures. Ultimately, the foundation gave the Gallery a total of over 700 paintings and sculptures, in addition to over 1,300 small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes. In 2010, the foundation awarded the Gallery a grant to conduct provenance research on the entire Kress collection of paintings, distributed nationwide to regional museums and study collections in university-affiliated institutions. In this paired lecture by Elizabeth Walmsley and Steve Wilcox recorded on May 23, 2016, discussion spans th

Melissa Beck Lemke, image specialist for Italian art, National Gallery of Art. When the National Gallery of Art opened its doors in March 1941, the original Andrew W. Mellon gift was augmented by a collection of Italian art donated by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Kress was the first to offer a donation in response to Andrew Mellon's call for contributions for the new national art museum. For the Gallery's opening, Kress gave almost 400 paintings and sculptures. Ultimately, the foundation gave the Gallery a total of over 700 paintings and sculptures, in addition to over 1,300 small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes. In 2010, the foundation awarded the Gallery a grant to conduct provenance research on the entire Kress collection of paintings, distributed nationwide to regional museums and study collections in university-affiliated institutions. In this lecture recorded on May 23, 2016, Melissa Beck Lemke reveals the history of Kress collection objects through documents, lantern slides, negatives, and photograp

Margaret Morgan Grasselli, curator and head, department of old master drawings, National Gallery of Art; and Yuriko Jackall, assistant curator, department of French paintings, National Gallery of Art. Celebrated for the fundamental role he played in promoting the architectural capriccio, Hubert Robert (1733-1808) combined the famous monuments of antiquity and modernity in unexpected ways to create strikingly new and imaginative city scenes and landscapes. Dubbed “Robert of the Ruins” by the great critic and encyclopedist Denis Diderot, Robert was regarded during his era as one of France’s most prominent artists. To celebrate the exhibition opening of Hubert Robert, coorganized by the National Gallery of Art and the Musée du Louvre, Margaret Morgan Grasselli and Yuriko Jackall present an introductory lecture on June 26, 2016. Although Robert’s reputation has endured, this monographic exhibition, on view through October 2, 2016, is the first to encompass his entire career and to survey his achievements as both

Peter Hutton, Charles Franklin Kellogg and Grace E. Ramsey Kellogg Professor of the Arts, Bard College. One of our great poets of place and time, Peter Hutton (1944–2016) is renowned for his 16mm films on urban sites and waterways (his 1997 film Study of a River was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2010). As the Charles Franklin Kellogg and Grace E. Ramsey Kellogg Professor of the Arts at Bard College, where he had taught since 1984, Hutton instructed generations of artists in 16mm film production. On January 25, 2015, he presented four of his films at the National Gallery of Art: New York Portrait: Two (1980–1981); Łódź Symphony (1991–1993); Study of a River (1997); and an excerpt from Three Landscapes (2013), his last completed work. The program, Peter Hutton: Landscape and Time, was followed by a discussion with the audience.

Nancy H. Yeide, head, department of curatorial records, National Gallery of Art. When the National Gallery of Art opened its doors in March 1941, the original Andrew W. Mellon gift was augmented by a collection of Italian art donated by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Kress was the first to offer a donation in response to Andrew Mellon's call for contributions for the new national art museum. For the Gallery's opening, Kress gave almost 400 paintings and sculptures. Ultimately, the foundation gave the Gallery a total of over 700 paintings and sculptures, in addition to over 1,300 small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes. In 2010, the foundation awarded the Gallery a grant to conduct provenance research on the entire Kress collection of paintings, distributed nationwide to regional museums and study collections in university-affiliated institutions. In this lecture recorded on May 23, 2016, Nancy Yeide shares discoveries that include both new information about the histories of specific paintings and ways to look

Chiyo Ishikawa, Susan Brotman Deputy Director for Art and curator of European painting and sculpture, Seattle Art Museum. When the National Gallery of Art opened its doors in March 1941, the original Andrew W. Mellon gift was augmented by a collection of Italian art donated by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Kress was the first to offer a donation in response to Andrew Mellon's call for contributions for the new national art museum. For the Gallery's opening, Kress gave almost 400 paintings and sculptures. Ultimately, the foundation gave the Gallery a total of over 700 paintings and sculptures, in addition to over 1,300 small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes. In 2010, the foundation awarded the Gallery a grant to conduct provenance research on the entire Kress collection of paintings, distributed nationwide to regional museums and study collections in university-affiliated institutions. In this lecture recorded on May 23, 2016, Chiyo Ishikawa shares how the Seattle Art Museum was a recipient of the Kress “give

Max Koss, Samuel H. Kress Foundation Provenance Research Fellow, David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art and University of Chicago When the National Gallery of Art opened its doors in March 1941, the original Andrew W. Mellon gift was augmented by a collection of Italian art donated by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Kress was the first to offer a donation in response to Andrew Mellon's call for contributions for the new national art museum. Ultimately, the foundation gave the Gallery a total of over 700 paintings and sculptures, in addition to over 1,300 small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes. In 2010, the foundation awarded the Gallery a grant to conduct provenance research on the entire Kress collection of paintings, distributed nationwide to regional museums and study collections in university-affiliated institutions. In this lecture recorded on May 23, 2016, Max Koss explains that the Kress “giveaway” included 22 works donated to the University of Chicago, which had no significant collection of Western art,

Helen Frankenthaler’s use of radiant color and her capacity to manipulate a rich variety of materials and print processes have been widely admired throughout her career. Helen Frankenthaler: Prints, a survey exhibition on view at the National Gallery of Art from April 18 to September 6, 1993, consisted of 77 prints and related drawings from the Gallery’s holdings, and loans from the artist's archive and other collections. The exhibition started with Frankenthaler’s very first print (1961), composed of calligraphic marks on an open field, and it closed with one of her most recent works (1992), an expansive composition of densely layered forms. In honor of the exhibition, Helen Frankenthaler discusses the distinctive nature of her working process with Ruth Fine in this conversation recorded on May 16, 1993.

David Sider, professor of classics, New York University. The exhibition Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World, on view at the National Gallery of Art from December 13, 2015, through March 20, 2016, presents some 50 bronze sculptures and related works, dating from the fourth century BC to the first century AD. They span the Hellenistic period, when the art and culture of Greece spread throughout the Mediterranean and lands once conquered by Alexander the Great. The exhibition provides a unique opportunity to witness the importance of bronze in the ancient world, when it became the preferred medium for portrait sculpture. In this public symposium held on March 18 and 19, 2016, in conjunction with the exhibition, David Sider concentrates on how contemporary science and art appear in the poetry of this period. The deservedly well-known mathematicians Archimedes and Eratosthenes each wrote technical epigrams on mathematical problems, perhaps the most technical examples of one of Hellenistic p

Richard Mason, lecturer on classical archaeology and art and history of museums, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The exhibition Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World, on view at the National Gallery of Art from December 13, 2015, to March 20, 2016, presents some 50 bronze sculptures and related works, dating from the fourth century BC to the first century AD. They span the Hellenistic period, when the art and culture of Greece spread throughout the Mediterranean and lands once conquered by Alexander the Great. The exhibition provides a unique opportunity to witness the importance of bronze in the ancient world, when it became the preferred medium for portrait sculpture. In this public symposium held on March 18 and 19, 2016, in conjunction with the exhibition, Richard Mason offers a broad overview of Hellenistic science and technology—suggesting connections between developments in diverse fields as a result of royal patronage that supported the scholarly community. Select examp

Max Marmor, president, Samuel H. Kress Foundation. When the National Gallery of Art opened its doors in March 1941, the original Andrew W. Mellon gift was augmented by a collection of Italian art donated by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Kress was the first to offer a donation in response to Andrew Mellon's call for contributions for the new national art museum. For the Gallery's opening, Kress gave almost 400 paintings and sculptures. Ultimately, the foundation gave the Gallery a total of over 700 paintings and sculptures, in addition to over 1,300 small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes. In 2010, the foundation awarded the Gallery a grant to conduct provenance research on the entire Kress collection of paintings, distributed nationwide to regional museums and study collections in university-affiliated institutions. Discoveries included both new information about the histories of specific paintings and ways to look at the collection as a whole. Max Marmor, president of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation since 200

Kenneth Lapatin, associate curator of antiquities, The J. Paul Getty Museum The exhibition Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World, on view at the National Gallery of Art from December 13, 2015, through March 20, 2016, presents some 50 bronze sculptures and related works, dating from the fourth century BC to the first century AD. They span the Hellenistic period when the art and culture of Greece spread throughout the Mediterranean and lands once conquered by Alexander the Great. The exhibition provides a unique opportunity to witness the importance of bronze in the ancient world, when it became the preferred medium for portrait sculpture. In this public symposium held on March 18 and 19, 2016, in conjunction with the exhibition, Kenneth Lapatin uses economic arguments to challenge the notion that bronze sculpture was as highly valued in antiquity as it is today. He then examines the Hellenistic production of artifacts fashioned from gold, silver, hard stones, ivory, and other expensive, e

Nick Sousanis, comics artist, educator, and postdoctoral fellow in comics studies, University of Calgary. Unflattening began as an experiment in making an argument through images and as a challenge to traditional scholarship as it is currently produced in American universities. It embodies the importance of visual thinking in teaching and learning. In this lecture recorded on June 12, 2016 at the National Gallery of Art, Nick Sousanis delves into the distinct ways that comics create meaning through the constant play of word and image. He explains how to see and read comics better, and may even inspire you to make your own comics.

Wendy Sepponen, Joseph F. McCrindle Fellow, department of sculpture and decorative arts, National Gallery of Art. Recent technical examinations have revealed that a bronze bust of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in the National Gallery of Art, formerly attributed to imperial sculptor Leone Leoni (Milanese, c. 1509–1590), was in fact most likely cast in an unidentified bell or canon foundry. In this lecture held on April 25, 2016, as part of the Works in Progress series at the Gallery, Wendy Sepponen argues that though we do not know who made the portrait, it nevertheless exemplifies the longstanding practice amongst Habsburg rulers to rely on foundries throughout their territories to satisfy their diverse needs for instruments of war and dynastic portraiture, thereby reinforcing the status of bronze as the ideal imperial material.

Carol Mattusch, Mathy Professor of Art History Emerita, George Mason University. The exhibition Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World, on view at the National Gallery of Art from December 13, 2015, to March 20, 2016, presents some 50 bronze sculptures and related works, dating from the fourth century BC to the first century AD. They span the Hellenistic period, when the art and culture of Greece spread throughout the Mediterranean and lands once conquered by Alexander the Great. The exhibition provides a unique opportunity to witness the importance of bronze in the ancient world, when it became the preferred medium for portrait sculpture. In this public symposium held on March 18 and 19, 2016, in conjunction with the exhibition, Carol Mattusch questions the preference for bronze—citing, for example, that a nude bronze man with flashing eyes, open mouth, copper lips, and reflective physique was as realistic as statuary got.

Elsa Mora, artist, and Magda González-Mora, curator of Elsa Mora: Timeline, and in conversation with Michelle Bird, curatorial assistant, department of French paintings, National Gallery of Art. Elsa Mora (b. Holguín, Cuba, 1971) graduated from the Professional School of Visual Arts in Camagüey in 1990. Mora was invited to teach as a visiting artist in residence at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996. She has since completed several residencies at US universities and the MoMA Design Store. In her Timeline series, Mora examines her surreal personal journey and the surprising lessons she has learned along the way. Works in a variety of media—from photography and drawing to paper cutting—represent a timeline of events that have shaped her life from childhood in Cuba to adulthood in the United States. In her own words, “I’m endlessly curious about human stories, especially those related to survival, inner growth, and connectivity.” In this conversation, held on May 9, 2016, as part of the Works in Progress serie