National Gallery Of Art | Audio

September 2010 - Leo Villareal, artist, in conversation with Molly Donovan, associate curator of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art. In this podcast recorded on September 7, 2008, at the National Gallery of Art, American artist Leo Villareal and curator Molly Donovan discuss Villareal's Multiverse installation, which occupies the Concourse walkway between the East and West Buildings of the National Gallery of Art. Installed between September and December of 2008, Multiverse is one of the largest and most complex light sculptures created by the artist, featuring approximately 41,000 computer-programmed LED (light-emitting diode) nodes that run through channels along the 200-foot-long space.

September 2010 - Richard Misrach, photographer. American photographer Richard Misrach's monumental color photographs explore the sublime beauty and inherent danger of the sea and its surroundings. In this podcast recorded at the National Gallery of Art on June 8, 2008, Misrach discusses the camera techniques he employed and the personal inspirations he drew upon to create the 19 color photographs, made between 2002 and 2005, featured in the exhibition Richard Misrach: On the Beach, on view at the Gallery from May 25 to September 1, 2008.

August 2010 - Joseph Baillio, Gail Feigenbaum, Francis Gage, John Oliver Hand, Benedict Leca, Richard Rand, Pauline Maguire Robison, and Elizabeth Walmsley. This podcast recorded on January 24, 2010, celebrates the launch of the National Gallery's 18th systematic catalogue, French Paintings of the 15th through the 18th Century. Eight contributing authors highlight masterpieces in the Gallery's collection of old master French paintings�one of the most important collections of its kind outside France. Lavishly illustrated, with commentary written by leading scholars, this book shares the fruits of years of research and technical analysis. It catalogues nearly 100 paintings from works by Fran�ois Clouet in the 16th century to paintings by �lisabeth Louise Vig�e Le Brun in the 18th.

August 2010 - Susan L. Siegfried, professor of history of art and women's studies, University of Michigan. The nineteenth-century French painter, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, is often credited as one of the patriarchs of modern art. Known for his innovative use of space and form, his techniques inspired a new wave of artists. In this podcast, recorded at the National Gallery of Art on April 4, 2010, Susan L. Siegfried argues that Ingres's rethinking of technique and subject matter was vital to his triumph in painting the female nude.

August 2010 - Jonathan Conlin, lecturer in modern history, University of Southampton; Maygene Daniels, chief of Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art; Margaret Parsons, head of film programs, National Gallery of Art; and Faya Causey, head of academic programs, National Gallery of Art. In the BBC television series "Civilisation," Kenneth Clark stated it's arguable that Western civilization was saved by its craftsmen. The National Gallery of Art commemorated the 40th anniversary of the series with a panel discussion, Celebrating "Civilisation," recorded on October 17, 2009.

August 2010 - Bill Morgan, writer and archivist Bill Morgan, the preeminent authority on the Beat Generation, discusses his work as the archivist and bibliographer for his personal friend, American poet Allen Ginsberg, on the occasion of the Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. In this podcast recorded on Sunday, July 11, 2010, Morgan explains that Ginsberg was either an archivist's dream come true or worst nightmare, since the poet saved everything from his childhood in New Jersey and took pictures of his friends, knowing that they were destined for fame. Through rarely seen archival material and photographs, Morgan chronicles Ginsberg's relationships, which began the Beat Generation.

August 2010 - Robert M. Edsel, author, founder, and president, Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art. During World War II, a special force known as the Monuments Men, of museum directors, curators, art historians, and others from 13 different nations, risked their lives to prevent the destruction of cultural treasures Robert M. Edsel, author of The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, discusses how these men and women protected what they could of Europe's great art in this podcast recorded on January 17, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art.

August 2010 - Andrew Robison, Andrew W. Mellon Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art, and Elizabeth Prelinger, Keyser Family Professor of Art History at Georgetown University. Haunting images of love, attraction, alienation, death, and other universal human experiences permeate the work of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. On the occasion of the exhibition Edvard Munch: Master Prints, Gallery curator Andrew Robison and guest curator Elizabeth Prelinger discuss the artist's stylistic approach to each of these themes.

August 2010 - James Turrell, artist. James Turrell began working in the 1960s, when many artists abandoned conventional painting and sculpture for new media and an expanded definition of art practice. In this podcast recorded on April 7, 2002, at the National Gallery of Art, Turrell discusses the four decades of his career spent creating installations based on the pure experience of artificial and natural light. His work, which ranges in scale from single rooms to the vast, complex Roden crater project in Arizona, has established him as one of the most original visionary artists of our time.

July 2010 - Chuck Close, artist; Ambassador Cynthia P. Schneider, Georgetown University and the Brookings Institution; and Robert Storr, dean, Yale School of Art. Moderated by Joseph J. Krakora, executive officer for development and external affairs, National Gallery of Art. The National Gallery of Art hosted this panel discussion, in coordination with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, on April 12, 2010, to examine the important role that art plays in representing the United States abroad.

July 2010 - Chuck Close, artist, in conversation with Jeffrey Weiss, curator of 20th-century art, National Gallery of Art. This podcast recorded on October 17, 1999, was the first program in the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Lecture Series at the National Gallery of Art. The series began on a high note with artist Chuck Close, one of the preeminent painters of his generation, who discussed his work and career with Gallery curator Jeffrey Weiss.

July 2010 - Mel Bochner, artist, in conversation with Jeffrey Weiss, curator and head of the department of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art. Mel Bochner is one of the most prominent figures of the minimal and conceptual art generation. In this podcast recorded on March 11, 2007, at the National Gallery of Art, he discusses his body of work, which spans 40 years and includes painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, film, and installation, with Gallery curator Jeffrey Weiss. This podcast honors the Gallery's acquisition of Bochner's painting Theory of Boundaries (1969-1970).

July 2010 - Rachel Whiteread, artist, in conversation with Molly Donovan, associate curator of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art. British sculptor Rachel Whiteread has enjoyed international acclaim for her provocative sculptural practices. Beginning in the early 1990s with positive casts of empty architectural spaces and household objects, Whiteread has continued to articulate typically unseen, immaterial space in increasingly public settings. Her breakthrough work, Ghost (1990), was given to the National Gallery of Art in 2004 by the Glenstone Foundation. In this podcast recorded on October 12, 2008, at the National Gallery of Art, Rachel Whiteread and Gallery curator Molly Donovan discuss all aspects of Whiteread's career, with a particular focus on Ghost.

July 2010 - Byron Kim, artist, and Molly Donovan, associate curator of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art. In this podcast recorded on January 10, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art, Molly Donovan and Byron Kim discuss Synecdoche, a watershed work that is a continuing project of portraiture recently acquired by and installed at the Gallery. Synecdoche consists of more than 400 10 x 8 inch panels, each painted a single hue that is meant to record the skin tone of individual sitters. Kim and Donovan also examine Kim's exploration of abstract painting, color, human identity, and existence.

June 2010 - Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, in conversation with artists Melvin Edwards, Sam Gilliam, and William T. Williams. On February 21, 2010, distinguished artists Melvin Edwards, Sam Gilliam, and William T. Williams joined Ruth Fine, National Gallery of Art curator of special projects in modern art, for a conversation "about abstraction." In this podcast Edwards, Gilliam, and Williams discuss the role of abstraction in their work as well as the most important influences on their careers.

June 2010 - Harold Holzer, cochair, United States Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission According to noted expert Harold Holzer, United States President Abraham Lincoln transformed the city of Washington, DC�not only into the command center of a great war and executive authority, but also a mecca for artists. In this podcast recorded on February 14, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art, Holzer sheds light on this transformation and on the role of these artists, who recorded the great events of the day and whose works documented the evolving image of the 16th president.

June 2010 - Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art, and collectors Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Dorothy and Herbert Vogel have amassed one of the greatest collections of minimal, conceptual, and post-minimal art in the world, acquiring works by some of the most important contemporary artists of our time. Curator Ruth Fine spoke with the Vogels two years after they announced The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States project, which distributed their vast collection across the country for all to enjoy. In this podcast, the Vogels relate stories from the recipient museums and their special exhibitions celebrating the gifts.

June 2010 - Nancy Anderson, curator, American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art, and Charles Brock, associate curator, American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art. Distinguished by a rigorous focus on leading artists from the first generation of American modernists, the Shein Collection is one of the nation's foremost private collections of works from this movement. Curators Nancy Anderson and Charlie Brock discuss the importance of these artists in the development of modernism in the United States and Europe during the 20th century, on the occasion of the exhibition American Modernism: The Shein Collection.

May 2010 - Keith Christiansen, John Pope-Hennessy Chairman of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Keith Christiansen explores the complex relationship of painting and sculpture in 15th-century Florence, in this podcast recorded on November 8, 2009, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series. Christiansen notes that Ghiberti's contribution has long been overshadowed by Donatello's genius in art-historical literature. Ghiberti has been classified as a transitional figure between the Gothic and Renaissance periods. Christiansen seeks to correct this legacy by explaining that the two principal reference points of Renaissance aesthetics in the figurative arts�nature and classical antiquity�are not fixed concepts, and that such thinking has led to false distinctions and misrepresentations of Ghiberti and the painters of Florence.

May 2010 - P. Adams Sitney, professor of visual arts, Princeton University. P. Adams Sitney, distinguished film historian, theorist, and professor of visual arts at Princeton University, delivered a presentation at the National Gallery on December 6, 2009, on the films of several American avant-garde artists as a fulfillment of the promise of a truly American aesthetic, an idea first defined by philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. The short films Arabesque for Kenneth Anger (Marie Menken, 1961); Visions in Meditation #2�Mesa Verde (Stan Brakhage, 1989); Gloria! (Hollis Frampton, 1979); and Gently Down the Stream (Su Friedrich, 1980) were screened in their entirety following the lecture.