National Gallery Of Art | Audio

Alex Katz, artist, in conversation with Harry Cooper, senior curator and head of modern art, National Gallery of Art. Alex Katz was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1927 and educated at Cooper Union. Although he fraternized in the 1950s with the abstract expressionists, Katz never embraced the gestural style popular in New York, clinging instead to some degree of observation. Yet if Katz's work has always celebrated the realism of quotidian life and landscape, it also incorporates the scale and structure of the ambitious abstract painting of his time. In 1968, Katz moved to an artists’ cooperative building in SoHo, where he has lived and worked ever since. Although he is best known for his figure paintings, often set in and around Manhattan, Katz is equally a painter of Maine, where he has summered for decades. Represented by 89 works in the Gallery’s collection, Katz’s career can be traced through generous gifts like Folding Chair (1959) and Isaac and Oliver (2013), and important acquisitions such as Swamp Map

Charles Ritchie, artist and associate curator, department of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art As an artist who has worked behind the scenes with the prints and drawings collections of the National Gallery of Art for 35 years, associate curator Charles Ritchie relishes his unique vantage point for watching artists think. He has an intimate view of everything from the sketching, erasing, and refining at the core of drawing, to studying the sequences of proof impressions that record the development of a print. On March 25, 2019, as part of the Works in Progress series at the National Gallery of Art, Ritchie shares how his own drawing, journal keeping, and printmaking have been influenced by what he’s learned. The presentation offers a collection of his observations.

Kwame Alexander, poet, educator, host and producer of the literary variety/talk show Bookish, cofounding director of the LEAP for Ghana initiative, and founding editor of VERSIFY, an imprint of HMH Books for Young Readers, in conversation with artist Kadir Nelson. Moderated by Kevin Merida, senior vice president and editor-in-chief, ESPN’s TheUndefeated.com. In this conversation held on April 6, 2019, at the National Gallery of Art, award-winning artists Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson share inspiration and read excerpts from their newly released picture book The Undefeated. Originally performed for ESPN’s website TheUndefeated.com, this illustrated poem is a love letter to black life in the United States. With references to lyrics and lines originally shared by our most celebrated heroes, Martin Luther King Jr., Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and others, the poem offers deeper insights into the accomplishments of the past, while bringing stark attention to the endurance and spirit of those surviving and

Michael Callahan, electronics innovator, co-founder of USCO, and president, Museum Technology Source Inc.; in conversation with Gerd Stern, poet, media artist, co-founder of USCO, and president, Intermedia Foundation. Moderated by Paige Rozanski, curatorial associate, department of modern art, National Gallery of Art Founded in 1964, USCO, or The Company of Us, was one of the first art and technology collectives in the United States to create unique and ephemeral performances featuring slide projectors, audiotapes, moving images, oscilloscopes, refracted lenses, and lasers. On March 3, 2019, two of the group's co-founders, Michael Callahan and Gerd Stern, joined together for a film screening, rare performance, and this conversation moderated by Paige Rozanski, curatorial associate from the department of modern art. Drawing upon the influences of technology and religion, USCO utilized everyday materials, new communication apparatuses, and Eastern and Western mysticism to create artworks that bombarded and over

Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, University of Chicago. In the six-part lecture series End as Beginning: Chinese Art and Dynastic Time, Wu Hung explores the narratives of Chinese art and their relationship to artistic production while reflecting on a series of questions: How did dynastic time emerge and permeate writings on traditional Chinese art? How did it enrich and redefine itself in specific historical contexts? How did it interact with temporalities in different historical, religious, and political systems? How did narratives based on dynastic time respond to and inspire artistic creation? In the second lecture, “Reconfiguring the World: The First Emperor’s Art Projects,” delivered on April 7, 2019, Wu Hung introduces an alternative “dynastic history” of art that emerged in the fourth century BCE, and then explores the relationship of the First Emperor’s various art projects, including the legendary Twelve Golden Men and the sculptures in his Lishan Necro

Mari Lending, professor in architectural theory and history, department of form, theory, and history, Oslo School of Architecture and Design, and founding member, Oslo Centre for Critical Architectural Studies (OCCAS). Artist Rachel Whiteread has made casts and drawings for more than 30 years in an effort to define the space between positives and negatives, public and private, manufactured and hand-made objects—always with concision, intelligence, beauty, and power. At the National Gallery of Art, an unprecedented and comprehensive survey exhibition of Whiteread’s celebrated career introduces a new generation of audiences to her work, which addresses how we live. In this keynote address for the symposium held on October 26, 2018, in conjunction with the exhibition, Mari Lending links cast sculptures by Whiteread with 19th-century plaster monuments in theorizing “ghost structures,” which always refer to places and things absent, lost, or distant. She describes how Whiteread’s work—once briefly installed in the

Kelli Rae Adams, Tariq O’Meally, and Ada Pinkston, artists Artist Rachel Whiteread has made casts and drawings for more than 30 years in an effort to define the space between positives and negatives, public and private, manufactured and hand-made objects—always with concision, intelligence, beauty, and power. At the National Gallery of Art, an unprecedented and comprehensive survey exhibition of Whiteread’s celebrated career introduces a new generation of audiences to her work, which addresses how we live. In these talks delivered as part of the symposium held on October 26, 2018, in conjunction with the exhibition, Halcyon Arts Lab Fellow Kelli Rae Adams reflected on her own burgeoning creative practice in relationship to that of Whiteread, examining the topics of material, surface, space, and society, and the formal as well as conceptual links among them. For artist and choreographer Tariq O’Meally, Rachel Whiteread's body of work brings to mind the intimacy of the body and its relationship to the permanent

Lynne Cooke, senior curator, special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art, and Cristina Iglesias, artist Artist Rachel Whiteread has made casts and drawings for more than 30 years in an effort to define the space between positives and negatives, public and private, manufactured and hand-made objects—always with concision, intelligence, beauty, and power. At the National Gallery of Art, an unprecedented and comprehensive survey exhibition of Whiteread’s celebrated career introduces a new generation of audiences to her work, which addresses how we live. Through sculptures and site-specific installations both massive and cryptic, artist Cristina Iglesias plunges viewers of her work into an unfamiliar world that seems to predate—and may outlast—recorded time. Her choice of materials troubles the difference between natural and manufactured environments, as do her choices for display; Iglesias installs sculptures made of cement, fibers, or metal in places from world-class museums to the ocean’s bottom. L

Helen Molesworth, writer, scholar, and curator Artist Rachel Whiteread has made casts and drawings for more than 30 years in an effort to define the space between positives and negatives, public and private, manufactured and hand-made objects—always with concision, intelligence, beauty, and power. At the National Gallery of Art, an unprecedented and comprehensive survey exhibition of Whiteread’s celebrated career introduces a new generation of audiences to her work, which addresses how we live. To close the symposium held on October 26, 2018, in conjunction with the exhibition, Helen Molesworth wove themes found throughout the program into extemporaneous remarks before inviting the day’s speakers for a panel discussion. In addition to summarizing the talks, Molesworth mused on ways Whiteread produces work out of paradox. “The endlessness of casting,” according to Molesworth, evokes both loss and fecundity while the artist’s use of household items reproduces and publicizes objects associated with privacy. The

Panel discussion with Madeline Caviness, Mary Richardson Professor Emeritus and professor emerita of the history of art, Tufts University; and Ellen Shortell, professor of the history of art, Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Remarks by Dominique Lallement, president, American Friends of Chartres. The partial restoration of Chartres Cathedral that took place from 2014 to 2016 focused on the nave, stained-glass windows, and first figures in the ambulatory. Chartres: La lumière retrouvée documents this meticulous process through observation and conversations with numerous restorers, archaeologists, scientists, and architects (Anne Savalli, 2016, subtitles, 54 minutes). On November 25, 2018, the National Gallery of Art hosted the Washington premiere of the documentary, which was introduced by Dominique Lallement, president of the American Friends of Chartres. Afterward, Madeline Caviness and Ellen Shortell joined in conversation to discuss the importance and impact of this renovation, as well as the compl

Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, University of Chicago. In the six-part lecture series End as Beginning: Chinese Art and Dynastic Time, Wu Hung explores the narratives of Chinese art and their relationship to artistic production while reflecting on a series of questions: How did dynastic time emerge and permeate writings on traditional Chinese art? How did it enrich and redefine itself in specific historical contexts? How did it interact with temporalities in different historical, religious, and political systems? How did narratives based on dynastic time respond to and inspire artistic creation? In the first lecture, “The Emergence of Dynastic Time in Chinese Art,” delivered on March 31, 2019, Wu Hung begins by introducing the concept of dynastic time and its sustained role in narrating the history of Chinese art then traces this narrative mode to the fourth century BCE, when a body of texts associated visual and material forms with a succession of archaic dyna

Nora Heimann, Associate Professor of Art History and Chair of the Department of Art at the Catholic University of America Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel (1850–1913) explored the subject of Joan of Arc in several memorable forms, among which are six dazzling paintings in oil and gold leaf (c. 1906–1912). Nora Heimann places the artist's treatment of Joan of Arc in its historic context. She analyzes the stylistic origins of the paintings, their genesis in Boutet de Monvel’s illustrated book Jeanne d'Arc (1896), their relationship to an award-winning monumental mural by the same artist, which disappeared in the early 20th century, and the peregrinations of the six paintings from their commission to their current display at the National Gallery of Art. This lecture was given on December 12, 2018, as part of an expert panel on French medievalism at the turn of the 20th century by examining the particular cases of Boutet de Monvel’s Jeanne d’Arc and book arts, along with the greater phenomenon of medievalism during

Willa Z. Silverman, Malvin E. and Lea P. Bank Professor of French and Jewish Studies at Penn State University and Head of the Department of French and Francophone Studies, Penn State University An atmosphere of intense bibliophilic activity came to define French culture at the turn of the 20th century—promoted, in part, by the activities of upper-bourgeois collectors who considered the printed medium a crucial part of popular conceptions of aesthetics. Silverman considers the bibliophile’s attraction to medieval themes and iconography during this era. As amateurs, publishers, authors, designers, and directors of bibliophile societies, reviews, and small presses, these “new bibliophiles” often worked closely with both authors and artists to create unique volumes bearing the aesthetic influence of symbolism, art nouveau, Japonisme, and the medieval revival. This lecture was given on December 12, 2018, as part of an expert panel on French medievalism at the turn of the 20th century, examining the particular case

Elizabeth Emery, Professor of Modern Languages and Literature, Montclair State University Elizabeth Emery explores the French engagement with the medieval period in the years 1870–1914. She examines this French medievalism (the post-medieval engagement with medieval things) through paintings, history textbooks for children, and popular World’s Fair attractions and memorabilia. Through this multimedia presentation she helps contextualize the late 19th-century French passion for medieval motifs that so influenced American visitor Senator William A. Clark that he returned to Washington with many treasures, including Boutet de Monvelʼs Jeanne d’Arc paintings now on display in the National Gallery of Art. This lecture was given on December 12, 2018, as part of an expert panel on French medievalism at the turn of the 20th century, examining the particular cases of Boutet de Monvel’s Jeanne d’Arc and book arts, along with the greater phenomenon of medievalism during the Belle Époque.

Mary Morton, Curator of French Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Mary Morton discusses the provenance of the Jeanne d’Arc series, commissioned by William Clark and given to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1926. The popular panels hung at the Corcoran until it closed in 2014, when they moved to the National Gallery of Art, where they now hang in a West Building gallery alongside sculptures by Boutet de Monvel’s contemporary Edgar Degas. This lecture was given on December 12, 2018, as part of an expert panel on French medievalism at the turn of the 20th century, examining the particular cases of Boutet de Monvel’s Jeanne d’Arc and book arts, along with the greater phenomenon of medievalism during the Belle Époque.

Diana Greenwald, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, departments of American and British paintings and American and modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art. Self-taught artist James Castle (1899–1977) lived in remote rural Idaho until moving to the outskirts of Boise in his thirties. Not only was he isolated geographically, he was also born deaf. For Castle—like many “outsider” artists—past scholarship used biography and his marginalized social status to interpret his work. On December 3, 2018, as part of the Works in Progress series at the National Gallery of Art, Diana Greenwald argues that the progressive integration of visual culture—nationally and globally—is key to understanding this artist’s work. Greenwald considers Castle through the same art historical lens applied to mainstream artists of the period who were similarly engaged with mass-circulated visual culture. Classifying Castle as a pop artist, although one without the pretense to distinguish “high” from “low” visual sou

Charles Ross, artist, and James Meyer, curator of art, 1945–1974, National Gallery of Art Using sunlight and starlight as the inspiration for and source of his art, Charles Ross creates large-scale prisms to project the solar spectrum into architectural spaces; focuses sunlight into powerful beams to create solar burn works; and draws the quantum behavior of light with dynamite. He also works with a variety of other media, including photography and video. Ross enables his viewers to experience different facets of the relationship between light and space by staging his works in diverse settings, from one-room installations like his Hanging Islands, in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, to his ongoing project Star Axis, a monumental work of land art in the New Mexico desert. In this conversation held on February 24, 2019, in conjunction with the special installation Spaces: Works from the Collection, 1966–1976, Ross discusses his career with Gallery curator James Meyer.

Tim Doud, artist; professor, department of art, American University; cofounder, ‘sindikit; and cofounder, STABLE; in conversation with artists Jonathan Lyndon Chase and Louis Fratino. Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Tim Doud, and Louis Fratino all engage with themes of race, gender, and sexuality while working in the genre of figurative painting. Yet the artists’ idiosyncratic styles also take their paintings beyond categories of identity, challenging normative strategies of representation. In this discussion recorded October 21, 2018, in conjunction with the special installation Bodies of Work at the National Gallery of Art, Doud moderates a conversation with Chase and Fratino about painting techniques and the tropes surrounding figurative work, looking particularly into how their methods explore and expand the practice of modern portraiture.

Dawoud Bey, artist Dawoud Bey, born in 1953, has portrayed Americans from marginalized groups with remarkable sensitivity and complexity throughout his 40-year career. When he was eleven, Bey was shocked to see a picture of a young survivor of the 1963 Ku Klux Klan bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four young black girls died in the church and two African American boys were murdered in related violence later that day. Decades later for The Birmingham Project, Bey created sixteen pairs of life-size portraits of present-day residents of Birmingham: one of a young person the same age as a victim in 1963 and another of an adult fifty years older, the child’s age had she or he survived. Representing these unwitting icons of the civil rights movement with ordinary people, the diptychs connect generations and, as Bey explained, make the children “real, tangible. These girls are an abstraction to people — the mythic four girls—we lose sight of their humanity.” On December 16, 2018, as

Oscar Fitzgerald, adjunct professor of decorative arts and design history, Corcoran School of Art and Design, George Washington University. Chairs reflect the change of styles over time better than any other form of furniture. They get a lot of use, and when they wear out, owners usually want to replace them with the latest style. On October 15, 2018, as part of the Works in Progress series at the National Gallery of Art, Oscar Fitzgerald traces the evolution of furniture styles from the 17th to the 20th century. Referencing highlights from Masterpieces of American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection, 1700–1830 installed in the West Building, Fitzgerald discusses 17th-century mannerism; baroque, rococo, and neoclassical styles of the 18th century; the Victorian reaction to classical design in the 19th century; and 20th-century modernism, with its rejection and then rediscovery of ornament.