National Gallery of Art | Audio

Maria Antonella Pelizzari, professor of art history, Hunter College, City University of New YorkMaria Antonella Pelizzari, professor of art history, Hunter College, City University of New York. British army officer Captain Linnaeus Tripe (1822–1902) occupies a special place in the history of 19th-century photography for the outstanding body of work he produced in India and Burma (now the republic of Myanmar) in the 1850s. With few models to follow, he used photography to explore these little-known cultures, working under the auspices of the British East India Company. On December 10, 2014, the National Gallery of Art hosted a public symposium to accompany the exhibition Captain Linnaeus Tripe: Photographer of India and Burma, 1852–1860. On view September 21, 2014-January 4, 2015, the exhibition traces Tripe's work from his earliest photographs made in England (1852–1854), to ones created on expeditions to the south Indian kingdom of Mysore (1854), to Burma (1855), and again to south India (1857–1858). Many of his photographs were the first to document celebrated archaeological sites and monuments, ancient and contemporary religious and secular buildings — some now destroyed — as well as geological formations and landscape vistas. Yet the dynamic vision Tripe brought to these large, technically complex photographs and the lavish attention he paid to their execution indicate that his aims were artistic as well.

Zahid R. Chaudhary, associate professor of English and director of graduate studies, Princeton UniversityZahid R. Chaudhary, associate professor of English and director of graduate studies, Princeton University. British army officer Captain Linnaeus Tripe (1822–1902) occupies a special place in the history of 19th-century photography for the outstanding body of work he produced in India and Burma (now the republic of Myanmar) in the 1850s. With few models to follow, he used photography to explore these little-known cultures, working under the auspices of the British East India Company. On December 10, 2014, the National Gallery of Art hosted a public symposium to accompany the exhibition Captain Linnaeus Tripe: Photographer of India and Burma, 1852–1860. On view September 21, 2014-January 4, 2015, the exhibition traces Tripe's work from his earliest photographs made in England (1852–1854), to ones created on expeditions to the south Indian kingdom of Mysore (1854), to Burma (1855), and again to south India (1857–1858). Many of his photographs were the first to document celebrated archaeological sites and monuments, ancient and contemporary religious and secular buildings — some now destroyed — as well as geological formations and landscape vistas. Yet the dynamic vision Tripe brought to these large, technically complex photographs and the lavish attention he paid to their execution indicate that his aims were artistic as well.

John Falconer, curator of photographs, India Office Collection, The British Library. British army officer Captain Linnaeus Tripe (1822–1902) occupies a special place in the history of 19th-century photography for the outstanding body of work he produced in India and Burma (now the republic of Myanmar) in the 1850s. With few models to follow, he used photography to explore these little-known cultures, working under the auspices of the British East India Company. On December 10, 2014, the National Gallery of Art hosted a public symposium to accompany the exhibition Captain Linnaeus Tripe: Photographer of India and Burma, 1852–1860. On view September 21, 2014-January 4, 2015, the exhibition traces Tripe's work from his earliest photographs made in England (1852–1854), to ones created on expeditions to the south Indian kingdom of Mysore (1854), to Burma (1855), and again to south India (1857–1858). Many of his photographs were the first to document celebrated archaeological sites and monuments, ancient and contemporary religious and secular buildings — some now destroyed — as well as geological formations and landscape vistas. Yet the dynamic vision Tripe brought to these large, technically complex photographs and the lavish attention he paid to their execution indicate that his aims were artistic as well.

Molli Kuenstner, image specialist for northern European art, National Gallery of Art, and Thomas O'Callaghan, image specialist for Spanish art, National Gallery of Art. In this lecture, which took place on October 27, 2014, as part of the Works in Progress series at the National Gallery of Art, Molli Kuenstner and Thomas O'Callaghan discuss the Gallery's partial set of historic slides from the Führerprojekt, an official Nazi archive produced by order of Adolf Hitler. In December 1943, at the height of World War II, Hitler issued the Führerauftrag Monumentalmalerei (Führer's Order for Monumental Painting) ordering the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda to administer a photographic survey of immovable murals threatened by Allied bombing. The survey is significant because by the end of the war 60% of the photographed sites had been damaged or destroyed. Kuenstner and O'Callaghan also highlight the partial set of 4,500 Führerprojekt slides that came to the Gallery in 1950 by way of publisher Kurt Wolff.

Daphne Barbour, senior conservator, department of object conservation, National Gallery of Art; Lisha Glinsman, conservation scientist, scientific research department, National Gallery of Art. The Simpson Collection at the National Gallery of Art is one of the few remaining private collections assembled with the participation of artist Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). Most of Rodin's sculpture is sand cast, the main method used in Paris since the mid-19th century, and he usually worked with the foundry established by Alexis Rudier. Jean Limet, a painter by trade, became the appointed patinator of Rodin's bronzes and photographer of his work. In a joint presentation recorded on February 23, 2015, senior conservator Daphne Barbour and conservation scientist Lisha Glinsman focus on seven bronze sculptures cast during Rodin's lifetime and gifted by Mrs. John W. Simpson (1869-1943), including the notable works A Burgher of Calais, The Kiss, The Thinker, and The Walking Man. Barbour and Glinsman discuss their ongoing research focusing on Rodin's intrinsic aesthetic realized by his trusted practitioners and preserved in these lifetime casts.

Gretchen Hirschauer, associate curator of Italian and Spanish paintings, National Gallery of Art; and Elizabeth Walmsley, paintings conservator, National Gallery of Art. Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence, the first major retrospective of paintings by the imaginative Italian Renaissance master Piero di Cosimo (1462-1522), is on view at the National Gallery of Art from February 1 through May 3, 2015. The exhibition features 44 of the artist's most compelling paintings—three quarters of his extant work. Several important paintings recently underwent conservation treatment, among them the Gallery's Visitation altarpiece (c. 1489/1490). In this lecture, delivered on February 9, 2015 as part of the Works in Progress series, exhibition curator Gretchen Hirschauer and conservator Elizabeth Walmsley present their fascinating discoveries on Piero's known works. Hirschauer also discusses her continuing research on the chronology of his paintings and on the frames associated with these works. Walmsley highlights the range of technical examinations that help characterize Piero's heterogeneous style.

Thomas Crow, Rosalie Solow Professor of Modern Art, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. In this six-part lecture series entitled Restoration as Event and Idea: Art in Europe, 1814‒1820, Art historian Thomas Crow will consider the period following the fall of Napoleon. During this time, artists throughout Europe were left uncertain and adrift, with old certainties and boundaries dissolved. How did they then set new courses for themselves? Professor Crow's lectures answer that question by offering both the wide view of art centers across the continent—Rome, Paris, London, Madrid, Brussels—and a close-up focus on individual actors— Francisco Goya (1746‒1828), Jacques-Louis David (1748‒1825), Antonio Canova (1757‒1822), Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769‒1830), Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780‒1867), and Théodore Géricault (1791‒1824). Whether directly or indirectly, these artists were linked in a new international network with changed artistic priorities and new creative possibilities emerging from the wreckage of the old. In this second lecture, entitled "At the Service of Kings, Madrid and Paris, 1814: Aging Goya and Upstart Géricault Face Their Restorations," originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on March 22, 2015, Professor Crow examines how Goya and Géricault were similarly moved to transform artistic antecedents, dislodging even the primacy of the human subject as an adequate vehicle for expressing the violent uncertainties of their moment in history.

DEcember 2014 - Harriet Stratis, senior research conservator, Art Institute of Chicago. Concluding Remarks given by George T. M. Shackelford, deputy director, Kimbell Art Museum To celebrate the closing day of its Degas/Cassatt exhibition, October 5, 2014, the National Gallery of Art hosted a public symposium titled Degas and Cassatt: Different Perspectives featuring conservators, curators, and scholars. On view beginning May 11, the exhibition focused on how the relationship between American Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) and Frenchman Edgar Degas (1834–1917) influenced their artistic practices and careers. Cassatt, who had settled in Paris in 1874, first met Degas in 1877. Over the next decade, the two artists engaged in an intense dialogue, turning to each other for advice and challenging each other to experiment with materials and techniques. Both made printmaking an important aspect of their careers and for a time collaborated on their endeavors. Their admiration and support for each other endured long after their art began to head in different directions: Degas continued to acquire Cassatt's work, while she promoted his to collectors back in the United States. They remained devoted friends for 40 years, until Degas's death.

December 2014 - Norma Broude, professor emerita of art history, American University. To celebrate the closing day of its Degas/Cassatt exhibition, October 5, 2014, the National Gallery of Art hosted a public symposium titled Degas and Cassatt: Different Perspectives featuring conservators, curators, and scholars. On view beginning May 11, the exhibition focused on how the relationship between American Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) and Frenchman Edgar Degas (1834–1917) influenced their artistic practices and careers. Cassatt, who had settled in Paris in 1874, first met Degas in 1877. Over the next decade, the two artists engaged in an intense dialogue, turning to each other for advice and challenging each other to experiment with materials and techniques. Both made printmaking an important aspect of their careers and for a time collaborated on their endeavors. Their admiration and support for each other endured long after their art began to head in different directions: Degas continued to acquire Cassatt's work, while she promoted his to collectors back in the United States. They remained devoted friends for 40 years, until Degas's death.

November 2014 - Panel discussion includes David Bindman, emeritus professor of the history of art, University College London; Adrienne L. Childs, associate, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University; Kobena Mercer, professor, history of art and African American studies, Yale University; Steven Nelson, associate professor of African and African American art history, University of California, Los Angeles, and Cohen Fellow, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University (2014–2015); and Sharmila Sen, executive editor-at-large, Harvard University Press. Moderated by Faya Causey, head of academic programs, National Gallery of Art. In the 1960s, art collector and philanthropist Dominique de Menil began a research project and photo archive called The Image of the Black in Western Art. Through the collaboration of Harvard University Press and the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, the project reaches its completion. The last two volumes in the series mark the 20th-century transition from the depiction of people of African descent by others to their self-representation by artists in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean. This fourth panel discussion hosted by the National Gallery of Art to celebrate this series focuses on the second part of the final volume, The Rise of Black Artists. Panelists highlight topics ranging from the Great Migration to globalization, to Négritude and cultural hybridity, to the modern black artist's relationship with European aesthetic traditions and experimentation with new technologies and media, to the post-black art world.

November 2014 - Richard Kendall, curator at large, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown To celebrate the closing day of its Degas/Cassatt exhibition, October 5, 2014, the National Gallery of Art hosted a public symposium titled Degas and Cassatt: Different Perspectives featuring conservators, curators, and scholars. On view beginning May 11, the exhibition focused on how the relationship between American Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) and Frenchman Edgar Degas (1834–1917) influenced their artistic practices and careers. Cassatt, who had settled in Paris in 1874, first met Degas in 1877. Over the next decade, the two artists engaged in an intense dialogue, turning to each other for advice and challenging each other to experiment with materials and techniques. Both made printmaking an important aspect of their careers and for a time collaborated on their endeavors. Their admiration and support for each other endured long after their art began to head in different directions: Degas continued to acquire Cassatt's work, while she promoted his to collectors back in the United States. They remained devoted friends for 40 years, until Degas's death.

November 2014 - Nancy Mowll Mathews, visiting associate professor, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Eugenie Prendergast Senior Curator and Lecturer Emerita, Williams College. To celebrate the closing day of its Degas/Cassatt exhibition, October 5, 2014, the National Gallery of Art hosted a public symposium titled Degas and Cassatt: Different Perspectives featuring conservators, curators, and scholars on October 5, 2014. On view beginning May 11, the exhibition focused on how the relationship between American Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) and Frenchman Edgar Degas (1834–1917) influenced their artistic practices and careers. Cassatt, who had settled in Paris in 1874, first met Degas in 1877. Over the next decade, the two artists engaged in an intense dialogue, turning to each other for advice and challenging each other to experiment with materials and techniques. Both made printmaking an important aspect of their careers and for a time collaborated on their endeavors. Their admiration and support for each other endured long after their art began to head in different directions: Degas continued to acquire Cassatt's work, while she promoted his to collectors back in the United States. They remained devoted friends for 40 years, until Degas's death.

November 2014 - Richard L. Kagan, Arthur O. Lovejoy Professor Emeritus of History and Academy Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University. The 400th anniversary of the death of Domenikos Theotokopoulos, universally known as El Greco (1541-1614), is remembered at the National Gallery of Art with an exhibition of 11 paintings from the Gallery, Dumbarton Oaks, and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, and from the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. With seven paintings by El Greco, the Gallery has one of the largest collections of his work in the United States, made possible by the generosity of early benefactors Andrew W. Mellon, Samuel H. Kress, Joseph Widener, and Chester Dale. Ignored for centuries, El Greco was rediscovered in Spain by Picasso and other artists at the close of the 19th century. His fame spread quickly to the United States, where artists, critics, and collectors regarded his idiosyncratic style of painting as a precursor of the latest trends in modern art. While El Greco continued to have his detractors, his popularity skyrocketed, leading to what some would label a cult. To honor the exhibition opening on November 2, 2014, Richard Kagan examines the craze for El Greco and how several of his masterpieces came to the Gallery's collection. El Greco in the National Gallery of Art and Washington-Area Collections: A 400th Anniversary Celebration is on view through February 16, 2015.

November 2014 - Miguel Falomir, head curator of Italian and French painting, Museo Nacional del Prado. In December of 1547, when Titian left Venice for Augsburg to meet the imperial court, he was undoubtedly the foremost painter of the Venetian art scene. When he returned a year later, he found the city enamored of the talent of Jacopo Tintoretto, a painter almost 30 years his junior. Tintoretto's Miracle of the Slave, painted for the Scuola Grande di San Marco, was receiving unanimous praise from an enthusiastic Venetian public-including members of Titian's own inner circle, such as Pietro Aretino. In this lecture recorded on November 9, 2014, Miguel Falomir analyzes Titian's reaction to Tintoretto's challenge, which was unexpected on two fronts: first, because the two painters had previously enjoyed a cordial relationship, and second, because the Miracle of the Slave represented a considerable improvement in the quality of Tintoretto's painting. Ultimately, the Miracle of the Slave forced Titian, then in his 60s, to update his style in order to compete with a younger generation of artists-something that he was not always able to do successfully. This is the 18th annual lecture offered by the National Gallery of Art in this endowed series named after Sydney J. Freedberg (1914-1997), the great specialist of Italian art, and presented in the centennial year of his birth.

Patricia Junker, Ann M. Barwick Curator of American Art, Seattle Art Museum. Andrew Wyeth was always far from the mainstream in American art, but not simply because he was a realist painter at a time that saw the dominance of abstract expressionism. Wyeth refused to take sides in the art world controversies of the late 20th century. He was never a defender of realism for its own sake, but believed that abstract art challenged realist painters to find their own means to shock viewers with an unconventional and new approach. Wyeth confounded critics time and again, and especially with his late series—the Helga pictures. In this lecture recorded on October 19, 2014, Patricia Junker suggests a context for Wyeth's subversive streak and a surprising affinity that Wyeth shares with 20th-century America's other great artistic outlier, Marcel Duchamp. This program coincides with the exhibition Andrew Wyeth: Looking Out, Looking In, organized by the National Gallery of Art and seen only in Washington from May 4 through November 30, 2014.