National Gallery of Art | Audio

February 2014 - Masha Belenky, associate professor of French and acting chair, department of Romance, German, and Slavic Languages and Literatures, The George Washington University. Organized in conjunction with Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris, this symposium held on December 6, 2013, at the National Gallery of Art offers new perspectives on art and urbanism in 19th-century Paris. An international panel of art, architectural, and literary historians address the transformation of 19th-century Paris in papers that focus on diverse topics including the representation of Parisian quarries in 19th-century photography, painting, and literature; the formative role of architect Gabriel Davioud in reshaping Paris; the use of photography to map the changing city; new modes of transportation that shape the experience and representations of the city; the impact of 19th-century photography of Paris on 20th-century film; and the relationship between Marville's urban documentation and contemporary photographic practice. Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris is on view at the Gallery through January 5, 2014

February 2014 - Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art. Panel discussion includes Spiral artists Emma Amos, Reginald Gammon, and Richard Mayhew; Camille Billops, Hatch-Billops Collection; Floyd Coleman, professor of art, Howard University; moderated by Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. In celebration of The Art of Romare Bearden exhibition, on view September 14, 2003, through January 4, 2004, at the National Gallery of Art, Ruth Fine illuminates the artist's career, placing his extraordinary oeuvre in the context of his times. A panel discussion follows, featuring original members of Spiral—a group of African American artists, including Bearden, who gathered in the 1960s in response to the civil rights movement. Drawn from more than 85 museums and private collections, this comprehensive retrospective features 131 works, from paintings, drawings, and watercolors, to monotypes and edition prints, collages, photostats, wood sculpture, designs for record albums, costumes, stage sets, and book illustrations. Many of the works represent places where Bearden lived and worked, including the rural south, Pittsburgh, New York, and the Caribbean island of St. Martin.

February 2014 - Richard J. Powell, assistant professor, department of art and art history, Duke University In advance of the publication of his newest book, Jacob Lawrence, Richard J. Powell shares the aesthetic and cultural inquiries that contributed to a more meaningful study of this important artist. Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) received unprecedented acclaim for an African American artist in the 20th century. The standard conclusion that this unique status resulted from an ideological triumvirate of caste, class, and race fails to appreciate Lawrence's artistic motivations and choices. In this lecture, recorded at the National Gallery of Art on March 22, 1992, Powell explains that his investigation into Lawrence's life yields a universe of emblems, motifs, and symbols that cannot be reduced to some purely racial or social formula. The motif of steps—recurrent images of ladders, brownstone stoops, and fire escapes—is not a visual trope or random inclusion of environmental observations. The steps embrace a world of allusions to ascension and climbing. Lawrence's documentation of significant historic events and moments of individual struggle and perseverance creates an art of social realism. His definitions of events and people at their most historic and human levels clarifies their meanings. Powell believes that this climbing and clarifying represents the genius of Jacob Lawrence.

February 2014 - Ruth Fine, curator (1972–2012), National Gallery of Art, and Rodney M. Miller, collector. In this conversation recorded on February 9, 2014, as part of The Collecting of African American Art, a series at the National Gallery of Art, Ruth Fine and Rodney M. Miller discuss his collection in all of its aspects—from his early interest in art to the development of his diverse interactions with contemporary artists, curators, and dealers. Miller explains the important effect that art has in chronicling and providing a more complete view of society.

February 2014 - Sharon E. J. Gerstel, professor of Byzantine art history and archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles. The Greek city of Thessaloniki was the Byzantine Empire's second city, after Constantinople, in both wealth and size. In this lecture recorded on January 16, 2014, to celebrate the exhibition Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections, which is on view at the National Gallery of Art through March 2, 2014, Sharon Gerstel examines this moment of artistic creativity in Thessaloniki. The first-ever exhibition of Byzantine art at the Gallery presents some 170 works of art, many never before lent to the United States, including mosaics, icons, manuscripts, jewelry, and ceramics. Using the Heaven and Earth exhibition as a lens, Gerstel focuses on works produced in Byzantium's second city—demonstrating their importance in their own time and their significance for generations that followed. This program was coordinated with and supported by Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

January 2014 - Daphne Barbour, senior object conservator; Melanie Gifford, research conservator; Lisha Glinsman, conservation scientist; Alison Luchs, curator of early European sculpture; and Kimberly Schenck, head of paper conservation, National Gallery of Art. FACTURE: Conservation · Science · Art History is a new biennial journal from the National Gallery of Art that introduces the latest research on works in its permanent collection. Named for "the manner in which things are made," the journal presents essays on conservation treatment, scientific research, and technical art history. This study undertaken at the Gallery focuses on artists' methods and materials—identifying the materials used by artists, understanding the ways in which different artists handled these materials, and discerning how to preserve the qualities the artists prized. In honor of the inaugural volume, this lecture recorded on January 12, 2014, focuses on Renaissance masterworks—painting, sculpture, textiles, and works on paper—in the Gallery's collection.

January 2014 - Shelley Sturman, senior conservator and head of the department of object conservation, National Gallery of Art. On the 100th anniversary of the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial dedication in Boston, artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens' original plaster version of the bronze memorial was transferred to the National Gallery of Art for full conservation treatment. On long-term loan from the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, New Hampshire, the magisterial Shaw Memorial (1883-1900) was previously restored many times and no longer resembled the artist's original intentions. In this lecture recorded on January 15, 2014, conservator Shelley Sturman reveals the long process of removing the nearly 12-by-18-foot relief sculpture from a concrete block wall, radiographing the sections, repairing cracks, analyzing the materials, preparing the appropriate decorative surface, realigning segments, and designing an appropriate mounting system for display in Washington; this treatment was performed by a team of conservators from Boston, the National Park Service, and the Gallery. Installation at the Gallery marks the ninth time that the Shaw Memorial has been dismantled and reassembled. An exhibition honoring the memorial and its inspiration on 20th- and 21st-century artists titled Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial is on view through January 20, 2014.

January 2014 - Ioli Kalavrezou, , Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Byzantine Art, Harvard University. Organized to foster connections between the exhibition Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections at the National Gallery of Art and the research interests and collections of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, this colloquium echoes the companion volume to the exhibition catalogue, Cities and Countryside in Byzantine Greece. Held on November 15, 2013, at the Gallery, American and Greek Byzantinists address the many ways community was visualized: in the arts (including mosaics, frescoes, icons, and everyday objects), in architectural construction, and in settings for the ceremonies of daily life and death. Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections is on view through March 2, 2014. This program is coordinated with and supported by Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

January 2014 - Demetra Papanikola-Bakirtzi, , director, The Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia. Organized to foster connections between the exhibition Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections at the National Gallery of Art and the research interests and collections of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, this colloquium echoes the companion volume to the exhibition catalogue, Cities and Countryside in Byzantine Greece. Held on November 15, 2013, at the Gallery, American and Greek Byzantinists address the many ways community was visualized: in the arts (including mosaics, frescoes, icons, and everyday objects), in architectural construction, and in settings for the ceremonies of daily life and death. Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections is on view through March 2, 2014. This program is coordinated with and supported by Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

January 2014 - Eugenia Gerousi, director, Byzantine and Post-Byzantine antiquities, The Hellenic Ministry of Culture. Organized to foster connections between the exhibition Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections at the National Gallery of Art and the research interests and collections of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, this colloquium echoes the companion volume to the exhibition catalogue, Cities and Countryside in Byzantine Greece. Held on November 15, 2013, at the Gallery, American and Greek Byzantinists address the many ways community was visualized: in the arts (including mosaics, frescoes, icons, and everyday objects), in architectural construction, and in settings for the ceremonies of daily life and death. Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections is on view through March 2, 2014. This program is coordinated with and supported by Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

January 2014 - Robert Ousterhout, professor of art history and director of the center for ancient studies, University of Pennsylvania. Organized to foster connections between the exhibition Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections at the National Gallery of Art and the research interests and collections of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, this colloquium echoes the companion volume to the exhibition catalogue, Cities and Countryside in Byzantine Greece. Held on November 15, 2013, at the Gallery, American and Greek Byzantinists address the many ways community was visualized: in the arts (including mosaics, frescoes, icons, and everyday objects), in architectural construction, and in settings for the ceremonies of daily life and death. Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections is on view through March 2, 2014. This program is coordinated with and supported by Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

December 2013 - Kathan Brown, founding director, Crown Point Press. San Francisco's Crown Point Press is one of the most influential printmaking studios of the last half century. The exhibition Yes, No, Maybe: Artists Working at Crown Point Press, on view at the National Gallery of Art from September 1, 2013, through January 5, 2014, features 125 working proofs and edition prints produced by 25 artists between 1972 and 2010. Yes, No, Maybe goes beyond celebrating the flash of inspiration and the role of the imagination to examine the artistic process as a sequence of decisions. Kathan Brown, founding director of Crown Point Press, offers an insider's perspective to running this business—full of stories about art and artists—in this lecture recorded on December 8, 2013. Highlighting the exhibition's major theme, Brown shares recordings of artists' voices describing their working process: Robert Bechtle, John Cage, Chuck Close, Richard Diebenkorn, Tom Marioni, Chris Ofili, Kiki Smith, and Pat Steir. Brown also discusses her memoir, Know That You Are Lucky, drawing a connection between the creative process in printmaking and a meaningful life. (photo: Laurie Frankel)

December 2013 - Arthur J. Wheelock Jr., curator of northern baroque paintings, National Gallery of Art In 1975 Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. was appointed curator of northern baroque paintings at the National Gallery of Art. During his nearly 40 years in the position, Wheelock has cared for, cultivated, and strengthened the Dutch and Flemish paintings collection. He has also fostered an impressive exhibition program, including Anthony van Dyck (1990), Johannes Vermeer: The Art of Painting (1999), Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits (2005), Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered (2008), and Judith Leyster (1609-1660) (2009). In this lecture recorded on December 15, 2013, Wheelock shares the history of the Dutch and Flemish collection and special exhibitions while looking toward the future of curatorial responsibility.

December 2013 - Anna Winestein, historian and executive director of the Ballets Russes Cultural Partnership. In conjunction with the exhibition Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929: When Art Danced with Music, historian and executive director of the Ballets Russes Cultural Partnership Anna Winestein presented a lecture on August 10, 2013, about the contribution of Russian film professionals to Abel Gance's legendary Napoléon. Parallels between the relationship of the Ballet Russes with European performing arts in the 1920s, and that of the Russian émigré film studio Albatros with European cinema were also explored.

Decmber 2013 - Andy Goldsworthy, artist. British artist Andy Goldsworthy was commissioned to create a site-specific sculpture for the National Gallery of Art in 2004. Installed in the East Building in the winter of 2004/2005, Roof comprises nine stacked-slate, low-profile domes—each hollow and measuring, roughly, 5 ½ feet high and 27 feet in diameter, with centered oculi 2 feet in diameter. Goldsworthy, who has worked with the domical form since the late 1970s, chose it for the Gallery in part because the site's northern orientation would allow him to produce perfectly black holes. The earthbound domes also serve as a counterpoint to the many rooftop domes of Washington. In his first public appearance at the Gallery since the spring of 2005, Goldsworthy looked back at Roof's installation. Recorded on November 11, 2013, this lecture focuses on Goldsworthy's art in relationship to the built environment and the contextualization of Roof within his more recent body of work.