National Gallery of Art | Audio

September 2013 - Sarah Kennel, associate curator, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art. Sarah Kennel, National Gallery of Art curator behind the exhibit Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929: When Art Danced with Music, discusses the critical reaction to the Rite of Spring at its 1913 Paris premiere in this lecture recorded on July 21, 2013. Kennel explores possible connections between the ballet's choreography and contemporary dance practices that transformed popular culture in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Though on the surface the avant-garde choreography for the Rite of Spring seems wholly antithetical to the forms of popular dance, critics repeatedly invoked the same terms to describe the bodily movement in both dance styles. Furthermore, a choreographic analysis of the Rite of Spring reveals several moments in which Nijinsky appears to have "poached" certain movements from popular dancing, as well as from other movement traditions, including classical ballet, suggesting that the Rite of Spring's modernism was partly shaped by a dialogue with mass culture.

September 2013 - Vija Celmins, artist, in conversation with Jeffrey Weiss, curator and head of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art (1999-2007). Latvian-born Vija Celmins is a leading artist of her generation, skilled in several media. After producing a body of paintings and drawings in the 1960s of electrical household appliances and newspaper clippings, often about violent subjects, she came to devote her work to the minutely crafted images of "landscape" subjects: the night sky, the desert, and the ocean. Celmins' work possesses a conceptual edge that belies its ravishing beauty. Joined in conversation with curator Jeffrey Weiss on February 16, 2006, as part of the Elson Lecture Series at the National Gallery of Art, Celmins discusses her transformative career, which has spanned half a century.

September 2013 - Dr. Annette Insdorf, Columbia University . Dr. Annette Insdorf, director of undergraduate film studies and professor in the graduate film program of Columbia University's School of the Arts, introduces a screening of Philip Kaufman's 1988 feature film The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Dr. Insdorf, author of Philip Kaufman (Contemporary Film Director Series, 2011), discusses the adaptation of Czech writer Milan Kundera's novel in the context of Kaufman's other feature films, including The Right Stuff (1983) and The Wanderers (1979).

September 2013 - Jeff Wall, artist. Canadian-born photographer Jeff Wall first became interested in photography in the mid-1960s. He was struck by the perfectionism that characterized the practice at that time—the idea that photographs should, and must, document the world as it is. Photography seemed to be strict reportage, instead of allowing for collaboration between the photographer and subject (as with cinematography). Films were composed of a series of still photographs, but the potential for collaboration within a single photograph had not yet been realized. In this lecture recorded at the National Gallery of Art on April 17, 1999, Wall discusses his work and his relation with what he calls cinematography. He works with performers and prepares the composition to create an image of something that he has actually seen. Through the large-scale photographs for which he is best known, Wall seeks to tell a fragment of a story and allow spectators to finish the story for themselves.

August 2013 - Barney A. Ebsworth, collector, in conversation with Franklin Kelly, curator of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art. To celebrate the opening of Twentieth-Century American Art: The Ebsworth Collection at the National Gallery of Art on March 5, 2000, Barney A. Ebsworth discussed the collection's history and the works selected for the exhibition with Franklin Kelly, the Gallery's curator of American and British paintings. On view through June 11, 2000, the exhibition featured 52 paintings, 12 sculptures, and 10 works on paper belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Ebsworth. Included were works by Edward Hopper, Charles Sheeler, Georgia O'Keeffe, Andy Warhol, Arshile Gorky, and other American modernists. Ebsworth began collecting in the mid-1960s while living in Europe for military service and traveling for his cruise-ship business. Although his early acquisitions were 17th-century Dutch and Flemish and 18th-century Japanese art, eventually the exclusive focus of the collection became American modernist works dating from the Armory Show of 1913 onward. An important collection required having only the best works of a certain period, and Ebsworth felt that modern American art was more accessible in terms of scholarship, more affordable than older masterpieces, and connected to the life of our times. He reveals the friendships, joys and rewards that grew out of the collection.

August 2013 - Lynn Garafola, professor of dance, Barnard College, Columbia University. Bronislava Nijinska, the sister of famed ballet dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, was a pioneer of the modern tradition of ballet. In spring 2013, Lynn Garafola was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to support her research on Nijinska. In this lecture recorded on July 7, 2013, at the National Gallery of Art, Garafola shares her latest research and thoughts about how Nijinska's life and work not only illuminated modern ballet history, but 20th century culture as a whole. In 1913 Nijinska was evicted from her brother's production The Rite of Spring for getting married, an act that he perceived as a betrayal. Afterward, although she was no longer dancing for her brother, Nijinska still played a crucial role in the dissemination of modernism. The longevity of her career eclipsed that of her brother's, and her work influenced numerous dancers and choreographers. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929: When Art Danced with Music, on view at the Gallery from May 12 to October 6, 2013, this lecture was supported in loving memory of Shirley Casstevens.

August 2013 - Tom Learner, head of modern and contemporary art research, Getty Conservation Institute, in conversation with artist De Wain Valentine. The International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art—North America (INCCA—NA), working together with the National Gallery of Art and the Getty Conservation Institution, presented From Start to Finish: The Story of "Gray Column" on July 16, 2013, at the Gallery. This 30-minute documentary recounts the remarkable story behind the making of De Wain Valentine's Gray Column, a stunning large-scale polyester sculpture. The film follows the piece from its original concept to its display at the Getty Center for Valentine's exhibition during Pacific Standard Time, the 2011 Getty initiative to celebrate the birth of the Los Angeles art scene. Following the film, Tom Learner and De Wain Valentine discuss the creation of this monumental work of art and his thoughts on approaches to its conservation. This program is part of INCCA—NA's Voice of the Artist series.

July 2013 - Recital by pianist and filmmaker Lincoln Mayorga. A Suitcase Full of Chocolate recounts the extraordinary history of Sofia Cosma, a brilliant concert pianist whose career was suppressed first by the Nazis and later by the Soviets. Years later, against all odds, Cosma reconstructed her life and profession as a performer in Romania, becoming one of the most celebrated pianists of Eastern Europe. The introduction by the documentary's creator—concert pianist Lincoln Mayorga—includes live performances of work by composers Chopin and Rachmaninov (among others), with an overview of the history of Russian concert pianists from the last century using the experiences of Sofia Cosma as a prime example.

July 2013 - Debra Pincus, independent scholar. The letterforms of antiquity—both capitals and small letters—were brought back to life in the Renaissance, the result of a fervent study of ancient inscriptions and manuscripts. These revived antique letters are the letters that we use today. In this lecture recorded on June 16, 2013 at the National Gallery of Art, Debra Pincus talks about the process of recovery in the 15th century, and the particular role played by Venice and nearby territory in making antique letters available to Renaissance artists, calligraphers, humanists, and, ultimately, to printers of books.

July 2013 - Margaret and Raymond Horowitz, collectors, in conversation with Nicolai Cikovsky Jr., senior curator of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art, and Franklin Kelly, curator of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art. In honor of the exhibition American Impressionism and Realism: The Margaret and Raymond Horowitz Collection, on view at the National Gallery of Art from January 24 to May 9, 1999, the Horowitzes joined Nicolai Cikovsky and Franklin Kelly to discuss the history of their collection and its first exhibition since a 1973 show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Forty-nine American impressionist and realist paintings and works on paper were presented, including works by William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, George Bellows, Maurice Prendergast, and William Glackens. In this conversation recorded on January 24, 1999, the Horowitzes share how their collection started with a few modest gifts, grew with the informal acquisition of drawings and pastels, and became a serious endeavor after their first painting purchase in 1961, a work by Robert Henri. From then on, the Horowitzes have exclusively collected American art. Making the most of their limited resources, the Horowitzes did not want to collect what was fashionable and turned to the work of American artists, which they thought was an overlooked treasure.

July 2013 - Ross King, author. Although celebrated today as one of the world's greatest paintings, Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper had unusual and inauspicious beginnings. In this lecture recorded on June 9, 2013 at the National Gallery of Art, author Ross King discusses the circumstances surrounding the creation of The Last Supper, including Leonardo's unorthodox painting technique and his relationship with his patron, the Duke of Milan. King describes how despite never having worked on such a large painting and never having worked with the difficult medium of fresco, Leonardo created the masterpiece that would define him forever.

July 2013 - Ross King, author. Although celebrated today as one of the world's greatest paintings, Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper had unusual and inauspicious beginnings. In this lecture recorded on June 9, 2013 at the National Gallery of Art, author Ross King discusses the circumstances surrounding the creation of The Last Supper, including Leonardo's unorthodox painting technique and his relationship with his patron, the Duke of Milan. King describes how despite never having worked on such a large painting and never having worked with the difficult medium of fresco, Leonardo created the masterpiece that would define him forever.

July 2013 - Eileen Costello, editor and project director, The Catalogue Raisonné of the Drawings of Jasper Johns, The Menil Collection. Over the course of his prolific career, from early 1960s monochrome paintings to more recent work inspired by Chinese art and culture, Brice Marden has established himself as one of the most important abstract painters of our time. In this lecture recorded on June 30, 2013, at the National Gallery of Art, Eileen Costello discusses her new book Brice Marden: Phaidon Focus. Costello tracks Marden's development as an artist and provides insight into his significance by exploring his works' origins, meaning, and media.

July 2013 - Panel discussion follows with Juliet Bellow, assistant professor, department of art, American University; Sarah Kennel, associate curator, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art; and Jane Pritchard, curator of dance, Victoria and Albert Museum. This symposium and panel discussion recorded on June 1, 2013 at the National Gallery of Art honored the exhibit Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929: When Art Danced with Music, on view from May 12 to September 2, 2013. Adapted from the exhibition conceived by and first shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2010, the presentation in Washington draws upon that rich survey, including some 80 works from the Victoria and Albert's renowned collection of dance artifacts, and adds about 50 objects generously offered by more than 20 lenders, private and public. The Ballets Russes combined Russian and Western traditions with a healthy dose of modernism, thrilling and shocking audiences with its powerful fusion of choreography, music, and design. In this panel discussion, the lecturers are joined by Juliet Bellow, assistant professor, department of art, American University; Sarah Kennel, associate curator, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art; and Jane Pritchard, curator of dance, Victoria and Albert Museum.

July 2013 - Simon Morrison, professor of music, Princeton University. This symposium and panel discussion recorded on June 1, 2013 at the National Gallery of Art honored the exhibit Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929: When Art Danced with Music, on view from May 12 to September 2, 2013. Adapted from the exhibition conceived by and first shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2010, the presentation in Washington draws upon that rich survey, including some 80 works from the Victoria and Albert's renowned collection of dance artifacts, and adds about 50 objects generously offered by more than 20 lenders, private and public. The Ballets Russes combined Russian and Western traditions with a healthy dose of modernism, thrilling and shocking audiences with its powerful fusion of choreography, music, and design. In this fifth lecture, Simon Morrison, professor of music at Princeton University, discusses Poulenc's House Party.