National Gallery of Art | Audio

March 2009, Notable Lectures - Harmon and Harriet Kelley, collectors, and Deborah Willis, professor, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Since 1987 Harmon and Harriet Kelley have amassed an art collection that represents a kaleidoscopic view of African American life and cultural history from the 19th to 21st centuries. In this conversation recorded on February 22, 2009, as part of the National Gallery of Art lecture series The Collecting of African American Art, Deborah Willis speaks with the Kelleys about their passion and determination to build a collection that advances and preserves the legacy of African American art.

February 2009, Notable Lecture - Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art, and Juliet Bethea, collector. In this event recorded on February 15, 2009, as part of the National Gallery of Art lecture series The Collecting of African American Art, Ruth Fine speaks with Washington, DC-based collector Juliet Bethea about her life–long passion for learning and what inspired her to begin acquiring art nearly 40 years ago. Bethea discusses how moving to Washington in 1967 after years of traveling abroad marked a turning point in her engagement with the arts. Through the strong community of artists connected to the Howard University community, Bethea developed a connection with the local art scene.

February 2009, Art Talk -Paul G. Sanderson III, filmmaker and Gregory C. Schwarz, chief of interpretation, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site. The monumental plaster model for one of the greatest works of American sculpture, Augustus Saint-Gaudens' Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment, is on view in the National Gallery of Art. In this podcast, Schwarz of the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, New Hampshire, talks to filmmaker Sanderson about his new documentary exploring the life and work of one of America's most renowned sculptors.

February 2009, Art Talk - Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs, National Gallery of Art, and Philippe S�clier, filmmaker. Fifty years after the publication of The Americans, French filmmaker Philippe S�clier retraced Robert Frank's journey through the United States in 1955 and 1956. Working with only a small digital camera, S�clier explores the legacy of the 1950s and the impact of the book on photography and culture in this 15,000-mile odyssey through present-day America. In this podcast, Greenough and S�clier discuss his tribute, four years in the making, to the renowned photographer.

February 2009, Notable Lectures - Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs, National Gallery of Art. Looking In: Robert Frank's "The Americans," an exhibition organized by the National Gallery of Art, is the most comprehensive and in-depth exploration ever undertaken of the preeminent book of photographs published since World War II. In this Notable Lectures podcast, recorded on January 18, 2009, the opening day of the exhibition, Greenough discusses Frank's process in creating this powerful and provocative book as well as the publication's legacy 50 years later.

January 2009, Backstory - Harry Cooper, curator, modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art For more than five decades Guston explored ways to paint, from the mural art of the Depression through midcentury abstract expressionism to a raw new imagery beginning in 1968. His shocking return to figuration in that year, influenced by comics and politics, paved the way for numerous developments in contemporary art. In this Backstory podcast, produced as the Gallery opens the first in a new series of special focus exhibitions, "In the Tower," Cooper talks to host Barbara Tempchin about the paintings, prints, and drawings on view, which chart Guston's career from 1949 to 1980.

January 2009, Notable Lectures - Jonathan Lopez, writer and historian. Lopez, author of The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren, tracks down primary sources in four countries and five languages to reveal for the first time the real story of the world's most famous forger. In this Notable Lectures podcast, recorded on January 11, 2009, as part of the Gallery's winter lecture series, Lopez talks about the intriguing details of deceit in the art world between the wars and a talented Mr. Ripley�armed with a brush�who made a fortune painting and selling fake "old masters." The book is available for purchase from the Gallery Shops.

January 2009, Notable Lectures - Margaret Leslie Davis, author. In her book Mona Lisa in Camelot: How Jacqueline Kennedy and da Vinci's Masterpiece Charmed and Captivated a Nation, Davis weaves together the enchanting saga of America's first museum blockbuster show and how the first lady made it happen. In this Notable Lectures podcast, recorded on January 4, 2009, as part of the Gallery's winter lecture series, Davis discusses the details of the Mona Lisa's visit to the National Gallery of Art and the "Lisa Fever" that ensued. The book is available for purchase from the Gallery Shop.

December 2008, Notable Lectures - Robert Kolker, professor, Film Studies and Digital Media, School of Literature, Communication, and Culture, Georgia Institute of Technology, and James Naremore, Chancellor's Professor of Speech Communication, Chancellor's Professor of Comparative Literature, Chancellor's Professor of English, professor of film studies, Indiana University. July 26, 2008, marked the 80th birthday of Stanley Kubrick. To celebrate the occasion, Robert Kolker and James Naremore reviewed the director's contributions through a focused dialogue based on two of Kubrick's landmark films: a new restoration of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and his last and most enigmatic work, Eyes Wide Shut. Robert Kolker edited Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey": New Essays (2006) and James Naremore is the author of On Kubrick (2007).

December 2008, Notable Lectures - Conrad Rudolph, professor of medieval art history, University of California at Riverside. Rudolph demonstrates how medieval maps informed their users not only of where they were at that moment, but of where they had been in the past and would be in the future, sometimes in relation to the entire human race. In this Notable Lectures podcast, recorded on December 14, 2008, as part of the Gallery's fall lecture series, particular attention is given to the world map in Hugh of Saint Victor's The Mystic Ark, c. 1125�1130.

December 2008, Notable Lectures - Calvin Tomkins, author and staff writer, New Yorker, and Harry Cooper, curator of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art. In his latest book Lives of the Artists, Tomkins explores ten major artists to demonstrate the direction that contemporary art is taking. In this Notable Lectures podcast, recorded on November 23, 2008, as part of the Gallery's fall lecture series, he and Harry Cooper discuss the book, touching on artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Jasper Johns. The book is available for purchase from the Gallery Shop.

December 2008, Notable Lectures - Paul Zanker, professor of art history, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa. In this podcast, recorded on November 9, 2008, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series, Paul Zanker explains that for ancient Greeks, myths were stories of gods, heroes, and ordinary people who had religious authority. These stories and their artistic representations served as guides and models for living in varying circumstances. However, myths did not embody religious teaching or moral precepts for human behavior; these stories described fate�the highs and lows of being human�to which everyone could relate, and in which they could take comfort. Despite the cultural shifts of the Roman world, these ancient myths retained their purpose and impact in the art of Pompeii and other sites in Italy. This lecture coincided with the exhibition Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture Around the Bay of Naples on view at the National Gallery of Art from October 19, 2008, to March 22, 2009.

December 2008, Notable Lectures - Peter Schjeldahl, senior art critic, New Yorker. In his book Let's See: Writings on Art from the "New Yorker," Schjeldahl covers large-scale exhibitions and private gallery shows and profiles leaders in the art world as well as the artists themselves. In this Notable Lectures podcast, recorded on November 2, 2008, as part of the Gallery's fall lecture series, he discusses his work as an art critic, reads excerpts from his book, and answers questions from the audience.

November 2008, Backstory - Arthur Wheelock, curator of northern baroque painting, National Gallery of Art. Jan Lievens was a child prodigy, whose later career was marked by important civic and private commissions. Nevertheless, his name today barely registers in the public consciousness. In the third of this three-part Backstory podcast, produced on the occasion of the Gallery exhibition Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered, Wheelock talks about Lievens' success and legacy.

November 2008, Backstory - Arthur Wheelock, curator of northern baroque painting, National Gallery of Art. Jan Lievens was a child prodigy, whose later career was marked by important civic and private commissions. Nevertheless, his name today barely registers in the public consciousness. In the second of this three-part Backstory podcast, produced on the occasion of the Gallery exhibition Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered, Wheelock talks about changes in Lievens' style and the influence of Anthony Van Dyck.