National Gallery of Art | Audio

Mark Ruwedel, artist and professor of photography, California State University, Long Beach; and Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art. In 1990 the National Gallery of Art launched an initiative to acquire the finest examples of the art of photography and to mount photography exhibitions of the highest quality, accompanied by scholarly publications and programs. In the years since, the Gallery's collection of photographs has grown to nearly 15,000 works encompassing the history of the medium from its beginnings in 1839 to the present, featuring in-depth holdings of work by many of the masters of the art form. Commemorating the 25th anniversary of this initiative, the Gallery presents the exhibition The Memory of Time: Contemporary Photographs at the National Gallery of Art, Acquired with the Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund. On view from May 3 through September 13, 2015, The Memory of Time explores the work of 26 contemporary artists who investigate the richness and complexity of photography's relationship to time, memory, and history. In this conversation recorded on June 14, 2015, artist Mark Ruwedel and exhibition curator Sarah Greenough discuss the significant contribution of his photographs to the exhibition and their place within the arc of his career.

Philip Brookman, consulting curator, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art, and former senior curator of photography and media arts, Corcoran Gallery of Art. In this presentation recorded on June 7, 2015, at the National Gallery of Art, Philip Brookman introduces his cinematic novel Redlands, which weaves together an intimate sequence of words and pictures set in Mexico, California, and New York City during the unsettled decades of the sixties, seventies, and eighties. Brookman mixes a fictional journey with a collage of images from his own photographic diaries and sketchbooks to invent the first-person character of Kip, a young photographer who wanders America—back and forth between the farmworkers and poets of California and New York—trying to find a sense of purpose in the death of his mother, whom he barely knew. When Kip learns that he cannot trust the eyewitness accounts of his sister Addie, he picks up a camera to help verify his own experiences. By juxtaposing the oppositional strategies of fiction and documentary practice to conjure a fabricated narrative, Redlands questions the veracity of logical observation and embraces the poetry of the real world.

Vera Lutter, artist, and Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art. In 1990 the National Gallery of Art launched an initiative to acquire the finest examples of the art of photography and to mount photography exhibitions of the highest quality, accompanied by scholarly publications and programs. In the years since, the Gallery's collection of photographs has grown to nearly 15,000 works encompassing the history of the medium from its beginnings in 1839 to the present, featuring in-depth holdings of work by many of the masters of the art form. Commemorating the 25th anniversary of this initiative, the Gallery presents the exhibition The Memory of Time: Contemporary Photographs at the National Gallery of Art, Acquired with the Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund. On view from May 3 through September 13, 2015, The Memory of Time explores the work of 26 contemporary artists who investigate the richness and complexity of photography's relationship to time, memory, and history. In this conversation recorded on May 17, 2015, artist Vera Lutter and exhibition curator Sarah Greenough discuss Lutter's work featured in the exhibition and permanent collection within the context of her career.

John Hand, curator of northern Renaissance paintings, National Gallery of Art; Kimberly Schenck, head of paper conservation, National Gallery of Art; and Stacey Sell, associate curator of old master drawings, National Gallery of Art. This first comprehensive exhibition to examine the history of metalpoint—the art of drawing with a metal stylus on a specially prepared ground—premiered at the National Gallery of Art from May 3 through July 26, 2015. With some 90 drawings from the Middle Ages to the present, Drawing in Silver and Gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns featured works from the collections of the British Museum, the National Gallery of Art, and other major museums in the United States and Europe. In this lecture recorded on May 10, 2015, exhibition curators John Hand and Stacey Sell and conservator Kimberly Schenck demonstrate the surprising range of effects possible in metalpoint—a medium that has often been regarded as limited and unforgiving. Works discussed include those by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Rogier van der Weyden, Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Jasper Johns.

Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art. In 1990 the National Gallery of Art launched an initiative to acquire the finest examples of the art of photography and to mount photography exhibitions of the highest quality, accompanied by scholarly publications and programs. In the years since, the Gallery's collection of photographs has grown to nearly 15,000 works encompassing the history of the medium from its beginnings in 1839 to the present, featuring in-depth holdings of work by many of the masters of the art form. The Gallery's program of photography-related exhibitions and publications is now considered among the best in the world. Commemorating the 25th anniversary of this initiative, the Gallery presents three major exhibitions in 2015 exemplifying the vitality, breadth, and history of its photography holdings. Two of these exhibitions opened simultaneously on May 3, 2015: In Light of the Past: 25 Years of Photography at the National Gallery of Art and The Memory of Time: Contemporary Photographs at the National Gallery of Art, Acquired with the Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund. In this lecture held in honor of opening day, Sarah Greenough provides a brief history of the growth of the Gallery's photography program and an overview of both exhibitions. On view through July 26, 2015, In Light of the Past demonstrates how the Gallery's exemplary holdings reveal the evolution of the art of photography. On view through September 13, 2015, The Memory of Time explores the work of 26 contemporary artists who investigate the richness and complexity of photography's relationship to time, memory, and history.

Panelists include Theaster Gates, artist, and director of arts and public life, resident artist, and lecturer, department of visual arts, University of Chicago; Yo-Yo Ma, cellist; and Darren Walker, vice president, Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, and president, The Ford Foundation. Moderated by Molly Donovan, associate curator of modern art, National Gallery of Art. The National Gallery of Art, in collaboration with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE), hosted a panel discussion on the role of cultural citizens on April 20, 2015 in the East Building Atrium. Molly Donovan moderates a conversation with Theaster Gates, Yo-Yo Ma, and Darren Walker on the impact of cultural exchange and its ability to forge ties among communities.

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 sixth lecture, entitled "Redemption in Rome and Paris, 1818–1820: Ingres Revives the Chivalric while Géricault Recovers the Dispossessed," originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 26, 2015, Professor Crow extols Ingres's and Géricault's achievement in reconciling the immensity of inherited pain and loss in post-Napoleonic France with the established discipline of painting on monumental canvas. Their efforts transformed for a generation what a painting could be and could do.

A conversation between two leading performer-practitioners of new musical genres arising out of the improvisatory history of jazz: Mark Dresser, composer and contrabassist; and Tyshawn Sorey, composer and percussionist. Moderated by Roger Reynolds, Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and University Professor, University of California, San Diego. The history of improvised music-making in the United States is a long and vibrant one that can perhaps be best approached by listening to those who are engaged now in the preservation and extension of the formative threads of the tradition. In this conversation, presented on March 16, 2015, as part of the Works in Progress series, Mark Dresser and Tyshawn Sorey consider their relationship with improvisation on the occasion of the 66th American Music Festival: Personal Visions at the National Gallery of Art. Moderated by Roger Reynolds, guest festival director, the discussion explores how the vocabularies of creative expression can be investigated, manipulated and experimented with by both composers and performing musicians. Improvisation is a discipline that is learned and exercised in more or less tightly shaped ways. Dresser and Sorey explain breaking down barriers in terms of pulse, changing metrical units, and metrical modulation; the categorization of and physical relationship to instruments; and how the performance venue affects audience reception. In the first live music performance in the Works in Progress series, Dresser demonstrates with his contrabass the idea of altering tempo through the phenomenon of metrical modulation—an alternative to the traditional 4x4 metrical unit.

Rodolfo Peraza, artist, and Michelle Bird, curatorial assistant, department of French paintings, National Gallery of Art. Born in 1980, a year closely associated with the birth of "new Cuban art," Rodolfo Peraza belongs to the generation of young artists that has inherited a legacy of the hard-fought freedom of individual artistic expression. While questions of isolation, loneliness, and self-identity persist, his work traverses the confines of geographic and personal borders through technology. Using the internet, social media, and animation, Peraza creates a body of work that explores the moral, spiritual, and social modes of conduct governing society. In his For Your Safety series, the human figure is reduced to uniformity by means of a simplified language of symbol. Constantly in conflict with its environment, the figure addresses issues of authority and control. In this conversation, which took place on February 6, 2012, as part of the Works in Progress series at the National Gallery of Art, Rodolfo Peraza discusses his emerging practice with Michelle Bird.

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 fifth lecture, entitled "The Laboratory of Brussels, 1816–1819: The Apprentice Navez and the Master David Redraw the Language of Art," originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 19, 2015, Professor Crow demonstrates how the exiled David seized the medium of drawing to foster new ways of selecting and reorganizing fragments of a discarded past.

A conversation between an outstanding young composer and one of America's leading mentors of young composers: Michelle Lou, graduate of University of California, San Diego, and Stanford University; and Roger Reynolds, Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and professor, University of California, San Diego. On the occasion of the 66th American Music Festival: Personal Visions at the National Gallery of Art, the festival's guest director Roger Reynolds spoke with Michelle Lou about nurturing individual artistic pursuits and the role that academic training and mentorship have in the process. Traditionally, aspiring composers in the United States devote some period of time to formal study, but an educational program alone cannot prepare them for a professional life in music. In this conversation, presented on March 9, 2015, as part of the Works in Progress series, Reynolds and Lou highlight the challenges that young artists face in our times and the part that personal mentors as well as formal education play in their support.

Gary Hawkins, writer and director of In My Mind and instructor of screenwriting and non-fiction filmmaking, Duke University; Emily LaDue, producer of In My Mind; and Jason Moran, artistic director for jazz, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. On April 4, 2015, a special screening at the National Gallery of Art of a film from the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke University was presented in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In My Mind (2010) documents jazz musician Jason Moran and The Big Bandwagon's original interpretation of a legendary 1959 performance by Thelonious Monk. Called "a masterpiece of music documentary craft" by Slant magazine, In My Mind was written and directed by filmmaker and CDS instructor Gary Hawkins and filmed as part of his intermediate documentary filmmaking course, with students participating in the shooting. The project grew out of Moran's residency at Duke University and CDS's Jazz Loft Project. Hawkins, In My Mind producer Emily LaDue, and Moran introduce the film.

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 fourth lecture, entitled "The Religion of Ancient Art from London to Paris to Rome, 1815–1819: Canova and Lawrence Replenish Papal Splendor," originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 12, 2015, Professor Crow shows how Rome, where both Italian and English artists served as agents in the repatriation of ancient art, became an international nexus in post-Napoleonic European culture. The difficulties of this endeavor, captured by Lawrence in his portrait of the reigning pope, came to symbolize the larger conflicts underlying dynastic restoration across Europe.

Jessica Stockholder, artist and Raymond W. and Martha Hilpert Gruner Distinguished Service Professor and chair of the department of visual arts, division of humanities, University of Chicago. Since the early 1990s, Jessica Stockholder has been recognized as one of the leading and most influential artists of her generation. Characterized by the colorful arrangements of found and made materials, her multimedia, site-dependent, and autonomous works delight the eye and engage the mind. Described as "paintings in space," Stockholder's complex installations sometimes appear chaotic at first glance but gradually reveal, with careful observation, the artist's decisive strategies. Whether incorporating the architecture of its conception, climbing walls, hanging from the ceiling, or spilling out of doors and windows, Stockholder's art explores new pictorial possibilities—affirming the physicality of objects and their relationship to the mind and body in diverse, connected experiences. Her work is represented in the National Gallery of Art collection by Untitled (1994), a gift of the Women's Committee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Stockholder presented the 22nd annual Elson Lecture on April 2, 2015.

A discussion of Intermedia work, in particular Roger Reynolds's FLiGHT Project and the video "operas" of the late Robert Ashley. Participants include Tom Hamilton, a collaborator of Ashley's, and Ross Karre, percussionist and Intermedia artist for performances of various works by Reynolds. Moderated by Roger Reynolds, Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and University Professor, University of California, San Diego. To inaugurate the 66th American Music Festival: Personal Visions on March 8, 2015, at the National Gallery of Art, guest festival director Roger Reynolds joined Tom Hamilton and Ross Karre to discuss artistic collaboration in the creation of multimedia experiences. Samuel Taylor Coleridge famously wrote about "the suspension of disbelief"—of giving oneself over to a constructed illusion. This discussion considers the ways contributors work together to reach an optimal balance among media in creating such experiences. Hamilton talks about altering vocal quality and assembling electronic aspects of the late American composer Robert Ashley's idiosyncratic "operas." Karre describes collaborating as projection designer for Reynolds's works, including the image and light projections for the FLiGHT Project portion of the JACK Quartet concert held later that day.