Historian

Sarah Cash, associate curator, department of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art, and Ka’mal McClarin, museum curator, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Collection, National Park Service. Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) is revered as an abolitionist, statesman, orator, reformer, essayist, and autobiographer. But it is less commonly known that he was also a steward of the arts. In this presentation held on October 2, 2017, as part of the Works in Progress lecture series at the National Gallery of Art, Ka’mal McClarin traces Douglass’s love of art through his personal collection preserved at Cedar Hill, his Anacostia home from 1877 until his death in 1895. The house is furnished much as it was during Douglass's lifetime, with paintings and photographs depicting people and places significant to the family and to African American history. Sarah Cash discusses Douglass’s interest in the Corcoran Gallery of Art collection using contemporary diary entries and newspaper articles, as well as museum catalogs and works of art kept at Cedar Hill. Among his favorite Corcoran works were Richard Norris Brooke’s A Pastoral Visit (1881) and Emily Renouf’s The Helping Hand (1881). While visiting the Corcoran in 1892 he also surely saw Frederic Edwin Church’s Niagara (1857) and Hiram Powers’s The Greek Slave (1841-1843). Douglass had a keen interest in Niagara Falls, and he owned several prints and photographs depicting the majestic site.

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.

Neil Harris, Preston and Sterling Morton Professor Emeritus of History and of Art History, University of Chicago

In his book Capital Culture: J. Carter Brown, the National Gallery of Art, and the Reinvention of the Museum Experience, author Neil Harris reviews the twenty-three year tenure of J. Carter Brown as National Gallery of Art director. From 1969 to 1992, Brown transformed the Gallery, presided over the construction of the East Building, energized Washington cultural life, and reshaped thinking about museum exhibitions and museum experiences across the United States. In this lecture recorded on October 13, 2013, at the National Gallery of Art, Harris describes how Brown brought drama and excitement to a heavy exhibition schedule, and, for many, personified the glamorous alliance of art and international diplomacy.

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.

Alison Hilton, Wright Family Professor of Art History, Georgetown 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 (V&A) in 2010, the presentation in Washington draws upon that rich survey, including some 80 works from the V&A’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 third lecture, Alison Hilton, Wright Family Professor of Art History at Georgetown University, discusses modernism and its connection to the Ballet Russes.

Barry Bergdoll, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art, and professor, Columbia University

In the sixth and final lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 12, 2013, architectural historian Barry Bergdoll presents a hopeful manifesto of the possibilities of architectural exhibitions, including a look at MoMA's innovative introduction of public laboratories and workshops in which designers, historians, and critics project new futures and new problems in architecture.

Tina Barney, artist; Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs, National Gallery of Art; Sarah Lewis, art historian, author and curator; Clifford Ross, artist; and Robert Storr, dean of the Yale School of Art, chairman of FAPE’s Professional Fine Arts Advisors, and consulting curator of modern and contemporary art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In collaboration with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE), the National Gallery of Art hosted a panel discussion on the role of art in diplomacy on April 30, 2013. The panelists—Sarah Greenough, Sarah Lewis, and Robert Storr—present an overview of FAPE’s photography collection in American embassies around the world. Tina Barney discusses her recent gift to FAPE, and Clifford Ross reviews the photographs acquired by FAPE for display at the US Mission to the United Nations in New York as well as recent projects in China.

Wendy Bellion, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies, University of Delaware. This symposium honored the newly unveiled installation Masterpieces of American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection, 1700–1830, the first major presentation of early American furniture and related decorative arts on permanent public view in the nation’s capital. The installation highlights nearly one-hundred examples from the distinguished collection of George M. and Linda H. Kaufman, acquired over the course of five decades and promised to the National Gallery of Art. Academics and curators discuss the fine art of American furniture and decorative arts and its future study in these lectures recorded on March 22 and 23, 2013.

Edward Cooke, chair and Charles F. Montgomery Professor of American Decorative Arts, Yale University. This symposium honored the newly unveiled installation Masterpieces of American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection, 1700–1830, the first major presentation of early American furniture and related decorative arts on permanent public view in the nation’s capital. The installation highlights nearly one-hundred examples from the distinguished collection of George M. and Linda H. Kaufman, acquired over the course of five decades and promised to the National Gallery of Art. Academics and curators discuss the fine art of American furniture and decorative arts and its future study in these lectures recorded on March 22 and 23, 2013.

Diane Waggoner, associate curator, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art, Jason Rosenfeld, distinguished chair and professor of art history, Marymount Manhattan College, Scott Allan, associate curator of paintings, J. Paul Getty Museum, Linda S. Ferber, vice president and senior art historian, New-York Historical Society, Cordula Grewe, associate professor of art history, Columbia University. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848–1900, this symposium explored Britain's first avant-garde art movement in the context of other international modernisms. The young members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (formed in 1848) shook the art world of mid-19th-century Britain by rejecting traditional approaches to painting. Academics and curators consider modern art and craft movements in these lectures recorded on March 8 and 9, 2013. This program was coordinated with and supported by the Department of the History of Art, Yale University.

Sarah McPhee, Winship Distinguished Research Professor, Emory University. Costanza Piccolomini was Gianlorenzo Bernini’s beloved. His passion for this woman was so strong it inspired the sculptor to preserve her beauty in one of his most captivating portrait busts and to commission a violent crime against her. But until now, little has been known about the woman herself. In this lecture recorded at the National Gallery of Art on March 10, 2013, Sarah McPhee draws from the revelations of her new book, Bernini's Beloved: A Portrait of Costanza Piccolomini, to discuss the nature of Bernini’s artistry and the surprising life of this remarkable woman who forged a career as an art collector and dealer in the wake of their tempestuous affair.

Elizabeth Helsinger, John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor, departments of English, art history, and visual arts, University of Chicago. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848–1900, this symposium explored Britain's first avant-garde art movement in the context of other international modernisms. The young members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (formed in 1848) shook the art world of mid-19th-century Britain by rejecting traditional approaches to painting. Academics and curators consider modern art and craft movements in these lectures recorded on March 8 and 9, 2013. This program was coordinated with and supported by the Department of the History of Art, Yale University.

Morna O’Neill, assistant professor of 18th- and 19th-century European art, Wake Forest University. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848–1900, this symposium explored Britain's first avant-garde art movement in the context of other international modernisms. The young members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (formed in 1848) shook the art world of mid-19th-century Britain by rejecting traditional approaches to painting. Academics and curators consider modern art and craft movements in these lectures recorded on March 8 and 9, 2013. This program was coordinated with and supported by the Department of the History of Art, Yale University.

Linda S. Ferber, vice president and senior art historian, New-York Historical Society. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848–1900, this symposium explored Britain's first avant-garde art movement in the context of other international modernisms. The young members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (formed in 1848) shook the art world of mid-19th-century Britain by rejecting traditional approaches to painting. Academics and curators consider modern art and craft movements in these lectures recorded on March 8 and 9, 2013. This program was coordinated with and supported by the Department of the History of Art, Yale University.

Cordula Grewe, associate professor of art history, Columbia University. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848–1900, this symposium explored Britain's first avant-garde art movement in the context of other international modernisms. The young members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (formed in 1848) shook the art world of mid-19th-century Britain by rejecting traditional approaches to painting. Academics and curators consider modern art and craft movements in these lectures recorded on March 8 and 9, 2013. This program was coordinated with and supported by the Department of the History of Art, Yale University.

Andrea Wolk Rager, assistant professor of art history, Case Western Reserve University. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848–1900, this symposium explored Britain's first avant-garde art movement in the context of other international modernisms. The young members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (formed in 1848) shook the art world of mid-19th-century Britain by rejecting traditional approaches to painting. Academics and curators consider modern art and craft movements in these lectures recorded on March 8 and 9, 2013. This program was coordinated with and supported by the Department of the History of Art, Yale University.

Tim Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor of the History of Art and director of graduate studies, Yale University; Jason Rosenfeld, distinguished chair and professor of art history, Marymount Manhattan College; and Diane Waggoner, associate curator, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art. In this podcast recorded on February 17, 2013, at the National Gallery of Art, Tim Barringer, Jason Rosenfeld, and Diane Waggoner celebrate the opening of the exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848–1900, the first major survey of Pre-Raphaelite art to be shown in the United States. The Pre-Raphaelites were a group of young artists who sought to overturn established traditions of painting and made art that looked to the past for inspiration, but also engaged directly with the bustling modern world of Victorian Britain. The exhibition features some 130 paintings, sculptures, photography, works on paper, and decorative art objects that reflect the ideals of Britain's first modern art movement. Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848–1900 is on display through May 19, 2013.

Charles W. Haxthausen, Robert Sterling Clark Professor of Art History, Williams College. “My work,” the German photo artist Candida Höfer has said, “is about making images of spaces.” Yet both she and fellow photographer Thomas Struth are equally interested in the dimension of time andthe evidence of layers of history in the spaces they photograph. Although Struth’s and Höfer’s photographs are inevitably the products of a single exposure, of a unique, fugitive moment, their images manifest a temporal complexity and transparency. Recorded on January 13, 2013, at the National Gallery of Art, the lecture by Professor Haxthausen explores the ways in which these artists’ work complicates how we think about the relationship of photography to time.

Suzanne G. Lindsay, adjunct associate professor in the history of art, University of Pennsylvania. Professor Suzanne G. Lindsay explores some of the most celebrated avant-garde sculpture of 19th-century France as originally conceived and used as tombs and ritual centers. In this lecture recorded on December 9, 2012, at the National Gallery of Art, Lindsay argues that radical changes in 19th-century French tombs owe much to France's renewed desire for a close relationship between the living and their dead following the inhumanities of the revolution. Fueled by this new desire, the French citizenry demanded reform for urban burials after decades of worsening conditions, and reexamined the use of architecture, gardens, and sculpture in the funerary arts of modern France. These issues provide the vital frame for a little commented art-historical phenomenon that occurred in France like nowhere else in Europe: the revival of a powerful and historical form of funerary sculpture inspired by medieval and Renaissance tombs, the "macabre" effigy of the deceased as dying or dead. This unique and artistic sculptural type became instantly famous, garnered high critical praise, and contributed to the resurgence of funerary cult as a dominant, often dramatic, feature of public life in 19th-century France.

Introductory Remarks, Faya Causey, head of academic programs, National Gallery of Art and Kiki Smith, artist; "Dream of the Proper Context": Tony Smith, the Abstract Expressionists' Architect, Eileen Costello, editor and project director, The Catalogue Raisonné of the Drawings of Jasper Johns, The Menil Collection. Tony Smith was an architect-turned-sculptor who defied stylistic categories. His objects, at once imposing and playful, left a lasting mark on postwar art and raised public sculpture to a new level of ambition. On the occasion of what would have been his 100th year, this symposium, recorded on December 1, 2012, at the National Gallery of Art, takes a new look at Smith's achievement from the diverse perspectives of artist, art historian, and curator. Featured speakers include scholar Eileen Costello, sculptor Charles Ray, and curator Harry Cooper. This program was held in collaboration with Kiki Smith, Seton Smith, and the Tony Smith Estate.

Darryl Atwell, collector, and Jeffreen M. Hayes, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow in African American Art, Birmingham Museum of Art. Darryl Atwell, a collector based in Washington, DC, has been acquiring works by artists of the African diaspora for the last eight years. His conversation with curator Jeffreen M. Hayes, recorded on November 18, 2012, as part of the National Gallery of Art lecture series The Collecting of African American Art, provides an overview of Atwell's important collection. They also discussed the collecting of African American art by others and the rise of contemporary African American artists. Hayes is a scholar whose research interests are African American visual culture, contemporary representations of race, and art museums.

David Lubin, Charlotte C. Weber Professor of Art, Wake Forest University. When George Bellows died at the age of forty-two in 1925, he was hailed as one of the greatest artists America had yet produced. The exhibition George Bellows, on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 10 to October 8, 2012, provides the most complete account of his achievements to date. Bellows was a leading figure in the generation of artists who negotiated the transition from the Victorian to the early modern era in American culture. In this public symposium, held in conjunction with the exhibition on October 5-6, 2012, and coordinated with the Columbus Museum of Art, curators and scholars examine the remarkable scope of Bellows' career and assess his contributions to the first wave of twentieth-century American modernism.

David Park Curry, senior curator of decorative arts and American painting and sculpture, The Baltimore Museum of Art. When George Bellows died at the age of forty-two in 1925, he was hailed as one of the greatest artists America had yet produced. The exhibition George Bellows, on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 10 to October 8, 2012, provides the most complete account of his achievements to date. Bellows was a leading figure in the generation of artists who negotiated the transition from the Victorian to the early modern era in American culture. In this public symposium, held in conjunction with the exhibition on October 5-6, 2012, and coordinated with the Columbus Museum of Art, curators and scholars examine the remarkable scope of Bellows' career and assess his contributions to the first wave of twentieth-century American modernism.

David C. Ward, historian and deputy editor of the Charles Willson Peale Family Papers, National Portrait Gallery. When George Bellows died at the age of forty-two in 1925, he was hailed as one of the greatest artists America had yet produced. The exhibition George Bellows, on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 10 to October 8, 2012, provides the most complete account of his achievements to date. Bellows was a leading figure in the generation of artists who negotiated the transition from the Victorian to the early modern era in American culture. In this public symposium, held in conjunction with the exhibition on October 5-6, 2012, and coordinated with the Columbus Museum of Art, curators and scholars examine the remarkable scope of Bellows' career and assess his contributions to the first wave of twentieth-century American modernism.

Rebecca Zurier, associate professor of the history of art, University of Michigan. When George Bellows died at the age of forty-two in 1925, he was hailed as one of the greatest artists America had yet produced. The exhibition George Bellows, on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 10 to October 8, 2012, provides the most complete account of his achievements to date. Bellows was a leading figure in the generation of artists who negotiated the transition from the Victorian to the early modern era in American culture. In this public symposium, held in conjunction with the exhibition on October 5-6, 2012, and coordinated with the Columbus Museum of Art, curators and scholars examine the remarkable scope of Bellows' career and assess his contributions to the first wave of twentieth-century American modernism.

Sean Wilentz, George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History, Princeton University. When George Bellows died at the age of forty-two in 1925, he was hailed as one of the greatest artists America had yet produced. The exhibition George Bellows, on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 10 to October 8, 2012, provides the most complete account of his achievements to date. Bellows was a leading figure in the generation of artists who negotiated the transition from the Victorian to the early modern era in American culture. In this public symposium, held in conjunction with the exhibition on October 5-6, 2012, and coordinated with the Columbus Museum of Art, curators and scholars examine the remarkable scope of Bellows' career and assess his contributions to the first wave of twentieth-century American modernism.

Marina Belozerskaya, independent scholar Exotic animals have been sought and collected by rulers for millennia, going back to Egyptian pharaohs and Mesopotamian kings. But how they have been used varied from culture to culture, reflecting the concerns of a particular time and place. In this lecture recorded on June 17, 2012, at the National Gallery of Art, Marina Belozerskaya discusses the uses of exotic beasts in Europe between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and the shifting purposes they served, from emulation of antiquity to building encyclopedic collections to spurring scientific and economic progress

Jaume Reus, art historian and curator . Catalan painter Joan Miró (1893-1983), celebrated as one of the greatest modern artists, combined abstract art with surrealist fantasy to create his lithographs, murals, tapestries, and sculptures for public spaces. Held on June 1 and 2, 2012, at the National Gallery of Art, this public symposium explored Joan Miró- his personal life, politics, art, and the impact that he had on other artists. This program was held in conjunction with the exhibition Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape on view at the Gallery from May 6 to August 12, 2012, and was coordinated with and supported by the Institut Ramon Llull.

Maria-Josep Balsach, professor of contemporary art, University of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Catalan painter Joan Miró (1893-1983), celebrated as one of the greatest modern artists, combined abstract art with surrealist fantasy to create his lithographs, murals, tapestries, and sculptures for public spaces. Held on June 1 and 2, 2012, at the National Gallery of Art, this public symposium explored Joan Miró- his personal life, politics, art, and the impact that he had on other artists. This program was held in conjunction with the exhibition Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape on view at the Gallery from May 6 to August 12, 2012, and was coordinated with and supported by the Institut Ramon Llull.

Charles Palermo, Alumni Memorial Term Distinguished Associate Professor of Art History, The College of William and Mary. Catalan painter Joan Miró (1893-1983), celebrated as one of the greatest modern artists, combined abstract art with surrealist fantasy to create his lithographs, murals, tapestries, and sculptures for public spaces. Held on June 1 and 2, 2012, at the National Gallery of Art, this public symposium explored Joan Miró- his personal life, politics, art, and the impact that he had on other artists. This program was held in conjunction with the exhibition Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape on view at the Gallery from May 6 to August 12, 2012, and was coordinated with and supported by the Institut Ramon Llull.

David Adjaye, principal architect, Adjaye Associates; Elizabeth Diller, principal architect, Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Tom Finkelpearl, executive director, Queens Museum of Art; Sarah Lewis, art historian, author, and curator; and Robert Storr, chairman of FAPE's Professional Fine Arts Committee and dean of the Yale School of Art. In collaboration with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE) and in the spirit of its Leonore and Walter Annenberg Award for Diplomacy through the Arts, the National Gallery of Art hosted this annual panel discussion on May 15, 2012. Featuring noted architects David Adjaye and Elizabeth Diller, and moderated by Robert Storr, the program focused on how architecture and art bring people together in public spaces. Adjaye currently serves as the lead designer for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is slated to open on the National Mall in 2015. Diller, along with Ricardo Scofidio and Charles Renfro, recently completed the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Redevelopment Project. Also participating were Tom Finkelpearl, executive director of the Queens Museum of Art, which broke ground last year on an expansion that will double its size; and Sarah Lewis, a PhD candidate at Yale University who is currently finishing RISE, a book that "explores the advantage of resilience and so-called failure in successful creative human endeavors."

Faya Causey, head of academic programs, National Gallery of Art. Amber, a tree resin that has metamorphosed over millions of years into a hard, transparent polymer, has captivated mankind since the Paleolithic era. It has been treasured in both its raw and carved state. In this lecture, recorded on May 13, 2012, at the National Gallery of Art, Faya Causey presents the myths and legends woven around amber and explored in her new book, Amber and the Ancient World. Causey explains its employment in magic and medicine, its transport and carving, and its incorporation into jewelry, amulets, and other objects of prestige. The book showcases remarkable amber carvings in the J. Paul Getty Museum and masterpieces from other collections. Causey also discusses the launch of the accompanying online catalogue, Ancient Carved Amber in the J. Paul Getty Museum- a first-of-its-kind publication.

Yukio Lippit, professor of Japanese art, Harvard University. Exhibition curator Yukio Lippit discusses one of Japan's most renowned cultural treasures, the 30-scroll set of bird-and-flower paintings by Itō Jakuchū, in this lecture recorded on April 29, 2012. To mark the closing of the month-long exhibition Colorful Realm: Japanese Bird-and-Flower Paintings by Itō Jakuchū (1716-1800), Lippit provides an overview of the 30 scrolls and the Buddhist triptych that served as their centerpiece. In addition to celebrating the centennial of Japan's gift of cherry trees to the nation's capital, the exhibition represents the first time these works were shown together in the United States- being lent to the National Gallery of Art by the Imperial Household Agency and the Zen monastery Shōkokuji in Kyoto. Lippit also offers a multifaceted understanding of Jakuchū's virtuosity and experimentalism as a painter- one who not only applied sophisticated chromatic effects but also masterfully rendered the richly symbolic world in which he moved.

Martha Lucy, associate curator, The Barnes Foundation. Following a two-year renovation, the galleries devoted to impressionism and post-impressionism in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art reopened on January 28, 2012. Among the world's greatest collections of paintings by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin, the Gallery's later 19th-century French paintings returned to public view in a freshly conceived installation design. In honor of the reopening, the Gallery hosted a public symposium on April 27, 2012, focused on issues surrounding the reinstallation of three major 19th-century paintings collections: The Barnes Foundation, the Musée d'Orsay, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Jean-Philippe Antoine, professor, department of visual arts, Université Paris 8. Scholars from around the world gathered at the National Gallery of Art to discuss Samuel F. B. Morse's newly conserved Gallery of the Louvre, which is on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 25, 2011, through July 8, 2012. In a 2-day public symposium, held and recorded on April 20 and 21, 2012, academics, conservators, and curators examined the historical context of the work, its conservation treatment, and the techniques used. This program was coordinated with and supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Richard Read, Winthrop Professor, School of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts, The University of Western Australia. Scholars from around the world gathered at the National Gallery of Art to discuss Samuel F. B. Morse's newly conserved Gallery of the Louvre, which is on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 25, 2011, through July 8, 2012. In a 2-day public symposium, held and recorded on April 20 and 21, 2012, academics, conservators, and curators examined the historical context of the work, its conservation treatment, and the techniques used. This program was coordinated with and supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

David Bjelajac, professor of art and American studies, The George Washington University. Scholars from around the world gathered at the National Gallery of Art to discuss Samuel F. B. Morse's newly conserved Gallery of the Louvre, which is on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 25, 2011, through July 8, 2012. In a 2-day public symposium, held and recorded on April 20 and 21, 2012, academics, conservators, and curators examined the historical context of the work, its conservation treatment, and the techniques used. This program was coordinated with and supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Alexander Nemerov, Vincent Scully Professor of the History of Art, Yale University. Scholars from around the world gathered at the National Gallery of Art to discuss Samuel F. B. Morse's newly conserved Gallery of the Louvre, which is on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 25, 2011, through July 8, 2012. In a 2-day public symposium, held and recorded on April 20 and 21, 2012, academics, conservators, and curators examined the historical context of the work, its conservation treatment, and the techniques used. This program was coordinated with and supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Catherine Roach, assistant professor, department of art history, Virginia Commonwealth University. Scholars from around the world gathered at the National Gallery of Art to discuss Samuel F. B. Morse's newly conserved Gallery of the Louvre, which is on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 25, 2011, through July 8, 2012. In a 2-day public symposium, held and recorded on April 20 and 21, 2012, academics, conservators, and curators examined the historical context of the work, its conservation treatment, and the techniques used. This program was coordinated with and supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Nancy Anderson, curator and head of the department of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art, Andrew McClellan, professor and dean of academic affairs for arts and sciences, Tufts University. Scholars from around the world gathered at the National Gallery of Art to discuss Samuel F. B. Morse's newly conserved Gallery of the Louvre, which is on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 25, 2011, through July 8, 2012. In a 2-day public symposium, held and recorded on April 20 and 21, 2012, academics, conservators, and curators examined the historical context of the work, its conservation treatment, and the techniques used. This program was coordinated with and supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Peter J. Brownlee, associate curator, Terra Foundation for American Art. Scholars from around the world gathered at the National Gallery of Art to discuss Samuel F. B. Morse's newly conserved Gallery of the Louvre, which is on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 25, 2011, through July 8, 2012. In a 2-day public symposium, held and recorded on April 20 and 21, 2012, academics, conservators, and curators examined the historical context of the work, its conservation treatment, and the techniques used. This program was coordinated with and supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Bridget R. Cooks, associate professor of art history and African American studies, University of California, Irvine. In this lecture, recorded at the National Gallery of Art on March 4, 2012, Professor Cooks presents research from her book Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum, in which she analyzes the curatorial strategies, challenges, and critical reception of the most significant museum exhibitions of African-American art in the United States. Cooks also exposes the issues involved in exhibiting cultural differences that continue to challenge art history, historiography, and American museum exhibition practices.

Elliot Perry and Darrell Walker, collectors of African American art and art of the African diaspora and former players for the National Basketball Association, and Michael D. Harris, associate professor of art history and African American studies, Emory University. In this conversation recorded on February 26, 2012, as part of the National Gallery of Art lecture series The Collecting of African American Art, former National Basketball Association players Elliot Perry and Darrell Walker discuss their collections of African American art and art of the African diaspora with Professor Michael D. Harris. Perry and Walker began to collect art during their extensive travels for their professional sports careers, and both have amassed important holdings of modern and contemporary art that have been exhibited throughout the United States. Both have also dedicated themselves to educational and philanthropic causes to preserve and showcase African American culture. Professor Harris is an artist, curator, and scholar of contemporary African and African American art and has contributed to the exhibition catalogue Images of America: African American Voices: Selections from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Darrell Walker.

Martin J. Powers, Sally Michelson Davidson 中國藝術與文化教授，前密西根大學中國研究中心主任 二十世紀初，中國藝術家們遇到一個吃力不討好的困境：如果他們使用中國水墨畫法，他們的作品會被認為「伝統守舊」，但是如果他們採用歐式或是現代主義畫法，人們則認為藝術家「無創意, 抄襲他人」。我們可稱此一情況為當代中國藝術中東方與西方的難題。 以中國長期文化競爭的歷史為背景，Martin J. Powers 探討數種方式中國藝術家使用來超越這數十年來的難題。於2012年2月19日在美國國家藝廊 Powers教授以中文與英文探討此一課題。

Martin J. Powers, Sally Michelson Davidson Professor of Chinese Arts and Cultures and former director, Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan. At the beginning of the 20th century, artists in China found themselves in a no-win situation: if they made use of Chinese brushwork, their art was considered "traditional," and if they adapted European or modernist methods, it was called "derivative." We may call this the East/West conundrum in modern Chinese art. Against the background of a long history of cultural competition in China, Martin J. Powers explores several ways in which Chinese artists managed to transcend the East/West conundrum in recent decades. Professor Powers delivered this lecture in both English and Mandarin on February 19, 2012, at the National Gallery of Art.

Julian Gardner, Samuel H. Kress Professor, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art. In this lecture recorded on February 5, 2012, at the National Gallery of Art, Julian Gardner, professor emeritus at the University of Warwick, discusses a pair of large works by two of the greatest figures in early Italian painting: Cimabue and Giotto. Miraculously preserved, these two paintings now hang in the Musée du Louvre in Paris. Their current placement at the Louvre mimics the original installation in the church of San Francesco in Pisa. By reconstructing the original setting in Italy, Gardner examines how it is possible to learn more about these paintings, the intention of the artists and patrons, and the works' interrelationship with the Franciscan church.

Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Professor of Humanities and the History of Art, Johns Hopkins University. In his new book, Four Honest Outlaws, Professor Michael Fried considers the work of video artist and photographer Anri Sala, sculptor Charles Ray, painter Joseph Marioni, and video artist and intervener in movies Douglas Gordon. The book's title is derived from a Bob Dylan lyric: "To live outside the law you must be honest." In this lecture, recorded on January 22, 2012, at the National Gallery of Art, Fried explains how each of these four contemporary artists found his or her own unsanctioned path to extraordinary accomplishment, in part by defying the norms and expectations of today's art world.

Barbara von Barghahn, professor of art history, The George Washington University The Pastrana Tapestries are among the finest surviving Gothic tapestries in the world and are on view for the first time in the United States in the exhibition The Invention of Glory: Afonso V and the Pastrana Tapestries at the National Gallery of Art from September 18, 2011, through January 8, 2012. From Jan van Eyck's commemoration in Ghent of the 1415 conquest of Ceuta to Passquier Grenier's documentation in Tournai of the 1471 taking of Tangiers, Portuguese and Spanish art specialist Barbara von Barghahn considers "portraits of power" in the context of chivalric ideals; the imaging of triumph in the clash of arms; the palatine display of tapestries as a visual chronicle of a contemporary epic; and the fame accrued from the North African campaigns that initiated an age of navigation and a transformation of the medieval world picture in this lecture recorded on December 18, 2011.

David Bindman, emeritus professor of the history of art, University College London; Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University; and Sharmila Sen, executive editor-at-large, Harvard University Press. Moderated by Faya Causey, head of academic programs, National Gallery of Art. Since the initial Washington launch of the Image of the Black in Western Art series at the National Gallery of Art in December 2010, two new volumes have been published, bringing the total to six of the ten planned. This panel discussion celebrates the publication of the latest two volumes in this landmark series, which examines the 16th through the 18th century. The 18th century, in particular, was a significant period that saw European slavery reach its apogee and the rise of the abolition movement. Recorded on December 11, 2011, this podcast features Professor David Bindman, who briefly introduces the series and highlights selections from the new volumes; Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. discusses portraits of the real people depicted; and editor Sharmila Sen speaks on the publication of the new volumes.

On the occasion of the 200th anniversary celebration of President Abraham Lincoln's birthday, the National Gallery of Art will present a one-year focus exhibition, 'Designing the Lincoln Memorial: Daniel Chester French and Henry Bacon,' on view in the West Building, Main Floor, starting February 12, 2009. The installation features the six-foot-high plaster final model of the most renowned Lincoln statue by American sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850–1931), as designed for the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, and the original wood model of the Lincoln Memorial by American architect Henry Bacon (1866–1924)

Carmen Bambach, Andrew W. Mellon Professor, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art. Leonardo da Vinci is famous for his masterpieces of painting, such as the Ginevra de' Benci portrait at the National Gallery of Art. He is no less famous for his profoundly modern, inquisitive mind as a thinker and inventor. Little is understood about his activity as an author of sketchbooks and notebooks, which provide an important key to understanding his masterpieces. In this podcast recorded on October 30, 2011 at the National Gallery of Art, Carmen Bambach discusses how the drawings and writings of Leonardo da Vinci offer a moving and intimate insight into the complex and sometimes paradoxical workings of his genius mind.

The Warhol: Headlines exhibition, on view at the National Gallery of Art from September 25, 2011, through January 2, 2012, defines and brings together works that Andy Warhol based largely on headlines from the tabloid news. Held in conjunction with the exhibition, this symposium features four lectures, each offering new perspectives from which to consider Warhol's multifaceted treatment of the media.

Leonard Barkan, Class of 1943 University Professor and chair, department of comparative literature, Princeton University. Michelangelo is justly revered not only for his painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, his Moses sculpture, and the plans for St. Peter's Basilica, but also for having produced one of the most exquisite collections of drawings the art world has ever known. It is rarely noticed, however, that fully a third of his drawings also contain his handwriting, including everything from poetry to letters to throwaway memos. In this lecture recorded on October 16, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, Professor Leonard Barkan discusses the new Michelangelo who emerges when these sheets of paper are examined and attention is paid to the draftsmanship and the poetry, the doodles and the scribbles.

A two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author and recipient of the National Book Award, David McCullough discusses his new book, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. In this podcast recorded on September 26, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, McCullough tells the story of America's longstanding love affair with Paris through vivid portraits of dozens of significant characters. Notably, artist Samuel F. B. Morse is depicted as he worked on his masterpiece The Gallery of the Louvre. McCullough spoke at the Gallery in honor of the exhibition A New Look: Samuel F. B. Morse's "Gallery of the Louvre," on view from June 25, 2011, to July 8, 2012. The exhibition and program were coordinated with and supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs, National Gallery of Art. Sarah Greenough talks about her new book on the letters of Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, Volume One, 1915-1933, in this podcast recorded on September 18, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art. Greenough notes the insights provided by the correspondence on their art, their friendships with many key figures of early twentieth-century American art and culture, and, most especially, their relationship with each other.

Richard Brettell, Margaret McDermott Distinguished Chair of Art and Aesthetics, Interdisciplinary Program in Arts and Humanities, University of Texas at Dallas. Professor Richard Brettell examines the self-exploration that is present in the many portraits artist Paul Gauguin painted of himself. Brettell offers a new and introspective insight into the artist's life, showing him not only as a painter, but also as a man. This podcast was recorded on June 4, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, during the last weekend of the exhibition Gauguin: Maker of Myth.

Robert Storr, Yale School of Art, and artists Odili Donald Odita, Joel Shapiro, and Carrie Mae Weems. Moderated by Harry Cooper, curator of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art In collaboration with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE), the National Gallery of Art hosted this panel discussion on May 20, 2011. The panel discussed FAPE's landmark project at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City. FAPE contributed the art collection for this important post, including three site-specific installations and more than 200 works by more than 50 American artists. Odili Donald Odita completed two wall murals in the lobby and on the second floor, and Carrie Mae Weems donated her photographs to the collection. Also discussed was Joel Shapiro's future installation at the Consulate General of the United States in Guangzhou, China, commissioned by FAPE for 2012.

June Hargrove, professor of 19th-century European painting and sculpture, University of Maryland at College Park. Professor June Hargrove discusses artist Paul Gauguin's struggle in the final months of his life, after moving to the Marquesas Islands, to show the world his contributions to the creative process. Recorded on May 15, 2011, and held in conjunction with the exhibition Gauguin: Maker of Myth, this lecture examines the paintings from 1902 and attests that, for all his talk of savagery and cannibalism, Gauguin created some of his most serene masterpieces during this time.

Venice during the time of Canaletto was examined in this public symposium held in conjunction with the Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals exhibition, on view at the National Gallery of Art from February 20 through May 30, 2011. Recorded on April 2, 2011, this podcast includes lectures by exhibition curators David Alan Brown, Dawson Carr, and Charles Beddington. Scholars William Barcham, Emanuela Pagan, and Oliver Tostmann are also featured.

David J. Getsy, Goldabelle McComb Finn Distinguished Professor of Art History, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Rodin's touch grew to be infamous, infecting each of the sculptures he created and becoming the metaphor for his famously eroticized persona. David Getsy, author of Rodin: Sex and the Making of Modern Sculpture, joins us for this podcast, recorded on March 20, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art. He examines Rodin's material practices and demonstrates how the artist's persona was disseminated through them. Getsy also discusses unexpected and contradictory traces of the legendary Rodin touch in his often-overlooked marble sculptures of the 20th century.

Maygene Daniels, Chief of Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art. On March 17, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the completed West Building of the National Gallery of Art and the collection of financier and art collector Andrew W. Mellon on behalf of the people of the United States. To commemorate the 70th anniversary of this event, Maygene Daniels presented this lecture on March 17, 2011. Daniels provides a comprehensive and fascinating overview of the Gallery's past seven decades, including the opening of the East Building on June 1, 1978, when President Jimmy Carter accepted it on behalf of the nation; and the May 23, 1999, opening of the 6.1-acre Sculpture Garden. Blockbuster exhibitions and visits by celebrities, royalty, and heads of state are also highlighted.

Mark Leithauser, senior curator and head of design and installation, and Eric Denker, lecturer, National Gallery of Art. On the occasion of the exhibition Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals, the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, has loaned the National Gallery of Art one of the world's oldest gondolas, once owned by American artist Thomas Moran. Leithauser and Denker discuss the legacy of gondolas.

Millicent Marcus, professor of Italian, Yale University. The film series Neorealismo 1941-1954: Days of Glory, presented in early 2011, focused on iconic works from the neorealism movement, including Vittorio De Sica and Cesare Zavattini's Miracle in Milan (1951). Millicent Marcus, professor of Italian at Yale University, introduced this unique work on February 5, 2011, placing it within the context of a tumultuous, postwar Italy.

Daphne Barbour, senior conservator, department of object conservation, National Gallery of Art; Suzanne G. Lindsay, adjunct associate professor in the history of art, University of Pennsylvania; and Shelley Sturman, senior conservator and head of the department of object conservation, National Gallery of Art. This podcast, recorded on January 30, 2011, celebrates the publication of Edgar Degas Sculpture, The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue, which documents the Gallery's collection of the artist's lifetime sculptures—the largest of its kind in the world. Catalogue authors Daphne Barbour, Suzanne Lindsay, and Shelley Sturman present their contributions to the landmark publication, including essays on Degas' life and work, his sculptural technique and materials, and the story of the sculptures after his death. The technical analysis reveals that Degas usually built his own armatures from wires, wood, and metal pins, and formed the sculptures over them and fillers he had at hand: cork stoppers, paper, rope, rags, and even discarded objects such as the lid of a saltshaker.

Colin B. Bailey, associate director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, The Frick Collection. Jean-Honoré Fragonard's Progress of Love is considered by many to be one of the great works of 18th-century French art. In this podcast recorded on January 9, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, Colin B. Bailey examines the circumstances surrounding the commission, installation, and eventual rejection of the four canvases painted from 1771 to 1772 for Madame du Barry's pavilion at Louveciennes.

Panel discussion included, in order of participation: Sharmila Sen, general editor for the humanities, Harvard University Press; David Bindman, emeritus professor of the history of art, University College London, and the Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow at the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University; Faya Causey, head of academic programs, National Gallery of Art; Alison Luchs, curator of early European sculpture, National Gallery of Art; Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art; and Lou Stovall, artist. David Bindman, coeditor of The Image of the Black in Western Art series along with Henry Louis Gates Jr., participates in a panel discussion for the Washington launch of this landmark publication. Recorded on December 12, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art, Professor Bindman and editor Sharmila Sen discuss the complex history and ambitions behind the series. When the expanded and revised series is completed by 2015, there will be 10 books in all, including two new volumes on the 20th century. The panelists examine works made by or depicting people of African descent in the s

Maygene Daniels, chief of Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art, and Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, collectors. Dorothy and Herbert Vogel have amassed one of the greatest collections of minimal, conceptual, and post-minimal art in the world, acquiring works by some of the most important contemporary artists of our time. Daniels spoke with the Vogels about the 231 artist postcards in their collection—the personalized cards and other items that artists mailed to them, often with drawings, sketches, as well as personal messages.

Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Professor of Humanities and the History of Art, The Johns Hopkins University. In this podcast recorded on November 7, 2010, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series, Professor Michael Fried argues that despite what is often assumed about the Caravaggisti—painters who emerged in the immediate wake of Caravaggio's achievements—they created a new paradigm of ambitious painting, one with its own distinct pictorial poetics. Among the artists discussed are Manfredi, Orazio Gentileschi, and Valentin de Boulogne.

Held in conjunction with the exhibition American Modernism: The Shein Collection, on view at the National Gallery of Art from May 16, 2010, to January 2, 2011, this public symposium provides an analysis of the paintings, sculptures, and drawings created by the first generation of American avant-garde artists. In this podcast recorded on November 6, 2010, noted scholars Michael C. FitzGerald, Didier Ottinger, Debra Bricker Balken, Carol Troyen, and Jay Bochner present illustrated lectures that chronicle the advent of the modernist movement.

John T. Spike, faculty of the masters in sacred architecture, arts, and liturgy organized by the European University of Rome and the Pontifical Athenaeum, "Regina Apostolorum." Michelangelo's Pietá and David are the masterpieces of a young man still in his 20s. In this podcast recorded on October 31, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art, John T. Spike, author of Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine, probes the thinking, artistic evolution, and yearnings of a genius whose energy and ambition drove him to the forefront of the Italian Renaissance.

Aimée Brown Price, art historian, curator, and critic. Puvis de Chavannes played a crucial role in the development of late 19th- and early 20th-century modern art, influencing post-impressionists from Seurat and Gauguin to Matisse and Picasso. Yet his work is neglected, because its resistance to categorization and its dispersal around the world has discouraged a more comprehensive assessment. Recorded on October 24, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art, Aimée Brown Price examines the forces that led to Puvis's special aesthetic idiom and his legacy to modernism. She also considers the Gallery's paintings in context—those relating to his great mural complexes as well as the quizzical, idiosyncratic, sharply simplified, and compelling late work. Two-volume set available for purhase in the Gallery Shop.

Dimitrios Pandermalis, president of the board of directors, Acropolis Museum, and professor of archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in conversation with Selma Holo, professor of art history, director of the International Museum Institute, and director of the Fisher Museum of Art, University of Southern California, and Faya Causey, head of academic programs, National Gallery of Art. Professor Dimitrios Pandermalis provides an overview of the construction of the new Acropolis Museum in this podcast recorded on October 17, 2010. Designed by Bernard Tschumi and completed in 2009, the 262,000-square-foot museum rises at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. This lecture reveals the challenges and responsibilities of creating a modern building atop sensitive archaeological excavations, within the Athens city grid, facing the Parthenon—one of the most influential buildings in Western civilization—and housing ancient sculptures and decorative arts excavated from the Acropolis. This lecture was coordinated with and supported by the American Friends of the Acropolis Museum and the Embassy of Greece in Washington, DC.

Richard Brettell, Margaret McDermott Distinguished Chair of Art and Aesthetics, Interdisciplinary Program in Arts and Humanities, University of Texas at Dallas. Situated on 2,000 acres of desert land in West Texas, artist James Magee has created a monumental and largely secret work of art known as The Hill. Consisting of four identical structures that Magee has built of shale rock and iron, connected by causeways, and situated on a cruciform plan, The Hill is a life's work. Large iron doors enclose each structure and when opened reveal elaborate, altarlike installations that Magee has completed in three of the four buildings. Professor Richard Brettell discusses his tours of the complex, led by the artist, in this podcast recorded on October 10, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art.

Elizabeth Prelinger, Keyser Family Professor of Art History, Georgetown University, and Andrew Robison, senior curator of prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art. Elizabeth Prelinger and Andrew Robison, curators of the exhibition Edvard Munch: Master Prints, discuss how Munch ignored the artistic establishment to create his own vanguard of color printmaking. In this podcast recorded on September 26, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art, Prelinger and Robison consider the nearly 60 works in the exhibition and examine the evolution of printmaking throughout Munch's career, as he repeatedly revised his prints to reflect the broader and ever-changing world of art.

Andrew Robison, Andrew W. Mellon Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art, and Elizabeth Prelinger, Keyser Family Professor of Art History at Georgetown University. Haunting images of love, attraction, alienation, death, and other universal human experiences permeate the work of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. On the occasion of the exhibition Edvard Munch: Master Prints, Gallery curator Andrew Robison and guest curator Elizabeth Prelinger discuss the artist's stylistic approach to each of these themes.

Keith Christiansen, John Pope-Hennessy Chairman of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Keith Christiansen explores the complex relationship of painting and sculpture in 15th-century Florence, in this podcast recorded on November 8, 2009, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series. Christiansen notes that Ghiberti's contribution has long been overshadowed by Donatello's genius in art-historical literature. Ghiberti has been classified as a transitional figure between the Gothic and Renaissance periods. Christiansen seeks to correct this legacy by explaining that the two principal reference points of Renaissance aesthetics in the figurative arts-nature and classical antiquity-are not fixed concepts, and that such thinking has led to false distinctions and misrepresentations of Ghiberti and the painters of Florence.

Mary Miller, Yale University. This five-part lecture series offers an overview of pre-Columbian art history, with detailed discussion of time, beauty, and truth in the visual cultures of ancient and colonial Mesoamerica. In this audio podcast of the fifth and final lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 16, 2010, art historian and archaeologist Mary Miller argues that 16th-century pictorial documents by indigenous artists offer a lens on the vanishing pre-Columbian world, showing how Mesoamerican visual culture exposed a cultural transformation that texts alone could not convey.

Mary Miller, Yale University. This five-part lecture series offers an overview of pre-Columbian art history, with detailed discussion of time, beauty, and truth in the visual cultures of ancient and colonial Mesoamerica. In this audio podcast of the fourth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 9, 2010, art historian and archaeologist Mary Miller discusses the paradox of truth and deception in the depiction of natural objects in Maya and Aztec art, exploring the pleasures of illusion and the virtue of mimesis when materiality is suspended.

Sarah Greenough, senior curator, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art, Washington, and Bill Morgan, author and Ginsberg archivist. American poet Allen Ginsberg took occasional snapshots in the 1940s, but in 1953 he purchased a small, secondhand Kodak camera that he took with him everywhere. For the next decade, he made numerous portraits of himself and his friends, including the writers Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, while also formulating and refining his poetic voice. In the first of this two-part podcast series, produced on the occasion of the exhibition Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, Greenough talks with Bill Morgan about the poet's role in documenting the Beat movement.

Mary Miller, Yale University. This five-part lecture series offers an overview of pre-Columbian art history, with detailed discussion of time, beauty, and truth in the visual cultures of ancient and colonial Mesoamerica. In this audio podcast of the third lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 2, 2010, art historian and archeologist Mary Miller explores the signification and cultural import of beauty in Maya and Aztec aesthetics.

Mary Miller, Yale University. This five-part lecture series offers an overview of pre-Columbian art history, with detailed discussion of time, beauty, and truth in the visual cultures of ancient and colonial Mesoamerica. In this audio podcast of the second lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 25, 2010, art historian and archaeologist Mary Miller discusses Maya systems of timekeeping, the most sophisticated in the New World, and explains how Maya art engaged and inflected notions of past, present, and future.

Mary Miller, Yale University. This five-part lecture series offers an overview of pre-Columbian art history, with detailed discussion of time, beauty, and truth in the visual cultures of ancient and colonial Mesoamerica. In this audio podcast of the first lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 18, 2010, art historian and archaeologist Mary Miller presents a history of the reception of pre-Columbian art from its arrival in Europe in the 16th century to the present day, as new discoveries continually transform the field.

Chuck Close, artist; Ambassador Cynthia P. Schneider, Georgetown University and the Brookings Institution; and Robert Storr, dean, Yale School of Art. Moderated by Joseph J. Krakora, executive officer for development and external affairs, National Gallery of Art. The National Gallery of Art hosted this panel discussion, in coordination with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, on April 12, 2010, to examine the important role that art plays in representing the United States abroad.

Susan L. Siegfried, professor of history of art and women's studies, University of Michigan. The nineteenth-century French painter, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, is often credited as one of the patriarchs of modern art. Known for his innovative use of space and form, his techniques inspired a new wave of artists. In this podcast, recorded at the National Gallery of Art on April 4, 2010, Susan L. Siegfried argues that Ingres's rethinking of technique and subject matter was vital to his triumph in painting the female nude.

Harold Holzer, cochair, United States Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. According to noted expert Harold Holzer, United States President Abraham Lincoln transformed the city of Washington, DC-not only into the command center of a great war and executive authority, but also a mecca for artists. In this podcast recorded on February 14, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art, Holzer sheds light on this transformation and on the role of these artists, who recorded the great events of the day and whose works documented the evolving image of the 16th president.

Robert Darnton, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and Director of the University Library, Harvard University. In this podcast, recorded on January 22, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art, Robert Darnton speaks on the occasion of the publication of The Accademia Seminars: The Accademia di San Luca in Rome, c.1590-1635 and launch of the Web site "The History of the Accademia di San Luca, c. 1590-1635: Documents from the Archivio di Stato di Roma." He applies the concept of pairing a scholarly book and a Web site to his own research on the clandestine book trade in prerevolutionary France.

Robert M. Edsel, author, founder, and president, Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art. During World War II, a special force known as the Monuments Men, of museum directors, curators, art historians, and others from 13 different nations, risked their lives to prevent the destruction of cultural treasures Robert M. Edsel, author of The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, discusses how these men and women protected what they could of Europe's great art in this podcast recorded on January 17, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art.

Maygene Daniels, chief of Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art, and Franklin Kelly, deputy director, National Gallery of Art. The 1962 bequest of Wall Street investor Chester Dale made the National Gallery of Art one of the leading repositories in North America of French art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The exhibition features some 80 of the finest European and American paintings that Dale and his wife Maud, an artist and critic, avidly assembled from the 1920s through the 1950s. In the second of this two-part podcast series, produced on the occasion of the exhibition, Franklin Kelly talks with archivist Maygene Daniels about the personalities behind this important collection.

P. Adams Sitney, professor of visual arts, Princeton University. P. Adams Sitney, distinguished film historian, theorist, and professor of visual arts at Princeton University, delivered a presentation at the National Gallery on December 6, 2009, on the films of several American avant-garde artists as a fulfillment of the promise of a truly American aesthetic, an idea first defined by philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. The short films Arabesque for Kenneth Anger (Marie Menken, 1961); Visions in Meditation #2-Mesa Verde (Stan Brakhage, 1989); Gloria! (Hollis Frampton, 1979); and Gently Down the Stream (Su Friedrich, 1980) were screened in their entirety following the lecture.

Jonathan Conlin, lecturer in modern history, University of Southampton; Maygene Daniels, chief of Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art; Margaret Parsons, head of film programs, National Gallery of Art; and Faya Causey, head of academic programs, National Gallery of Art. In the BBC television series "Civilisation," Kenneth Clark stated it's arguable that Western civilization was saved by its craftsmen. The National Gallery of Art commemorated the 40th anniversary of the series with a panel discussion, Celebrating "Civilisation," recorded on October 17, 2009.

Panelists: Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States; Paul Goldberger, architecture critic for The New Yorker and Joseph Urban Professor of Design and Architecture, New School; and Robert Storr, dean, Yale School of Art. Moderated by Molly Donovan, associate curator of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art. In this special lecture podcast recorded on May 12, 2009, the National Gallery of Art, in conjunction with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, hosted this panel discussion on the role of art and architecture in the civic sphere, at home and around the world.

T. J. Clark, George C. and Helen N. Pardee Chair and professor of history of art, University of California, Berkeley. Centered on a group of paintings by Picasso from the 1920s, a series of six lectures traces the artist's path to Guernica. In this audio podcast of the sixth and final lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 3, 2009, the renowned art historian and professor T. J. Clark reflects on the place of Guernica in Picasso's repeated attempts to escape from the intimacy and containment of cubism, and to expose his painting to everything in the new century that threatened to make that "interior" a thing of the past.

T. J. Clark, George C. and Helen N. Pardee Chair and professor of history of art, University of California, Berkeley. Centered on a group of paintings by Picasso from the 1920s, a series of six lectures traces the artist's path to Guernica. In this audio podcast of the fifth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 26, 2009, the renowned art historian and professor T. J. Clark looks at Picasso's attempts in the late 1920s to escape from the room-space of cubism into a wider public world, populated by monsters (comic or tragic, benign or terrifying) on a grand scale.

T. J. Clark, George C. and Helen N. Pardee Chair and professor of history of art, University of California, Berkeley. Centered on a group of paintings by Picasso from the 1920s, a series of six lectures traces the artist's path to Guernica. In this audio podcast of the fourth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 19, 2009, the renowned art historian and professor T. J. Clark discusses Painter and Model, Picasso's largest canvas from 1927, and its corresponding sketchbook material, in which a monstrous conception of the body and sexuality accompanies a wholesale new vision of pictorial space.

T. J. Clark, George C. and Helen N. Pardee Chair and professor of history of art, University of California, Berkeley. Centered on a group of paintings by Picasso from the 1920s, a series of six lectures traces the artist's path to Guernica. In this audio podcast of the third lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 5, 2009, the renowned art historian and professor T. J. Clark discusses Three Dancers (1925). The lecture centers on the Three Dancers' radical re-imagining of space, particularly the relation between interior and exterior, and the way this new spatiality brings Untruth into the room.

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.

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.

Jacqueline Francis, independent scholar. In this presentation recorded on February 8, 2009, as part of the National Gallery of Art lecture series The Collecting of African American Art, Jacqueline Francis traces the origins of collecting African-American art in the United States and the role of American academic institutions, galleries, and specialized museums in supporting these artists. Francis focuses on six distinguished private collections: Barnett-Aden; Camille O. and William H. Cosby Jr.; Walter O. Evans; David C. Driskell; Grant Hill; and Harmon and Harriet Kelley. She also provides an overview of institutional

Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Professor of Humanities, The Johns Hopkins University, in conversation with Harry Cooper, curator and head of the department of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art. To celebrate the publication of his recent book, Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before, Michael Fried spoke with Harry Cooper, his former student, about the place of photography in contemporary art. In this podcast, recorded on January 25, 2009, at the National Gallery of Art, the conversation centered on such topics as the relationship between the photograph and the viewer, the essential characteristics (if any) of photographs, and issues of realism and literalism, narrative and theatricality. Artists discussed included Jeff Wall, Thomas Struth, Thomas Demand, Andreas Gursky, and others.

Noted scholars Stephen Brooke, Martin Gasser, Olivier Lugon, and Alan Trachtenberg present illustrated lectures in this podcast, recorded on January 24, 2009, at the National Gallery of Art. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Looking In: Robert Frank's "The Americans," on view at the Gallery from January 18 to April 26, 2009, this symposium considered other artists who created photographic books and played a role in the dissemination of photography in the 20th century.

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".

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.

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.

=Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator of northern baroque paintings, National Gallery of Art, and Stephanie S. Dickey, Bader Chair in Northern Baroque Art, Queen's University. Recorded on October 26, 2008, this podcast celebrates the major international loan exhibition Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered, which was on view at the National Gallery of Art from October 26, 2008, to January 11, 2009. In the first of two lectures, Arthur Wheelock places Lievens in historical context—particularly in relationship to his friend and colleague from Leiden, Rembrandt van Rijn—and focuses on the evolution and character of Lievens' paintings. In the second lecture, Stephanie Dickey examines Lievens' remarkable achievements as a printmaker.

Sarah Greenough, senior curator of photographs, National Gallery of Art, and Roger Taylor, professor of photographic history at De Montfort University, Leicester. Two methods of fixing an image dominated the early days of photography: the one-of-a-kind daguerreotype and the replicable calotype, which was made using paper negatives. In the second of this two-part episode, Gallery curator Sarah Greenough and Professor Roger Taylor of De Montfort University discuss some of the best calotypists, the subjects that fascinated them, and the slow death of the medium as it was supplanted by more popular photographic processes. Produced in conjunction with the exhibition Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860.

Sarah Greenough, senior curator of photographs, National Gallery of Art, and Roger Taylor, professor of photographic history at De Montfort University, Leicester. Two methods of fixing an image dominated the early days of photography: the one-of-a-kind daguerreotype and the replicable calotype, which was made using paper negatives. In the first of this two-part episode, Gallery curator Sarah Greenough, and Professor Roger Taylor of DeMontfort University discuss the emergence of the calotype and how it competed with the emergence of glass negatives. Produced in conjunction with the exhibition Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860.

Maygene Daniels, chief of Gallery Archives. From its inception, the design of the West Building of the National Gallery of Art was inspired by Italian tradition in art and architecture. The Gallery's collection of Italian paintings is considered to be among the finest in the world, and John Russell Pope's neoclassical design is reminiscent of ancient Rome's Pantheon. In this podcast, host Barbara Tempchin and Gallery chief archivist Maygene Daniels talk about the enduring link between Italian traditions and the National Gallery of Art.

Paul R. Jones, collector, and Amalia K. Amaki, professor of art history, University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. For the third program in the National Gallery of Art lecture series The Collecting of African American Art, recorded on February 24, 2008, Paul R. Jones discusses collecting with Amalia K. Amaki, editor and contributing author of A Century of African American Art: The Paul R. Jones Collection, which features his acquisition of works by nearly 70 artists, most of which he has given to the University of Delaware. Jones discusses his dedication to supporting emerging African-American artists, including his efforts to see that they are better represented in public collections. Jones also reveals how he began collecting art while he was pursuing a career in public service, including working in civil rights, housing and urban development, and the Peace Corps.

Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, director of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, and Walter O. Evans, collector. In this conversation recorded on February 17, 2008, as part of the National Gallery of Art lecture series The Collecting of African American Art, retired surgeon Walter O. Evans discusses his extraordinary collection with Andrea Barnwell Brownlee. Brownlee was the primary author of The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art, a catalogue that accompanied an international exhibition of mid-19th- to late-20th-century works from Evans' holdings. Their conversation explores how Evans began acquiring African American art, his friendships with artists and writers, and his future plans for the collection.

Alvia J. Wardlaw, associate professor, Texas Southern University and curator of modern and contemporary art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. For the inaugural lecture of the National Gallery of Art lecture series The Collecting of African American Art, recorded on February 10, 2008, Alvia J. Wardlaw provides an overview of the substantial history of collecting African American art. She regards the preservation of objects of cultural importance within the African American community as a holistic endeavor. Collecting was not merely about acquiring items for private holdings but also establishing a connection between African Americans and their African past, enabling families and communities to pass on traditions. Wardlaw relates the role of collectibles, including such cherished items as family photographs and Bibles, to the interest in collecting African American artworks, which arose in the 19th century. She also examines this phenomenon within the context of individual artistic careers, intellectual movements, and trends in the patronage of African American art.

Maygene Daniels, Chief of Gallery Archives. Gallery archivist Maygene Daniels and Barbara Tempchin discuss Andrew Mellon's founding of the National Gallery of Art and how this legacy was carried on through his son Paul Mellon.

Last Looks, Last Books: The Binocular Poetry of Death Helen Vendler, A. Kingsley Porter University Professor, Harvard University. This six-part lecture series considers the final works of five modern American poets, as they "take the last look"—reconciling the interface of life and death, without the promise of an afterlife. The accompanying publication, Last Looks, Last Books: Stevens, Plath, Lowell, Bishop, Merrill, is available for purchase in the Gallery Shop. In this audio podcast of the sixth and final lecture of the series, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 20, 2007, the esteemed poetry critic and professor Helen Vendler discusses James Merrill's "montage of self-portraits while dying," as he bids farewell in various lyric genres, sketching his life-death state in verse.

Helen Vendler, A. Kingsley Porter University Professor, Harvard University. This six-part lecture series considers the final works of five modern American poets, as they "take the last look"—reconciling the interface of life and death, without the promise of an afterlife. In this audio podcast of the fifth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 13, 2007, the esteemed poetry critic and professor Helen Vendler traces the placement of life and death in Elizabeth Bishop's late works as they move between division and integration.

Helen Vendler, A. Kingsley Porter University Professor, Harvard University. This six-part lecture series considers the final works of five modern American poets, as they "take the last look"—reconciling the interface of life and death, without the promise of an afterlife. In this audio podcast of the fourth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 6, 2007, the esteemed poetry critic and professor Helen Vendler discusses Robert Lowell's last book, Day by Day, which withdraws from his earlier narrative style and instead offers spare, literal "snapshots."

Helen Vendler, A. Kingsley Porter University Professor, Harvard University. This six-part lecture series considers the final works of five modern American poets, as they "take the last look"—reconciling the interface of life and death, without the promise of an afterlife.In this audio podcast of the third lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 29, 2007, the esteemed poetry critic and professor Helen Vendler surveys select works by Sylvia Plath, as she moves from autobiographical violence to impersonal objectivity.

Helen Vendler, A. Kingsley Porter University Professor, Harvard University. This six-part lecture series considers the final works of five modern American poets, as they "take the last look"—reconciling the interface of life and death, without the promise of an afterlife.In this audio podcast of the second lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 22, 2007, the esteemed poetry critic and professor Helen Vendler discusses Wallace Stevens' The Rock, a collection of poems reflecting on "the last face of being, when life faces death."

Helen Vendler, A. Kingsley Porter University Professor, Harvard University. This six-part lecture series considers the final works of five modern American poets, as they "take the last look"—reconciling the interface of life and death, without the promise of an afterlife. In this audio podcast of the first lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 15, 2007, the esteemed poetry critic and professor Helen Vendler frames the binocular styles of modern and premodern poets as they examine life and death "in a single steady gaze." The accompanying publication, Last Looks, Last Books: Stevens, Plath, Lowell, Bishop, Merrill, is available for purchase in the Gallery Shop.

James Walvin, professor of history, University of York, United Kingdom. To commemorate the bicentennial of the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade on March 25, 1807, Professor James Walvin published two books: A Short History of Slavery and The Trader, The Owner, The Slave. Shortly before their publication, Walvin presented this lecture on February 18, 2007, at the National Gallery of Art, discussing his thoughts on what is remembered- and what is forgotten- about slavery and the slave trade. In it, he questions the kind of role the government and public memory should play in commemorating this extraordinary transformation in public policy two hundred years ago. The difficult history of slavery and the slave trade is both immediately present, as a documented part of human history with its descendants as part of the population, and everywhere in places where it can't be seen; just beneath the surface of the Western world its evidence is all around.

David Cannadine, director and professor, Institute of Historical Research, University of London To celebrate the landmark publication Mellon: An American Life, David Cannadine inaugurated and concluded his U.S. book tour at the National Gallery of Art with lectures on the founding benefactor of the Gallery, Andrew W. Mellon (1855-1937). In this second lecture recorded on December 9, 2006, Cannadine concentrates on Mellon's art collecting as his only nonprofessional gratification, and his great gift of the Gallery to the nation. His son Paul Mellon commissioned this biography in the mid-1990s to document the magnitude and range of his father's contributions to American history. Preeminent in the diverse fields of business, politics, art collecting, and philanthropy, Mellon was one of the greatest art collectors and philanthropists of his generation. According to Cannadine, the Gallery remains Mellon's culminating and most tangible legacy, although he did not live to see its completion and dedication on March 17, 1941.

Anna Ottani Cavina, professor of art history, Università di Bologna. Professor Anna Ottani Cavina examines the aesthetic of the Italian landscape as depicted by foreign painters during the first half of the 19th century, in this podcast recorded on November 5, 2006, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series. In the wake of Rousseau, these painters left the atelier and chose to paint en plein air—inevitably modifying painting technique itself, as well as the relationship between painters and nature. As a result, the idea of the Italian landscape dramatically changed: the Arcadian vision traditionally offered by Poussin finally gave way to a new picturesque and modern idea of the Italian countryside.

David Cannadine, director and professor, Institute of Historical Research, University of London. David Cannadine launched the U.S. book tour for his landmark publication, Mellon: An American Life- the first commissioned biography of the great American industrialist and founding benefactor of the National Gallery of Art, Andrew W. Mellon- on October 8, 2006, at the National Gallery of Art. Mellon was born in Pittsburgh in 1855 and over time established himself as preeminent in four different fields: business, politics, art collecting, and philanthropy. He died in 1937. In this lecture, Cannadine describes Mellon's life and work before creating the Gallery as a gift to the nation- "from the smokestacks of Pittsburgh to the matchless, stripped neoclassical [West] Building." In explaining the magnitude and range of Mellon's contribution to American history, Cannadine starts with his business career as banker and creator of iconic American companies, and his political career as Secretary of the Treasury (1921-1932) and U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain (1932-1933). Cannadine finished his tour with a second lecture at the Gallery on December 9, 2006. This second lecture, titled Andrew W. Mellon: Collecting for the Nation, focused on Mellon's art collecting and philanthropy, and on the Gallery as the culminating and most enduring endeavor of his life.

Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art. In this podcast recorded on January 15, 2006, Ruth Fine discusses the Harlem-based life and career of Norman Lewis in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday weekend. Lewis was born in Harlem in 1909 and died in New York at the age of 70. Except for short periods spent elsewhere, New York and, in one way or another, the Harlem community remained Lewis' home base throughout his life. Harlem changed radically during the artist's lifetime, becoming the cultural center of black America. He is considered by many to be the first African American artist fully engaged by abstraction. Lewis' drawings, paintings, and prints date from the 1930s to 1970. Supporting himself as an elevator operator, house painter, short-order chef, merchant marine, tailor, and taxi driver, Lewis worked steadily at his art. "I have sustained myself in whatever the moment called for and done what has been necessary to just exist." Lewis' art and attitudes were highly influential on the next generation of African American artists, including Melvin Edwards, Sam Gilliam, and William T. Williams

Jonathan J. G. Alexander, Sherman Fairchild Professor of Fine Arts, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Recorded on November 13, 2005, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series, this talk by Professor Jonathan Alexander explores the manuscript choir books, known as corali, used by Christian churches on the Italian peninsula during the 15th and 16th centuries. This lecture coincided with the Masterpieces in Miniature: Italian Manuscript Illumination from the J. Paul Getty Museum exhibition on view at the National Gallery of Art from September 25, 2005, to March 26, 2006.

Charles Dempsey, professor of Italian Renaissance and Baroque art, The Johns Hopkins University In this podcast recorded on November 14, 2004, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series, Charles Dempsey argues that Lombard colorism exemplified by Correggio and Garofalo--ought to be considered the third Italian Renaissance. Giorgio Vasari's 16th-century account of Renaissance and High Renaissance art as bipolar opposites--Renaissance art as the perfect union of Florentine disegno with the legacy of classical art in Rome and High Renaissance art prominent in Venice as a naturalistic style deficient in disegno but worthy in its color-led the art of the Lombard Plain to be unsatisfactorily assimilated into the general history of the period. Dempsey explains that paintings by the Carracci demonstrate their recognition of all three Renaissance styles. In combining these styles, the Carracci made a reform of painting that led to baroque art in the 17th century.

Paul Barolsky, commonwealth professor, University of Virginia. Paul Barolsky discusses the self-conscious artfulness of Ovid's Metamorphoses and its relation to the visual wit of major European artists. Beginning with a discussion of Ovid's myth of Io and Correggio's rendering of the subject, Barolsky then explores Ovidian threads in the fabric of works by Perugino, Michelangelo, Cellini, Poussin, Rubens, and Velazquez. This podcast was recorded on November 9, 2003, at the National Gallery of Art, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series.

John Wilmerding, Christopher Binyon Sarofim '86 Professor of American Art in the Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, and visiting curator, department of American art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art John Wilmerding, former senior curator and deputy director at the National Gallery of Art, discusses his book Signs of the Artist: Signatures and Self-Expression in American Paintings in this lecture recorded on October 19, 2003. Wilmerding explores unconventional use of signatures in paintings, focusing on American artists who have placed their signature within the pictorial space of the canvas. With this act, Wilmerding argues, the artist may be making a metaphorical, and often biographical, association with the setting or situation depicted. Wilmerding discusses artists from the 18th through 20th centuries, including John Singleton Copley, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, Jasper Johns, Andrew Wyeth, and Richard Estes.

Gwendolyn H. Everett, assistant professor, department of art, Howard University. Gwendolyn H. Everett, scholar and author of the award-winning children's book Li'L Sis and Uncle Willie: A Story Based on the Life and Paintings of William H. Johnson, provides an overview of William Henry Johnson's (1901-1970) career as part of the Five African American Artists lecture series recorded on August 3, 2003. Everett traces Johnson's determination to become an artist, despite a humble upbringing in South Carolina, to his years at a segregated elementary school where art was not part of the formal curriculum. In 1918, during the first Great Migration, Johnson moved to New York to pursue artistic training unavailable in the South. While living in Harlem and working several jobs to support himself, he was accepted into the prestigious National Academy of Design. Noted watercolorist Charles Webster Hawthorne provided critical mentorship at the academy, hired Johnson to work at the Cape Cod School of Art, and sponsored his further training in Europe. Johnson supplemented this sponsorship with prizes awarded by the academy and funds earned working for Ashcan School painter George Luks. In 1920s Paris, Johnson lived in the former studio of James McNeill Whistler and became acquainted with Henry O. Tanner, an African American expatriate artist who had achieved international acclaim and who would become a pivotal figure in Johnson's rise to prominence. Follow along as Everett illustrates Johnson's journey—marked by determination, strengthened by hard work, and bolstered by the support of influential artists—that led him to become one of the greatest American artists of the 20th century.

Kirk Varnedoe, Institute for Advanced Study. This six-part series examines abstract art over a period of fifty years, beginning with a crucial juncture in modern art in the mid-1950s, and builds a compelling argument for a history and evaluation of late twentieth-century art that challenges the distinctions between abstraction and representation, modernism and postmodernism, minimalism and pop. The accompanying publication, Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art since Pollock, is available for purchase from the Gallery Shops. In this third lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 13, 2003, the distinguished art historian Kirk Varnedoe contrasts multiple forms of minimalism in the 1960s, as seen in the works of Donald Judd, Robert Morris, and James Turrell, and examines, among other things, the degree to which this art is quintessentially American.

Kirk Varnedoe, Institute for Advanced Study. This six-part series examines abstract art over a period of fifty years, beginning with a crucial juncture in modern art in the mid-1950s, and builds a compelling argument for a history and evaluation of late twentieth-century art that challenges the distinctions between abstraction and representation, modernism and postmodernism, minimalism and pop. The accompanying publication, Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art since Pollock, is available for purchase from the Gallery Shops. In this third lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 13, 2003, the distinguished art historian Kirk Varnedoe contrasts multiple forms of minimalism in the 1960s, as seen in the works of Donald Judd, Robert Morris, and James Turrell, and examines, among other things, the degree to which this art is quintessentially American.

Kirk Varnedoe, Institute for Advanced Study. This six-part series examines abstract art over a period of fifty years, beginning with a crucial juncture in modern art in the mid-1950s, and builds a compelling argument for a history and evaluation of late twentieth-century art that challenges the distinctions between abstraction and representation, modernism and postmodernism, minimalism and pop. The accompanying publication, Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art since Pollock, is available for purchase from the Gallery Shops. In this first lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on March 30, 2003, the distinguished art historian Kirk Varnedoe begins with Jackson Pollock at a key moment in the emergence of a new form of abstract art in the mid-1950s. Building on Ernst Gombrich's Mellon Lectures of 1956, Varnedoe begins by asking: Can there be a philosophy of abstract art as compelling as Gombrich's argument for illusionism? What is abstract art good for? And finally, what do we get out of abstract art?

Kirk Varnedoe, Institute for Advanced Study. This six-part series examines abstract art over a period of fifty years, beginning with a crucial juncture in modern art in the mid-1950s, and builds a compelling argument for a history and evaluation of late twentieth-century art that challenges the distinctions between abstraction and representation, modernism and postmodernism, minimalism and pop. The accompanying publication, Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art since Pollock, is available for purchase from the Gallery Shops. In this first lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on March 30, 2003, the distinguished art historian Kirk Varnedoe begins with Jackson Pollock at a key moment in the emergence of a new form of abstract art in the mid-1950s. Building on Ernst Gombrich's Mellon Lectures of 1956, Varnedoe begins by asking: Can there be a philosophy of abstract art as compelling as Gombrich's argument for illusionism? What is abstract art good for? And finally, what do we get out of abstract art?

Nancy Yeide, head of the department of curatorial records and files, National Gallery of Art, and the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Curatorial Sabbatical Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art. The looting of cultural property by Nazi forces has been called the "Greatest Theft in History." In total, the Nazis looted more than 200,000 individual items, including paintings, sculptures, and tapestries, during World War II, primarily from Jewish owners in the occupied countries. In this lecture recorded on February 2, 2003, at the National Gallery of Art, Nancy Yeide provides the provenance of famous cases to explore how some looted art ended up in American collections and museums. Yeide also discusses how Hermann Göring, founder of the Gestapo and commander of the German Air Force, used his political and military power to amass the largest private art collection in Europe.

Nicholas Penny, senior curator of sculpture and decorative arts, National Gallery of Art. For the annual Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art, recorded on November 17, 2002, Nicholas Penny discussed aspects of the relationship between painting and sculpture in the 15th and 16th centuries. In particular, Penny focused on a subject no one has addressed with greater eloquence than Sydney J. Freedberg: the way that figures occupy and define space in early 16th-century Italian art. This contest between the qualities proper to painting and sculpture in the representation of space and linear perspective is explored through works in the National Gallery, London, and National Gallery of Art collections.

Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Professor and director of the Humanities Center, The Johns Hopkins University In a series of six lectures, Michael Fried offers a compelling account of what he calls "the internal structure of the pictorial act" in the revolutionary art of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The accompanying publication, The Moment of Caravaggio, is available for purchase from the Gallery Shops. In this audio podcast of the sixth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 19, 2002, Professor Michael Fried argues that Caravaggio's art should be understood not simply as a monument to a revolutionary style of pictorial realism, but also as an investigation into the psychic and physical dynamic that went into its making. Fried evokes this dynamic with concepts introduced in earlier lectures, including immersion and specularity, absorption and address, painting and mirroring, and optical and bodily modes of realism—what he calls "the internal structure of the pictorial act."

Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Professor and director of the Humanities Center, The Johns Hopkins University In a series of six lectures, Michael Fried offers a compelling account of what he calls "the internal structure of the pictorial act" in the revolutionary art of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The accompanying publication, The Moment of Caravaggio, is available for purchase from the Gallery Shops. In this audio podcast of the fifth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 12, 2002, Professor Michael Fried discusses how the "violent" birth of the full-blown gallery picture (as seen in Judith and Holoferenes) is figured in Caravaggio's art as beheading or decapitation, an allegory for the act of painting.

Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Professor and director of the Humanities Center, The Johns Hopkins University In a series of six lectures, Michael Fried offers a compelling account of what he calls "the internal structure of the pictorial act" in the revolutionary art of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The accompanying publication, The Moment of Caravaggio, is available for purchase from the Gallery Shops. In this audio podcast of the fourth lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on May 5, 2002, Professor Michael Fried explores how two polar entities in Caravaggio's art—absorption and address—lead to the emergence of the gallery picture.

Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Professor and director of the Humanities Center, The Johns Hopkins University In a series of six lectures, Michael Fried offers a compelling account of what he calls "the internal structure of the pictorial act" in the revolutionary art of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The accompanying publication, The Moment of Caravaggio, is available for purchase from the Gallery Shops. In this audio podcast of the third lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 28, 2002, Professor Michael Fried argues that Caravaggio's depiction of his figures as so deeply engrossed in what they are doing, feeling, and thinking is revolutionary.

Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Professor and director of the Humanities Center, The Johns Hopkins University In a series of six lectures, Michael Fried offers a compelling account of what he calls "the internal structure of the pictorial act" in the revolutionary art of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The accompanying publication, The Moment of Caravaggio, is available for purchase from the Gallery Shops. In this audio podcast of the second lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 21, 2002, Professor Michael Fried addresses Caravaggio's engagement with the act of painting, and contrasts that with specular moments of detachment. Fried argues that this divided relationship lies at the heart of Caravaggio's most radical art.

Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Professor and director of the Humanities Center, The Johns Hopkins University. In a series of six lectures, Michael Fried offers a compelling account of what he calls "the internal structure of the pictorial act" in the revolutionary art of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The accompanying publication, The Moment of Caravaggio, is available for purchase from the Gallery Shops. In this audio podcast of the first lecture, originally delivered at the National Gallery of Art on April 14, 2002, Professor Michael Fried opens the lecture series with a discussion of Caravaggio's Boy Bitten by a Lizard. He argues for its significance as a disguised self-portrait of the artist in the act of painting.

Caroline Elam, editor, The Burlington Magazine, London. In this Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art, recorded on November 11, 2001, Caroline Elam explains the historical actualities of Michelangelo's relationship with the Medici and its effect on his reputation. Unwilling to remain under the authority of Medici dukedom and the republican government in Florence, Michelangelo lived outside his native city for 30 years until his death in 1564. During this absence from Florence, Michelangelo became the greatest living artist in Italy and the preeminent embodiment of an ideal Tuscan cultural supremacy. His status as a Tuscan icon was due in part to Medici propaganda. Duke Cosimo I recognized the importance of cultural politics in controlling the state and needed Michelangelo to that end. Elam explores how Michelangelo was unusually successful at resisting this propaganda, as well as the complexity of his own political beliefs and allegiances.

Janet Cox-Rearick, distinguished professor of art history, City University of New York. Professor Janet Cox-Rearick reveals the secret of Bronzino's success as the only portrait painter for Eleonora di Toledo, wife of Cosimo de' Medici, duke of Florence, in this Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art recorded on November 12, 2000. In the Renaissance, fashion and the act of fashioning could transform the wearer. Following from the Italian proverb that cloth and color lend honor to a man, the choice of clothing and jewels and their degree of traditionalism, innovation, and luxury was dictated by a social hierarchy. After 1537 under Duke Cosimo I, ceremony clothes became a semiological system designed to present the public persona of their princely wearers. In this lecture, Cox-Rearick explains four types of documentary and visual evidence about the ceremonial dress worn by Eleonora di Toledo.

James S. Ackerman, professor emeritus of the history of art and architecture, Harvard University Leonardo da Vinci was the only artist of his time to have an intense interest in science. Evident in his sketchbooks, this interest led to his detailed biology and nature studies. In this podcast recorded on November 14, 1999, as part of the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series, Professor James S. Ackerman discusses how Leonardo occupied himself by expressing the forces of nature, not just the experience of nature. Leonardo established art as a communication of visual experience and as a means to discover both nature and invention. As Leonardo said, "Painting compels the mind of the painter to transform itself to the very mind of nature—to become an interpreter between nature and art."

William R. Rearick, professor emeritus, University of Maryland. Following the disastrous Venice floods on November 4, 1966, the Venice Committee of the International Fund for Monuments was established to restore and preserve the artistic heritage of the city. In 1971 Sydney J. Freedberg and John and Betty McAndrew established Save Venice Inc., an American branch of the Venice Committee. Following Freedberg's death in 1997, Save Venice Inc. decided to restore a painting in his honor. Supper at Emmaus (1513), in the Church of San Salvador, was chosen for this project; restoration began in January 1998. In this podcast recorded on November 22, 1998, at the National Gallery of Art, Professor William R. Rearick discusses the ensuing process of attribution from Bellini to Carpaccio, including fitting the painting into the arc of Carpaccio's career.

Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt, professor, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University Little is known about the formative years of Michelangelo's career. Professor Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt discusses the myths of Michelangelo's early life generated by his biographical authors. Citing Vasari and Condivi's narratives, Professor Brandt tracks Michelangelo's professional infancy, revealing cover-ups of the setbacks, mistakes, and failures that plagued his early artistic career. Rather than deceitful omissions, Professor Brandt thinks of them "like other myths, as narratives reconstructed in each epoch to serve their narrators." Recorded on November 23, 1997, at the National Gallery of Art, this program is the inaugural lecture in the Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art series.

Richard Shiff, Effie Marie Cain Regents Chair in Art and professor of history of art, University of Texas at Austin. The exhibition Willem de Kooning: Paintings, on view at the National Gallery of Art from May 8 to September 5, 1994, was presented in honor of the artist’s 90th birthday. The exhibition included 76 paintings that spanned de Kooning’s career from the 1930s to the mid-1980s. In this lecture recorded on May 29, 1994, catalogue author Richard Shiff highlights four aspects of the artist’s career. First, Shiff explores de Kooning’s involvement with change: he thought of himself as always evolving, and his work could not be classified under a single style. Second, Shiff describes the physicality of de Kooning’s work: the artist became involved with materials of real substance and engaged his body with these materials by pushing, pulling, and physically manipulating them. Third, Shiff shares how to look at and think about de Kooning’s figures and representations, which initially might not be recognizable.  Fourth, de Kooning resisted any description of himself more elaborate than painter: here Shiff addresses de Kooning’s objections to abstract art—even though he made abstract work, he did not consider himself an abstractionist.

David C. Driskell, artist, curator, and professor of art, University of Maryland, College Park. On January 11, 1990, the National Gallery of Art announced an initiative to address the underrepresentation of minorities—particularly African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans—in the museum profession. In response, David Driskell presented a lecture at the Gallery on February 11, 1990, on multi-cultural representation in art museum collections and exhibitions and among staff and visitors. Unresolved issues in our cultural history raise questions about why the arts have been divided along racial lines—if, as Driskell observes, all art emanates from the salient desire to express the inner urges of the human spirit. This quality we all possess is colorless, classless, and uncluttered by feelings of racial superiority. The insistence on dividing art in the United States along racial lines demonstrates a response different in both thought and action than that seen in older cultures and ancient societies. Driskell hopes that these impending initiatives allow us to enter the 21st century with a more holistic view of our history and the cultural pluralism that is the privilege of this nation.

Gwendolyn H. Everett, lecturer, National Gallery of Art. As part of the Artist in Residence lecture series, Gwendolyn H. Everett focused on Henry Ossawa Tanner’s (1859-1937) visits to the Holy Land, and how this travel affected the later religious paintings for which he achieved international recognition. In this podcast recorded on August 9, 1987, Everett explains the formative influence of Tanner’s upbringing in an educated, religious family in post-Civil War Philadelphia. Tanner’s father was a minister and, later, a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and his mother administered a Methodist school. Tanner enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts as the only African American student in 1879, graduating in 1885. His professor, the artist Thomas Eakins, encouraged a progressive method of study from live models instead of plaster casts, which profoundly affected Tanner. after 1891 Tanner resided primarily in France; by 1895 his paintings were mostly of biblical themes, and in 1897 he made his first trip to the Holy Land, where his firsthand experience led to mastery of religious subject matter. He visited the region several times to explore mosques and biblical sites, and to complete character studies of the local population, as he had learned from Eakins. Tanner invigorated religious painting with modernism and with his deeply rooted faith, achieving renown in the international art world.

Sydney J. Freedberg, chief curator, National Gallery of Art. In honor of The Age of Correggio and the Carracci: Emilian Painting of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries exhibition, on view from December 19, 1986, to February 16, 1987, at the National Gallery of Art, Sydney J. Freedberg explains the genesis of the exhibition and introduces many of its masterpieces, including 79 paintings created in the northern Italian province of Emilia between 1500 and 1700. Sir John Pope-Hennessy (then of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) chose the 16th-century works and Freedberg selected those painted in the 17th century. In this lecture recorded on December 26, 1986, Freedberg leads the audience through the exhibition, promising that even though his tour begins with the grandeur of Correggio, there are marvelous surprises of equal mastery to come.

Sydney J. Freedberg, Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Fine Arts emeritus, Harvard University, and chief curator, National Gallery of Art. In honor of the exhibition Titian: The Flaying of Marsyas on view at the National Gallery of Art from January 17 to April 20, 1986, chief curator Sydney J. Freedberg revealed how he arranged this special showing of Titian's last painting in the United States. In 1983 the work had been lent by the State Museum in Kromeriz, Czechoslovakia, for the first time in 300 years to the Genius of Venice exhibition at London's Royal Academy of Arts. Freedberg persuaded authorities to permit the painting to travel to the National Gallery of Art, in what he described as its second emergence from exile. In this lecture recorded on January 26, 1986, Freedberg provides the context for The Flaying of Marsyas (c. 1550-1576) and the later years of Titian's career.

Sidney Geist, sculptor, and professor of sculpture, New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture. In conjunction with the exhibition Rodin Rediscovered, on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 28, 1981, to May 2, 1982, Sidney Geist highlights some of the 366 catalogued works by Auguste Rodin that filled spaces on each of the East Building's four levels. With works from about 40 American and European collections, the exhibition recreated a typical Paris Salon of the 1870s. Twenty-nine sculptures filled the Upper Level Galleries, continued downward through the building with nine sections devoted to different themes of Rodin's work, and ended on the Concourse with a new eight-ton bronze cast of The Gates of Hell with its 186 figures. In this lecture recorded on September 27, 1981, Geist brings his unique perspective as a sculptor to the examination of Rodin's work, expressing how difficult it is to separate Rodin's technical ability from the mystical quality of his sculpture. This intertwining of the human and the divine, the mundane and the transcendent led Geist to remark of Rodin and his apprentice, Constantin Brancusi: "Sculpture is the place we read their spirits."

Sydney J. Freedberg, Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Fine Arts, and acting director, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University. At the time of the exhibition Prints and Related Drawings by the Carracci Family, on view from March 18 to May 20, 1979, at the National Gallery of Art, Sydney J. Freedberg presented his observations on Lodovico Carracci (1555-1619), the oldest of the family of Bolognese artists that included cousins Agostino (1557-1602) and Annibale (1560-1609). Together the Carracci profoundly altered the course of Italian art in the later years of the 16th century and laid the basis for the baroque style that would dominate the century to come. In this lecture recorded on April 8, 1979, Freedberg opposes the perception of Lodovico as a flawed artist outdistanced by his younger cousins. Providing a more comprehensive account, Freedberg argues that the artist's expressive capacity- seen in his sensuous handling of paint, powerful evocations of form, and innovative chiaroscuro- was both his strength and defect.

Sydney J. Freedberg, Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Fine Arts, Harvard University. In this lecture recorded on May 16, 1976, at the National Gallery of Art, Sydney J. Freedberg sought to clarify the art-historical terms of mannerism and maniera, which had become confused in the relatively new investigation by scholars into this period of 16th-century Italian art. High Renaissance art, dating from the early 16th century, recalled the substantiality of classical art and expressed order, serenity, and ideal beauty. Mannerism, emerging in the 1520s, was seen as a deliberate revolt against such classicism. The human figure was distorted and elongated, portraying an excessive emotionalism. Freedberg hoped to rescue mannerism from this perceived difference in character of form and quality of expression. In the process, he distinguished mannerism from maniera, the reigning style in Central Italy during the second half of the century.