Release Date: January 29, 2013

Lecture Program Celebrates Exhibitions, Kaufman Collection, New Books by Noted Authors, 62nd A.W. Mellon Lectures, Annual Elson Lecture with Glenn Ligon, and More

Washington, DC—As 2013 opens, the National Gallery of Art welcomes an impressive group of noted authors and scholars to the podium. Four book signings, two symposia, the annual Elson Lecture, and the 62nd A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts round out the season.

Author lectures and book signings include the February 3 program Social Art, Social Cooperation: A Conversation with Tania Bruguera, Tom Finkelpearl, and Mierle Laderman Ukeles, featuring artists Bruguera and Ukeles in conversation with Finkelpearl. On March 10, Sarah McPhee discusses and signs copies of her book Bernini's Beloved: A Portrait of Costanza Piccolomini.

Two symposia are presented this season. On March 8 and 9, Pre-Raphaelitism and International Modernisms brings noted scholars together in celebration of Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848-1900, the first major survey of the art of the Pre-Raphaelites to be shown in the United States. On March 22 and 23, the Gallery offers Engaging with American Furniture: Looking Back, Moving Forward, in honor of the installation Masterpieces of American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection, 1700–1830, which opened at the Gallery in October 2012.

On February 17, exhibition curators Tim Barringer, Jason Rosenfeld, and Diane Waggoner present the program Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde. Speakers are available after the lecture to sign copies of the exhibition catalogue and to lead a question-and-answer session in the exhibition galleries.

Other lectures in honor of exhibitions include Alison Luchs' presentation of Michelangelo's David-Apollo: An Offer He Couldn't Refuse on January 27. Charles Ritchie explores the work of Ellsworth Kelly on February 10 in Colorforms: Ellsworth Kelly and the Colored Paper Images, and on February 24, Mia Fineman discusses Faking It: Manipulated Photography before Photoshop and signs copies of the exhibition catalogue.

On March 14, artist Glenn Ligon delivers the annual Elson Lecture. Ligon's Untitled (I Am a Man) (1988), acquired by the Gallery in October 2012, is on view in the East Building. It is the Gallery's first painting by this major artist, complementing a suite of etchings and a print portfolio. Ligon is best known for intertextual works that re-present American history and literature, in particular narratives of slavery and civil rights, for contemporary audiences.

Beginning on April 7, the Gallery's acclaimed A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts returns for the 62nd year with Barry Bergdoll, whose six-part lecture series is entitled Out of Site in Plain View: A History of Exhibiting Architecture since 1750.

All lecture programs are presented free of charge on Sundays at 2:00 p.m. in the East Building Auditorium unless otherwise noted. Seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis.

Public Symposia

Pre-Raphaelitism and International Modernisms
Friday, March 8, noon–5:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 9, 1:00–5:00 p.m.

Engaging with American Furniture: Looking Back, Moving Forward
Friday, March 22, 1:00–4:00 p.m., West Building Lecture Hall
Saturday, March 23, noon–1:00 p.m., East Building Auditorium

The 62nd A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts

Out of Site in Plain View: A History of Exhibiting Architecture since 1750
Sundays, 2:00 p.m.
Barry Bergdoll, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art, and professor, Columbia University

Framed and Hung: Architecture in Public from the Salon to the French Revolution
Sunday, April 7, 2:00 p.m.

In and Out of Time: Curating Architecture's History
Sunday, April 14, 2:00 p.m.

Not at Home: Architecture on Display from World's Fairs to Williamsburg
Sunday, April 21, 2:00 p.m.

Better Futures: Exhibitions between Reform and Avant-Garde
Sunday, April 28, 2:00 p.m.

Conflicting Visions: Commerce, Diplomacy, and Persuasion
Sunday, May 5, 2:00 p.m.

Architecture and the Rise of the Event Economy
Sunday, May 12, 2:00 p.m.

Elson Lecture

The Elson Lecture Series features distinguished contemporary artists whose work is represented in the Gallery's permanent collection. The Honorable and Mrs. Edward E. Elson generously endowed this series in 1992.

A Conversation with Glenn Ligon
Thursday, March 14, 3:30 p.m.
Glenn Ligon, artist
www.nga.gov/podcasts/elson/

Lecture Programs

Roy Lichtenstein's Kyoto Prize Lecture of 1995
Wednesday, January 9, 3:30 p.m.
A reading by Harry Cooper, curator and head, department of modern art, National Gallery of Art, with original slides courtesy of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein

Of Times and Spaces: On Looking at Thomas Struth and Candida Höfer
Sunday, January 13, 2:00 p.m.
Charles W. Haxthausen, Robert Sterling Clark Professor of Art History, Williams College

Michelangelo's David-Apollo: An Offer He Couldn't Refuse
Sunday, January 27, 2:00 p.m.
Alison Luchs, curator of early European sculpture, National Gallery of Art

Social Art, Social Cooperation: A Conversation with Tania Bruguera, Tom Finkelpearl, and Mierle Laderman Ukeles
Sunday, February 3, 2:00 p.m.
Tania Bruguera, artist; Tom Finkelpearl, executive director, Queens Museum of Art; and Mierle Laderman Ukeles, artist
Book signing of What We Made: Conversations on Art and Social Cooperation follows.

Colorforms: Ellsworth Kelly and the Colored Paper Images
Sunday, February 10, 2:00 p.m.
Charles Ritchie, associate curator, department of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art

Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde
Sunday, February 17, 2:00 p.m.
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

Following the lecture are a book signing of the exhibition catalogue and a question-and-answer session in the galleries with the curators of Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848–1900.

Truth, Lies, and Photographs
Sunday, February 24, 2:00 p.m.
Mia Fineman, assistant curator, department of photographs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Book signing of Faking It: Manipulated Photography before Photoshop follows.

Ideal Images of Father-Son Relationships in Renaissance Florence
Wednesday, March 6, noon
Dale Kent, professor emerita of history, University of California, Riverside, and professorial fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne

Bernini's Beloved: A Portrait of Costanza Piccolomini
Sunday, March 10, 2:00 p.m.
Sarah McPhee, Winship Distinguished Research Professor, Emory University
Book signing of Bernini's Beloved: A Portrait of Costanza Piccolomini follows.

Benjamin West, John Singleton Copley, and the Revolution of the European Art System
Sunday, March 17, 2:00 p.m.
Oskar Bätschmann, Samuel H. Kress Professor, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art

Introduction to the Exhibition: "Albrecht Dürer: Master Drawings, Watercolors, and Prints from the Albertina"
Sunday, March 24, 2:00 p.m.
Andrew Robison, A.W. Mellon Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art

Works in Progress

All lectures are offered on Mondays and Tuesdays in the East Building Small Auditorium at 12:10 and 1:10 p.m.

Presenting the Presentation of Christ: Tintoretto's Early Work, Iconography, and Interpretation
Monday, January 7
Joseph Hammond, research associate, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art

On the Wall: Thoughts on Sol LeWitt
Monday, January 14
Charles W. Haxthausen, Robert Sterling Clark Professor of Art History, Williams College

A Flourish of Ornament: Exemplary Painted Furniture from the Kaufman Collection
Monday, January 28
Jon Frederick, design assistant, design department, National Gallery of Art

Heroes and Heroines from a Sienese Renaissance Palazzo
Monday, February 4
Carol Christensen, senior conservator of paintings, National Gallery of Art, and Gretchen Hirschauer, associate curator, department of Italian and Spanish paintings, National Gallery of Art

Shape and Shadow: Photographs by Wil Scott
Monday, February 11
Wilford W. Scott, head of adult programs, National Gallery of Art

Multiple Voices
Tuesday, February 19
Jeffrey Mumford, composer-in-residence, National Gallery of Art, and distinguished professor of music, Lorain County Community College

Looking Inside: Ancient Carved Amber in the J. Paul Getty Museum
Monday, February 25
Faya Causey, head of academic programs, National Gallery of Art

Color in Early Modern Paintings: The Material Depiction of Light and Meaning
Monday, March 11
Barbara Berrie, senior conservation scientist, scientific research department, National Gallery of Art

Liminal Spaces: The Theater of the Landscape
Monday, March 18
Adam Davies, lecturer and media specialist, National Gallery of Art

A Reexamination of the National Gallery's Bronze Bust of Louis XIV
Monday, April 15
Carolyn Miner, Robert H. Smith Research Curator, National Gallery of Art

Reformers Abroad: The Legacy of American Documentary Photography in Postwar Italy
Monday, April 22
Lindsay Harris, exhibition research assistant, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art

The Art of Wealth: The Huntingtons in the Gilded Age
Monday, April 29
Shelley M. Bennett, former curator of European art and senior research associate, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens