Release Date: January 20, 2015

Upcoming Lectures at the National Gallery of Art Celebrate Exhibitions, New Books, 64th A. W. Mellon Lectures, the 68th American Music Festival, and More

Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Chair in the Humanities and professor, department of the history of art, John Hopkins University, presents a lecture titled Another Light: Thomas Demand's "Pacific Sun" on Sunday, February 22, at the National Gallery of Art. A book signing of Another Light: Jacques-Louis David to Thomas Demand follows.

Washington, DC—This winter and spring, the National Gallery of Art offers an array of lectures featuring a notable group of artists, authors, composers, curators, musicians, and scholars. Highlights include a panel discussion, a public symposium, three book signings, three exhibition programs, three programs held in conjunction with the 68th American Music Festival, and the 64th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts.

The Gallery welcomes several distinguished authors for book signings this season. On January 25, Al Acres gives a lecture based on his book Renaissance Invention and the Haunted Infancy, which explores Renaissance images of Christ's infancy that allude either to his eventual sacrifice or to evil, and sometimes to both. In honor of his most recent book Another Light: Jacques-Louis David to Thomas Demand, Michael Fried presents a film screening and lecture on sculptor and photographer Thomas Demand on February 22. Renée Green, artist, filmmaker, writer, and director, will give a talk in conversation with James Meyer on March 1 to celebrate her collection of essays, Other Planes of There: Selected Writings.

Three programs highlight the exhibition Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence. In honor of opening day, curators Gretchen Hirschauer, associate curator of Italian and Spanish painting, National Gallery of Art; Dennis Geronimus, associate professor and chair of the department of art history, New York University; and Elizabeth Walmsley, paintings conservator, National Gallery of Art introduce the exhibition, sign catalogs, and will be in the galleries afterward for a question-and-answer session. On February 9, Hirschauer and Walmsley present new research on Piero discovered while planning the exhibition. Virginia Brilliant, Ulla R. Searing Curator of Collections at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, visits the Gallery on March 19 to share how Piero's works came to be acquired by American collectors.

On February 8, Robert S. Nelson, noted medievalist and Samuel H. Kress Professor, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, will present his lecture The Light of Icons. On March 7, the Gallery hosts the Middle Atlantic Symposium in the History of Art, featuring recent scholarship by graduate students in art history. On April 20, Harry Cooper moderates a panel discussion with Yo-Yo Ma and Robert Storr about the role of art in diplomacy, coordinated with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE).

Three programs are presented in conjunction with the 68th American Music Festival. On March 8, Tom Hamilton and Ross Karre participate in a discussion about intermedia work moderated by composer Roger Reynolds, guest artistic director for this year's festival. Performances of Reynold's FLiGHT project and works by the late Robert Ashley follow the discussion. Join Michelle Lou and Reynolds on March 9 for a conversation between an outstanding young composer and one of America's leading mentors of young composers. On March 16, two leading performing practitioners of new music and jazz—Mark Dresser and Tyshawn Sorey—discuss their work.

On April 4, in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Jason Moran will introduce In My Mind, a documentary of Moran and The Big Bandwagon's 2009 original interpretation of Thelonious Monk's 1959 Town Hall performance. This talk and film screening follow Moran's In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall, 1959 at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater on March 28.  

Beginning on March 15, the Gallery's acclaimed A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts returns for the 64th year with Thomas Crow, who considers European art in the wake of Napolean's fall in his six-part lecture series titled Restoration as Event and Idea: Art in Europe, 1814–1820.

Because of the East Building renovation, all programs take place in the West Building Lecture Hall, which has a maximum seating capacity of 159 persons, unless otherwise noted. Lectures are free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first come, first seated-basis.

To accommodate the considerable public interest in the Mellon lectures, they will be available for the first time as a live stream on the Gallery website and within the Gallery at locations to be announced. For more information, please visit www.nga.gov/mellonlectures.  

Lecture Schedule

Public Symposium

45th Annual Middle Atlantic Symposium in the History of Art
Saturday, March 7, 10:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Illustrated lectures by graduate students in art history
This program is jointly sponsored by the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts and the University of Maryland department of art history and archaeology.

The 64th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts

Restoration as Event and Idea: Art in Europe, 1814–1820, presented in six lectures by Thomas Crow, Rosalie Solow Professor of Modern Art, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

I. Moscow Burns/The Pope Comes Home, 1812–1814: David, Gros, and Ingres Test Empire's Facade
Sunday, March 15, 2:00 p.m.

II. At the Service of Kings, Madrid and Paris, 1814: Aging Goya and Upstart Géricault Face Their Restorations
Sunday, March 22, 2:00 p.m.

III. Cut Loose, 1815–1817: Napoleon Returns, David Crosses Borders, and Géricault Wanders Outcast Rome
Sunday, March 29, 2:00 p.m.

IV. The Religion of Ancient Art from London to Paris to Rome, 1815–1819: Canova and Lawrence Replenish Papal Splendor
Sunday, April 12, 2:00 p.m.

V. The Laboratory of Brussels, 1816–1819: The Apprentice Navez and the Master David Redraw the Language of Art
Sunday, April 19, 2:00 p.m.

VI. Redemption in Rome and Paris, 1818–1820: Ingres Revives the Chivalric while Géricault Recovers the Dispossessed
Sunday, April 26, 2:00 p.m.

Panel Discussion

The Role of Art in Diplomacy: Cultural Citizens
Monday, April 20, 1:00 p.m.
Panelists include Yo-Yo Ma, cellist; and Robert Storr, chairman of FAPE's Professional Fine Arts Committee and dean of the Yale School of Art. Moderated by Harry Cooper, curator and head, department of modern art, National Gallery of Art
This program is coordinated with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies.

Lectures

Renaissance Invention and the Haunted Infancy
Sunday, January 25, 2:00 p.m.
Al Acres, associate professor of art and art history, Georgetown University
Book signing of Renaissance Invention and the Haunted Infancy follows.

Introduction to the Exhibition: Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence
Sunday, February 1, 2:00 p.m.
Gretchen Hirschauer, associate curator of Italian and Spanish painting, National Gallery of Art; Dennis Geronimus, associate professor and chair of the department of art history, New York University; and Elizabeth Walmsley, paintings conservator, National Gallery of Art
A book signing of the exhibition catalog follows, and the curators and conservator of the show will be in the galleries for a question-and-answer session.

The Light of Icons
Sunday, February 8, 2:00 p.m.
Robert S. Nelson, Samuel H. Kress Professor, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art

Another Light: Thomas Demand's "Pacific Sun"
Sunday, February 22, 2:00 p.m.
Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Chair in the Humanities and professor, department of the history of art, John Hopkins University
Book signing of Another Light: Jacques-Louis David to Thomas Demand follows.

Other Planes of There
Sunday, March 1, 2:00 p.m.
Renée Green, artist, filmmaker, writer, and director, MIT Program in Art, Culture, and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; in conversation with James Meyer, associate curator of modern art, National Gallery of Art
Book signing of Other Planes of There: Selected Writings follows.

Intermedia Collaboration
Sunday, March 8, 2:00 p.m.
A discussion of Intermedia work, in particular Roger Reynolds's FLiGHT Project and the video "operas" of the late Robert Ashley. Participants include Tom Hamilton, a collaborator of Ashley's, and Ross Karre, percussionist and Intermedia artist for performances of various works by Reynolds. Moderated by Roger Reynolds, Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and University Professor, University of California, San Diego. A performance of the initial sections of FLiGHT and works by Ashley and others will follow at 6:30 p.m. This program is held in conjunction with the 68th American Music Festival.

Piero di Cosimo: A Renaissance Painter Comes to America
Thursday, March 19, 1:00 p.m.
Virginia Brilliant, The Ulla R. Searing Curator of Collections, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall, 1959
Saturday, March 28, 8:00 p.m.
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater
Jason Moran leads his eight-piece ensemble, The Big Bandwagon, in an evening-length, multimedia work based on Thelonious Monk's landmark 1959 concert at New York City's Town Hall. Using archival audio and photographs of Monk combined with visual art by Glenn Ligon and video by David Dempewolf, the concert documents the making of Monk's 1959 Town Hall concert.

In My Mind
Saturday, April 4, 11:00 a.m.
Jason Moran, artistic director for jazz, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in person to introduce the documentary. In My Mind is a film from the Center for Documentary Studies (CDA) at Duke University documenting Jason Moran and The Big Bandwagon's 2009 original interpretation of Thelonious Monk's 1959 Town Hall performance (2010, 100 minutes). This program is held in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Works in Progress

All lectures are offered on Mondays at 12:10 and 1:10 p.m.

The Photography of Mallard Life
January 26
Peter Dueker, head of digital imaging services, National Gallery of Art

What's New with Piero di Cosimo?
February 9
Gretchen Hirschauer, associate curator of Italian and Spanish painting, National Gallery of Art; and Elizabeth Walmsley, paintings conservator, National Gallery of Art

Auguste Rodin's Lifetime Bronze Sculpture in the Simpson Collection and the Role of Several Trusted Practitioners
February 23
Daphne Barbour, senior conservator, department of object conservation, National Gallery of Art; and Lisha Glinsman, conservation scientist, scientific research department, National Gallery of Art

Personal Vision and the Education of Young Composers in America
March 9
A conversation between an outstanding young composer and one of America's leading mentors of young composers: Michelle Lou, composer and graduate of University of California, San Diego; and Roger Reynolds, Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and University Professor, University of California, San Diego. This program is held in conjunction with the 68th American Music Festival.

Two Approaches to Making a New Music out of the Traditions of Jazz
March 16
A conversation between two leading performing practitioners of new music and jazz: Mark Dresser, composer and contrabassist; and Tyshawn Sorey, composer and percussionist. This program is held in conjunction with the 68th American Music Festival.

Chris Siron and the Art of Collage
March 23
Chris Siron, category specialist for retail operations, National Gallery of Art, in conversation with Eric Denker, senior lecturer, National Gallery of Art

Revisiting the Life and Work of the Flemish Engraver Nicolaes de Bruyn (1571–1656)
April 27
Lorena Baines, head of accessible programs, National Gallery of Art