Release Date: December 31, 2018

National Gallery of Art's Spring 2019 Lecture Series Features World-Renowned Artists and Scholars in a Wide Variety of Programs

Alex Katz, Isaac and Oliver, 2013, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Artist. Katz will be in conversation with Harry Cooper, head of modern art, on March 9 at 12:00.

Washington, DC—The spring 2019 program of lectures and book signings at the National Gallery of Art will present some three dozen talks by renowned artists, scholars, curators, and historians. Many lectures are followed by book signings hosted by the authors and artists.

Highlights include lectures from a number of living artists in the month of March. Beginning with a rare panel and performance from the media art collective USCO on March 3, the Gallery will then feature Alex Katz on March 9, David C. Driskell on March 17, and Martha Rosler on March 21. The Gallery will welcome scholars during a public symposium on February 8 in conjunction with the exhibition Gordon Parks: The New Tide, Early Work 1940–1950 and during a symposium on June 7 in conjunction with the exhibition The Life of Animals in Japanese Art. Wu Hung will present the 68th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, a six-week series called "End as Beginning: Chinese Art and Dynastic Time" that begins on March 31. Finally, the Gallery will host filmmaker Ken Burns in conversation with David M. Rubenstein on April 28 as part of a yearly program coordinated with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies.

Works in Progress, the Gallery's Monday lunchtime series held in the West Building Lecture Hall, highlights new research by Gallery staff, interns, fellows, and special guests. The 30-minute talks are followed by question-and-answer sessions. *Works in Progress lectures are denoted with an asterisk below.

Lectures are free and open to the public on a first-come, first-seated basis. Unless otherwise noted, all programs take place in the East Building Auditorium. The East Building of the National Gallery of Art is located at Fourth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Please visit nga.gov/lectures for updated event listings and full details; visit nga.gov/audio-video.html for lecture recordings.

John Wilmerding Symposium on American Art:
Artists and the American Community
February 8 at 10:30 am
Dialogues with artists and scholars held in conjunction with the exhibition Gordon Parks: The New Tide, Early Work 1940–1950. Presenters include Devin Allen, artist and 2017 fellow, The Gordon Parks Foundation; Maria Gaspar, artist; Eric Gottesman, artist and cofounder, For Freedoms; Melanee Harvey, assistant professor, department of art, Howard University; Kellie Jones, professor in art history and archaeology at the Institute for Research in African American Studies (IRAAS), Columbia University; Robin Coste Lewis, Poet Laureate of Los Angeles and Provost's Fellow in Poetry and Visual Studies, University of Southern California; Rick Lowe, artist, founder, Project Row Houses, and clinical associate professor of art, University of Houston; Richard J. Powell, John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art and Art History, Duke University, and Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professor, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art; Laura Wexler, professor of American studies, women's, gender, and sexuality studies, and film and media studies, affiliate faculty in ethnicity, race, and migration, cochair, public humanities program, director, The Photographic Memory Workshop, and primary investigator, The Photogrammar Project, Yale University.

Made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation.

The symposium will be streamed live at nga.gov/live.

I See A Darkness: A Conversation with David R. Ibata
February 11* at 12:10, 1:10 pm (rescheduled from January 7)
David R. Ibata, artist and copyist and teaching artist for Art Around the Corner, National Gallery of Art, in conversation with Terence Washington, department of academic programs and department of modern art, National Gallery of Art

The Art of Light: A Conversation with Charles Ross and James Meyer
February 24 at 2:00
Charles Ross, artist, and James Meyer, curator of art, 1945–1974, National Gallery of Art
Held in conjunction with the special installation Spaces: Works from the Collection, 1966–1976, on view on the East Building Mezzanine.

Watching Thinking: Self-Reflection and the Study of Process in Drawing, Journaling, Printmaking, and Curating
February 25* at 12:10, 1:10 pm (rescheduled from January 28)
Charles Ritchie, artist and associate curator, departments of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art

USCO: Films, Performance, and Conversation with 1960s Multimedia Pioneers
March 3 at 2:00 pm
Michael Callahan, electronics innovator, cofounder, USCO, and president, Museum Technology Source Inc., in conversation with Gerd Stern, media artist and poet, cofounder, USCO, and president, Intermedia Foundation. Moderated by Paige Rozanski, curatorial associate, department of modern art, National Gallery of Art

Diamonstein Spielvogel Lecture Series
Alex Katz
March 9 at noon
Alex Katz, artist, in conversation with Harry Cooper, senior curator and head of modern art, National Gallery of Art
The program will be streamed live at nga.gov/live.

Mastering Tradition: An Artist Awakening through Practicing the Past
March 11* at 12:10, 1:10 pm
Bruce I. Campbell, artist and copyist at the National Gallery of Art, in conversation with Alexandra Libby, assistant curator, department of northern baroque painting, National Gallery of Art

Elson Lecture
Martha Rosler
March 21 at 6:30 pm
Martha Rosler, artist, in conversation with James Meyer, curator of art, 1945–1974, National Gallery of Art
The program will be streamed live at nga.gov/live.

Black Dreams at Sea: The Sardine Fisherman's Funeral and An Opera of the World
March 23 at 2:30 pm
Film screening and conversation with Elizabeth Alexander and Manthia Diawara in person

Introduction to the Exhibition—Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice
March 24 at 2:00
Robert Echols, independent scholar, and Frederick Ilchman, chair of the art of Europe department and Mrs. Russell W. Baker Curator of Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
A signing of the exhibition catalog follows.

The 68th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts
I. The Emergence of Dynastic Time in Chinese Art
March 31 at 2:00 pm
Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, University of Chicago

Correggio's Study for the Madonna della Scodella
April 1* at 12:10, 1:10 pm
Amanda Hilliam, Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation Curatorial Intern, department of prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art

The Undefeated
April 6 at 10:30
Recommended for ages 8 and up
Kwame Alexander, poet, educator, host and producer of the literary variety/talk show Bookish, cofounding director of the LEAP for Ghana initiative, and founding editor of VERSIFY, an imprint of HMH Books for Young Readers; in conversation with artist Kadir Nelson. Moderated by Kevin Merida, senior vice president and editor-in-chief, ESPN.

The 68th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts
II. Reconfiguring the World: The First Emperor's Art Projects
April 7 at 2:00 pm
Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, University of Chicago

Washington Color School: Kenneth Victor Young
April 8* at 12:10, 1:10 pm
Sarah Battle, program administrator, department of academic programs, National Gallery of Art

Shared Exploration: Music and the Visual Arts
April 12 at noon
Marty Ehrlich, composer, multi-instrumental performer, ensemble leader, and associate professor of jazz and contemporary music, Hampshire College; Oliver Lee Jackson, artist; and Oliver Lake, saxophonist, composer, painter, and poet.
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Oliver Lee Jackson: Recent Paintings.

Introduction to the Exhibition—The American Pre-Raphaelites: Radical Realists
April 14 at noon
Linda S. Ferber, museum director emerita and senior art historian, New-York Historical Society
A signing of the exhibition catalog follows.

The 68th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts
III. Conflicting Temporalities: Heaven's Mandate and Its Antitheses
April 14 at 2:00 pm
Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, University of Chicago

From the Cathedral to the Billiard Room: Tracing the History of a Medieval Stained Glass Window from the William A. Clark Collection
April 15* at 12:10, 1:10 pm
Elizabeth Dent, exhibition associate, National Gallery of Art

Signed JV, but not by Vermeer: Young Woman in an Interior by Jacobus Vrel
April 22* at 12:10, 1:10 pm
Kristen Gonzalez, curatorial assistant, department of northern baroque paintings, National Gallery of Art

If I Survive: Frederick Douglass and Family in the Walter O. Evans Collection
April 26 at 1:00 pm
Celeste-Marie Bernier, professor of black studies and personal chair in English literature, School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, University of Edinburgh, and co-editor-in-chief, Journal of American Studies, Cambridge University Press; in conversation with Walter O. Evans, collector
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition In the Library: Frederick Douglass Family Materials from the Walter O. Evans Collection
A signing of If I Survive: Frederick Douglass and Family in the Walter O. Evans Collection follows.

Philanthropy and Plutocracy—2016 in Museums, Money, and Politics
April 28 at noon (rescheduled from January 13)
Andrea Fraser, artist and department chair and professor, Interdisciplinary Studio, University of California, Los Angeles

The 68th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts
IV. Miraculous Icons and Dynastic Time: Narrating Buddhist Art in Medieval China
April 28 at 2:00 pm
Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, University of Chicago

FAPE Panel
April 28 at 5:00 pm
Ken Burns, filmmaker, in conversation with David M. Rubenstein, cofounder and co-CEO of The Carlyle Group, chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, trustee of the National Gallery of Art, and chairman of the Smithsonian Institution
This program is coordinated with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies.

Model Citizens: Frances Benjamin Johnston at the Tuskegee Institute
April 29* at 12:10 and 1:10
Anjuli J. Lebowitz, exhibition research associate, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art

The 68th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts
V. Art of Absence: Voices of the Leftover Subject
May 5 at 2:00 pm
Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, University of Chicago

Mary Pinchot Meyer: Artist
May 6* at 12:10, 1:10 pm
Mollie Salah Berger, curatorial assistant, department of prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art

The 68th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts
VI. End as Beginning: Dynastic Time and Revolution
May 12 at 2:00 pm
Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, University of Chicago

A Western Bestiary: Uses and Abuse of Animals in the Western Artistic Tradition
May 13* at 12:10, 1:10 pm
David Essex, curatorial associate, department of Italian and Spanish paintings, National Gallery of Art
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition The Life of Animals in Japanese Art.

Two Writers on Art, Music, and Modality
May 19 at 2:00 pm
Paul Harrison, playwright and theorist, and Quincy Troupe, poet and biographer of Miles Davis, in conversation with Harry Cooper, senior curator and head of modern art, National Gallery of Art
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Oliver Lee Jackson: Recent Paintings.

Introduction to the Exhibition—The Life of Animals in Japanese Art
June 2 at noon
Robert T. Singer, curator and head, department of Japanese art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
A signing of the exhibition catalog follows.

Photography from the Sunny Side of the Alps
June 3* at 12:10, 1:10 pm
John Hobson, exhibition assistant, National Gallery of Art
Presented in celebration of National Day of Slovenia on June 25th.

Public Symposium
The Role and Representations of Animals in Japanese Art and Culture
June 7 at 10:30 am
Illustrated lectures by noted scholars, including Barbara Rossetti Ambros, professor in East Asian religions and department chair, department of religious studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and cochair, Animals and Religion Group, American Academy of Religions; Rory A. W. Browne, director of the academic advising center and associate dean of Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, Boston College; R. Keller Kimbrough, professor of Japanese, department of Asian languages and civilizations, University of Colorado, Boulder; Miwako Tezuka, consulting curator, Reversible Destiny Foundation; and Sarah E. Thompson, curator of Japanese art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Moderated by Robert T. Singer, curator and head, department of Japanese art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and coeditor, The Life of Animals in Japanese Art (2019). Held in conjunction with the exhibition The Life of Animals in Japanese Art.

Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman
June 23 at 2:00 (rescheduled from January 27)
Jeffreen M. Hayes, executive director, Threewalls
A signing of Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman follows.
This program was proposed and made possible by Darryl Atwell.

Press Contact:
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