Release Date: February 28, 2018

National Gallery of Art's Spring 2018 Lecture Series Showcases Renowned Artists, Scholars, Philanthropists on Diverse and Timely Topics

Glenn Ligon, Installation shot of Self-Portrait (VIII) and Self-Portrait (X), 1996, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (Gift of the Women's Committee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art.) The John Wilmerding Symposium on American Art will take place on March 23 from 10:30 to 5:00.

Washington, DC—The 2018 National Gallery of Art spring lecture and book-signing program—March through June—will present some 30 talks by renowned artists, scholars, curators, and historians discussing their new releases and a variety of themes. Book signings will follow many of the lectures.

Highlights this spring include the John Wilmerding Symposium on American Art on March 23, which focuses on portraiture and includes a conversation among artists Janine Antoni, Byron Kim, and Glenn Ligon—whose works are featured in the special installation Bodies of Work—on the histories and processes of representing the human figure in the nation's collection. The April 15 panel discussion "Why Is Art Necessary?" brings together artists Mark Bradford and Frank Stella with noted philanthropists on the importance of art in today's world. In the 67th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, Hal Foster of Princeton University explores how the mass deaths of World War II, the Holocaust, and the atomic bomb affected artists. On June 1, the Gallery's current and former head curators of 20th-century art gather to reflect upon 40 years in the East Building.

Works in Progress, the Gallery's lunchtime series held in the West Building Lecture Hall on Mondays, highlights new research by Gallery staff, interns, fellows, and special guests. The 30-minute talks are followed by question-and-answer periods.

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.

­­­Elson Lecture
Janine Antoni, artist
March 1 at 3:30
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.

Introduction to the Exhibition—Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings
March 4 at 2:00
Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art
A signing of the exhibition catalog follows.

Introduction to the Exhibition—Michel Sittow: Estonian Painter at the Courts of Renaissance Europe
March 11 at 2:00
John Hand, curator of northern Renaissance paintings, National Gallery of Art
A signing of the exhibition catalog follows.

Collecting for the Nation: The 75th Anniversary of the Lessing J. Rosenwald Gift of Prints and Drawings to the National Gallery of Art
March 16 at noon
West Building Lecture Hall
Gregory Jecmen, associate curator of old master prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Palette: Rebecca Strand and Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico
March 18 at 2:00
Carol Troyen, Kristin and Roger Servison Curator Emerita of American Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Public Symposium
John Wilmerding Symposium on American Art
March 23 from 10:30 to 5:00
Speakers include artists Janine Antoni, David C. Driskell, Byron Kim, and Glenn Ligon, with other illustrated presentations by noted speakers. In conjunction with the symposium, a community celebration on March 24 and 25 will feature performances by Holly Bass, pop-up experiences, collective storytelling, and more. Made possible by a generous grant from The Walton Family Foundation.

Introduction to the Exhibition—Cézanne Portraits
March 25 at 2:00
Mary Morton, curator and head, department of French paintings, National Gallery of Art
A signing of the exhibition catalog follows.

Introduction to the Exhibition—Sharing Images: Renaissance Prints into Maiolica and Bronze
March 31 at noon
Jamie Gabbarelli, assistant curator of prints, drawings, and photographs, RISD Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design
A signing of the exhibition catalog follows.

The Art of the Harpsichord: Music and Painting
April 6 at 3:30
Christine Laloue, chief curator of harpsichords and fine arts, and Jean-Philippe Echard, curator of bowed string instruments, Musée de la musique, Cité de la musique-Philharmonie de Paris

Public Symposium
History, Photography, and Race in the South: From the Civil War to Now
April 13 at 3:30
April 14 at 10:30
Held in conjunction with the exhibition Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings. On April 13th, Grace Elizabeth Hale, Commonwealth Chair of American Studies and History at the University of Virginia, will present the keynote address. On April 14th, the symposium will feature illustrated presentations by noted scholars. Made possible by the James D. and Kathryn K. Steele Fund for Photography.

Panel Discussion: "Why Is Art Necessary?"
April 15 at 5:00
Panelists include Mark Bradford, artist; Agnes Gund, philanthropist and founder of Studio in a School and Art for Justice Fund; 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; and Frank Stella, artist. Moderated by Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation and FAPE vice president.
This program is coordinated with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies.

Crossing Paths
April 21 at noon
France Scully Osterman, artist, educator, and lecturer at Scully & Osterman Studio and guest scholar at the George Eastman Museum. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings. Made possible by the James D. and Kathryn K. Steele Fund for Photography.

Differing, Drawn
April 22 at noon
Darby English, Carl Darling Buck Professor of Art History and the College, The University of Chicago, and consulting curator, department of painting and sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
A book signing of 1971: A Year in the Life of Color follows. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Outliers and American Vanguard Art.

Mathematics and the Art of M. C. Escher
April 25 at 3:30
Doris J. Schattschneider, professor emerita of mathematics, Moravian College
Held in conjunction with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual meeting and the 120th anniversary of the birth of Dutch artist M. C. Escher (1898–1972).

Draping Michelangelo: Francesco Mochi, Gianlorenzo Bernini, and the Birth of Baroque Sculpture
April 29 at noon
Estelle Lingo, Andrew W. Mellon Professor, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art
A book signing of Mochi's Edge and Bernini's Baroque follows.

Writing the History of Venetian Renaissance Sculpture: New Approaches to the Study of Sculpture
May 9 at 3:30
Anne Markham Schultz, visiting scholar, department of history of art and architecture, Brown University
A book signing of The History of Venetian Renaissance Sculpture, ca. 1400–1530 follows.

The Evidence of Things Seen and Unseen
May 20 at 2:00
Jeanine Michna-Bales and Clarissa Sligh, artists
A book signing of Through Darkness to Light: Seeking Freedom on the Underground Railroad by Jeanine Michna-Bales and Transforming Hate: An Artist's Book by Clarissa Sligh follows. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings. Made possible by the James D. and Kathryn K. Steele Fund for Photography.

The East Building at 40: Reflections from Curators Past and Present
June 1 at 2:00
Panelists include Harry Cooper, senior curator and head of modern art, and former curators of 20th-century art at the Gallery: E. A. Carmean Jr., 1974–1984; Jack Cowart, 1984–1993; Mark Rosenthal, 1993–1996; Marla Prather, 1996–1999; and Jeffrey Weiss, 2000–2007.

Cézanne's Portraits: Doubt, Certainty, and Painting in Series
June 3 at 2:00
John Elderfield, chief curator emeritus of painting and sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
A signing of the exhibition catalog follows.

The 67th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts
Positive Barbarism: Brutal Aesthetics in the Postwar Period
Hal Foster, Princeton University
The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts were established in 1949 to bring to the people of the United States the results of the best contemporary thought and scholarship bearing upon the subject of the fine arts.

Walter Benjamin and His Barbarians
April 8 at 2:00
(additional screening April 11 at noon)

Jean Dubuffet and His Brutes
April 15 at 2:00
(additional screening April 18 at noon)

Georges Bataille and His Caves
April 22 at 2:00
(additional screening April 25 at noon)

Asger Jorn and His Creatures
April 29 at 2:00
(additional screening May 2 at noon)

Eduardo Paolozzi and His Hollow Gods
May 6 at 2:00
(additional screening May 9 at noon)

Claes Oldenburg and His Ray Guns
May 13 at 2:00
(additional screening May 16 at noon)

Works in Progress
This lunchtime series highlights new research by Gallery staff, interns, fellows, and special guests. The 30-minute talks are followed by question-and-answer periods. All programs take place in the West Building Lecture Hall.

Jousting and Jubilation: Examining Drawings from a 16th-Century Tournament Book
March 12 at 12:10, 1:10
Kimberly Schenck, head of paper conservation, National Gallery of Art

"He Loved Him as His Own Soul": A Fraternal Reinterpretation of Andrea del Verrocchio's "David"
April 9 at 12:10, 1:10
Alexander Noelle, Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellow, The Frick Collection, and PhD candidate, The Courtauld Institute of Art

Curating Sculpture: Velázquez and the Pieza Ochavada
April 16 at 12:10, 1:10
Julia Vazquez, Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation Curatorial Intern, department of sculpture and decorative arts, National Gallery of Art

José Gutiérrez Solana's Spanish Streets, c. 1910–1940
May 7 at 12:10, 1:10
Anna Wieck, curatorial research associate, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art

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