Mark Samuels Lasner, senior research fellow, University of Delaware Library, in conversation with Diane Waggoner, associate curator, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art. William Morris (1834-1896) gained fame as a designer, poet, socialist, founder of the arts and crafts movement, and maker of beautiful books at his Kelmscott Press, founded in 1891. In this conversation recorded on May 6, 2013 at the National Gallery of Art, Mark Samuels Lasner and Diane Waggoner explore Morris's lifelong, multifaceted engagement with print—as a reader, author, collector, calligrapher, typographer, printer, and publisher—that culminated with the publication of the great Kelmscott Chaucer just before his death. Samuels Lasner will also discuss his own collecting of the works of Morris and his circle. Selections from the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection, on loan to the University of Delaware Library, are included in two concurrent exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art: Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848-1900 (February 17-May 19, 2013) and Pre-Raphaelites and the Book (February 9-August 4, 2013).

Tania Bruguera, artist; Tom Finkelpearl, executive director, Queens Museum of Art; and Mierle Laderman Ukeles, artist. Socially cooperative art is a field not well understood by many, indeed even in the art world. Why is it art? Where does art end and social action begin? Who is the author of a cooperative project? In this lecture recorded on February 3, 2013, at the National Gallery of Art, Tom Finkelpearl celebrates his latest publication, What We Made: Conversations on Art and Social Cooperation, by providing an overview of socially cooperative art—where it comes from, what its artistic roots are, and why it can be considered valuable. Tania Bruguera and Mierle Laderman Ukeles, two of the most important artists working in America today in this field, then describe their work, focusing on a single project. Bruguera, Finkelpearl, and Ukeles take a careful look at how art can intersect with life and how artists are reimagining this intersection in the new avant-garde of participatory, activist, community-inclusive art.

Arthur C. Danto, Jonathan Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Columbia University, and art critic, The Nation. In this lecture recorded on September 19, 1993, at the National Gallery of Art, Arthur C. Danto assesses early works in Pablo Picasso's (1881-973) career as a starting point for considering the concept of the masterpiece. The understandable but obsessive tendency of Picasso scholarship has been to treat even his simplest works as evidence that his cognitive powers had almost mythic dimensions. Danto argues that much of Picasso's early work became part of history only retrospectively because he became a great artist- mythic a priori. An artist makes certain choices in materials when he believes himself to be embarking on a masterpiece. By investing in a large-scale canvas, its lining, and other expensive materials for a painting, an artist demonstrates the meaning this particular work intended to have relative to his other works so far. It is a conservation gesture-not part of the internal or aesthetic meaning of the work, but a declaration of achievement and hope. Citing Picasso's rose period work Family of Saltimbanques (1905), in the Gallery's collection, and the African-influenced period work Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), Danto considers the meaning of a masterpiece in an artist's life in terms of the language of beginnings and endings. One works up to a masterpiece, which defines a period of endeavor, and after that the artist may change direction entirely.

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.

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.

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.

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

Andrew Graham-Dixon, art critic. For 400 years Caravaggio's staggering artistic achievements have thrilled viewers, yet his volatile personal trajectory- the murder of Ranuccio Tommassoni, the doubt surrounding Caravaggio's sexuality, the chain of events that began with his imprisonment on Malta and ended with his premature death- has long confounded historians. Andrew Graham-Dixon delves into the original Italian sources, presenting fresh details about Caravaggio's life (1571-1610), his many crimes and public brawls, and the most convincing account yet published of the painter's tragic death at the age of thirty-eight. With illuminating readings of Caravaggio's infamous religious paintings, for which Caravaggio often used prostitutes and poor people as models, Graham-Dixon immerses listeners into the artist's world, during the height of the Counter-Reformation in Italy, and creates a masterful profile of the mercurial painter's life and work.

David A. Doheny, lawyer and former general counsel of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In this podcast recorded on June 17, 2006, David A. Doheny presents a lecture in conjunction with the publication of his book, David Finley: Quiet Force for America's Arts. Doheny discusses the relationship between Andrew W. Mellon and David E. Finley Jr., the National Gallery of Art's first director. Finley played an influential role in Mellon's acquisition of works from the Italian Renaissance, in particular the 1936 purchase of 30 paintings and 24 sculptures from Lord Joseph Duveen. In January 1937, Mellon formally presented to President Roosevelt his proposal to create the National Gallery of Art for the American public. On March 24, 1937, an act of Congress accepted Mellon's art collection as well as funds for the museum and approved plans for an elegant building on the National Mall designed by John Russell Pope. When Mellon and Pope both died within a day of each other later that year, Finley oversaw the construction and completion of the Gallery. Finley was also responsible for acquiring important collections for the Gallery, including those of Samuel H. Kress, Joseph E. Widener, Chester Dale, and Lessing J. Rosenwald.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Sandy Nairne, director, National Portrait Gallery, London. In 1994 two important paintings by J.M.W. Turner were stolen from a public gallery in Frankfurt, Germany, while on loan from the Tate in London. In this podcast recorded on September 15, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art Sandy Nairne reveals his own involvement, as then director of programs at the Tate, in the pursuit of the pictures and in the negotiation for their return. Nairne shares this story in his new book, Art Theft and the Tate's Stolen Turners, also examining other high-value art thefts and trying to solve the puzzle of why thieves steal well-known works of art that cannot be sold, even on the black market.

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.

Meryle Secrest, author. In this podcast recorded on June 19, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, author Meryle Secrest reveals a portrait of one of the twentieth century's master painters and sculptors, Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920). Secrest is an accomplished biographer of art-world personalities such as Bernard Berenson, Joseph Duveen, Salvador Dali, Kenneth Clark, and Frank Lloyd Wright. In her new book, Modigliani: A Life, Secrest shows to what lengths Modigliani went to hide his tuberculosis and cement his status as a major artist.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Paul Richard, art critic 1967-2009, The Washington Post. Paul Richard, who covered exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art before the East Building opened, reported on art for The Washington Post for more than 40 years. In this podcast recorded on October 3, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art, Richard speaks of the works of art he has seen and their shared connections, and describes the thought-webs he devised as a means for eliciting stories from them.

Alison Luchs, curator of early European sculpture, National Gallery of Art. Fantastic sea creatures can be found in early Venetian printed books, tomb sculpture, churches, political settings, and small bronzes. In such diverse contexts these figures convey a wide range of moods, from festive to poetic to tragic. In this podcast, recorded on September 12, 2010, at the National Gallery of Art, Alison Luchs explores the ways Venetian Renaissance artists interpreted a variety of mythical hybrid sea creatures that were handed down, through art and literature, from the ancient and medieval worlds. Purchase her book, The Mermaids of Venice: Fantastic Sea Creatures in Venetian Renaissance Art

Virginia Heffernan, New York Times columnist and writer. Recorded at the National Gallery of Art on June 17, 2010, this podcast captures the stirring keynote address by New York Times columnist and writer Virginia Heffernan for the 14th National Museum Publishing Seminar. Addressing the theme of the seminar, Print and the Digital Network, Heffernan asks Are Books Making Us Illiterate? How e-Reading Can Save Civilization. Speaking to the relationships among books, new media, and reading, Heffernan scrutinizes the nature of 21st-century literacy, balancing nostalgia for the printed page with the growing role of e-readers.

Joseph Baillio, Gail Feigenbaum, Francis Gage, John Oliver Hand, Benedict Leca, Richard Rand, Pauline Maguire Robison, and Elizabeth Walmsley. This podcast recorded on January 24, 2010, celebrates the launch of the National Gallery's 18th systematic catalogue, French Paintings of the 15th through the 18th Century. Eight contributing authors highlight masterpieces in the Gallery's collection of old master French paintings—one of the most important collections of its kind outside France. Lavishly illustrated, with commentary written by leading scholars, this book shares the fruits of years of research and technical analysis. It catalogues nearly 100 paintings from works by François Clouet in the 16th century to paintings by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun in the 18th.

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.

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.

Bill Morgan, writer and archivist Bill Morgan, the preeminent authority on the Beat Generation, discusses his work as the archivist and bibliographer for his personal friend, American poet Allen Ginsberg, on the occasion of the Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. In this podcast recorded on Sunday, July 11, 2010, Morgan explains that Ginsberg was either an archivist's dream come true or worst nightmare, since the poet saved everything from his childhood in New Jersey and took pictures of his friends, knowing that they were destined for fame. Through rarely seen archival material and photographs, Morgan chronicles Ginsberg's relationships, which began the Beat Generation.

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.

Sarah Greenough, senior curator, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art, Washington, and Bill Morgan, author and Ginsberg archivist. In the early 1980s American poet Allen Ginsberg rediscovered his early photographs and negatives taken throughout the Beat movement. With encouragement from photographers Berenice Abbott and Robert Frank, he reprinted many of these works and made new portraits of longtime friends and new acquaintances, such as Francesco Clemente and Bob Dylan, adding extensive inscriptions by hand. In the second 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 cataloguing the poet's archives and his photographic contributions in the last 15 years of his life.

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.

Using a handheld 35 mm camera and available light, American photographer Robert Bergman spent nearly a decade making a series of large color portraits that address not only his subjects' physical presence but also their psychic states. On the occasion of the November 1 opening of Bergman's first solo exhibition, Toni Morrison read her essay "The Fisherwoman," which was originally written for Bergman's book A Kind of Rapture.

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".

Margaret Leslie Davis, author. In her book Mona Lisa in Camelot: How Jacqueline Kennedy and da Vinci's Masterpiece Charmed and Captivated a Nation, Davis weaves together the enchanting saga of America's first museum blockbuster show and how the first lady made it happen. In this Notable Lectures podcast, recorded on January 4, 2009, as part of the Gallery's winter lecture series, Davis discusses the details of the Mona Lisa's visit to the National Gallery of Art and the "Lisa Fever" that ensued.

Robert Kolker, professor, Film Studies & Digital Media, School of Literature, Communication, and Culture, Georgia Institute of Technology, and James Naremore, Chancellor's Professor of Speech Communication, Chancellor's Professor of Comparative Literature, Chancellor's Professor of English, professor of film studies, Indiana University. July 26, 2008 marked the 80th birthday of Stanley Kubrick. To celebrate the occasion, Robert Kolker and James Naremore reviewed the director's contributions through a focused dialogue based on two of Kubrick's landmark films: a new restoration of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and his last and most enigmatic work, Eyes Wide Shut. Robert Kolker edited Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey: New Essays (2006) and James Naremore is the author of On Kubrick (2007).

Calvin Tomkins, author and staff writer, The New Yorker, and Harry Cooper, curator of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art. In his latest book Lives of the Artists, Tomkins explores ten major artists to demonstrate the direction that contemporary art is taking. In this Notable Lectures podcast, recorded on November 23, 2008, as part of the Gallery's fall lecture series, he and Harry Cooper discuss the book, touching on artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Jasper Johns.

Peter Schjeldahl, senior art critic, The New Yorker. In his book Let's See: Writings on Art from the New Yorker, Schjeldahl covers large-scale exhibitions and private gallery shows and profiles leaders in the art world as well as the artists themselves. In this Notable Lectures podcast, recorded on November 2, 2008, as part of the Gallery's fall lecture series, he discusses his work as an art critic, reads excerpts from his book, and answers questions from the audience.

Charles Ritchie, associate curator of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art, and Mary Lynn Kotz, Rauschenberg biographer. Robert Rauschenberg has consistently created vital art for more than 50 years and family relationships have been influential. In the third episode of this four-part series, Gallery curator Charles Ritchie and Rauschenberg biographer Mary Lynn Kotz discuss the role that the artist's parents played in his becoming an artist, and how his strained relationship with his father affected his art. Produced in conjunction with the exhibition Let the World In: Prints by Robert Rauschenberg from the National Gallery of Art and Related Collections.

Charles Ritchie, associate curator of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art, and Mary Lynn Kotz, Rauschenberg biographer. Robert Rauschenberg has consistently created vital art for more than 50 years. Everything from newspaper clippings to family images is crucial to his work. In the second episode of this four-part series, Gallery curator Charles Ritchie and Rauschenberg biographer May Lynn Kotz discuss how Rauschenberg's art has always incorporated both personal and global references. Produced in conjunction with the exhibition Let the World In: Prints by Robert Rauschenberg from the National Gallery of Art and Related Collections.

Charles Ritchie, associate curator of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art, and Mary Lynn Kotz, Rauschenberg biographer. Robert Rauschenberg has consistently created vital art for more than 50 years. In the first episode of this four-part series, Gallery curator Charles Ritchie and Rauschenberg biographer Mary Lynn Kotz discuss why the artist chose printmaking as a favorite medium and why collaboration has been central to his creative process. Produced in conjunction with the exhibition Let the World In: Prints by Robert Rauschenberg from the National Gallery of Art and Related Collections.