Release Date: January 9, 2009

National Gallery of Art Begins 2009 Lecture Program with Robert Frank, Jonathan Lopez, Paul Sanderson, and More

Washington, DC—The National Gallery of Art opens 2009 with an engaging array of public lecture programs. Legendary photographer Robert Frank appears in connection with the exhibition Looking In: Robert Frank's "The Americans," while Viccy Coltman, senior lecturer in the history of art at the University of Edinburgh, discusses the rediscovery of Herculaneum and Pompeii in relation to the exhibition Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples. Two public symposia featuring noted scholars provide deeper insights on both of these special exhibitions.

In addition to lectures by many of the Gallery's own curators and experts, the Gallery presents Jonathan Lopez, historian and author of The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren, and Paul Sanderson, producer and director ofAugustus Saint-Gaudens: Master of American Sculpture. Later in the spring, Timothy James Clark, George C. and Helen N. Pardee Chair and professor of the history of art at University of California, Berkeley, will deliver the Fifty-eighth A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts in a series entitled "Picasso and Truth."

All lecture programs are free and take place 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
Robert Frank and the Photographic Book, 1930–1960
Saturday, January 24, 1:00–5:00 p.m.
Illustrated lectures by noted scholars, including Stephen Brooke, Martin Gasser, Olivier Lugon, and Alan Trachtenberg

Roman Art and Culture on the Bay of Naples
Friday, March 20, 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 21, 1:00–5:00 p.m.
Illustrated lectures by noted scholars, including John Bodel, Lucilla Burn, Faya Causey, John R. Clarke, Bjoern Ewald, Nathalie Kampen, Barbara Kellum, Miranda Marvin, Rebecca Molholt, John Pollini and Hérica Valladares

Elson Lecture
A Conversation with Robert Frank
Thursday, March 26 at 3:30 p.m.
Robert Frank, photographer, in conversation with Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs, National Gallery of Art

Lecture Series

The Collecting of African American Art
Sundays at 2:00 pm, East Building Auditorium

A Historical Overview
February 8
Jacqueline Francis, independent scholar

Collecting as a Way of Life
February 15
Juliette Bethea, collector, in conversation with Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art

The Art of Collecting
February 22
Harmon and Harriet Kelley, collectors, in conversation with Deborah Willis, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University

The Fifty-eighth A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts
Picasso and Truth
Sundays, 2:00 p.m.
The Fifty-eighth A. W. Mellon Lecture series will be presented by Timothy James Clark, George C. and Helen N. Pardee Chair and professor of the history of art, University of California, Berkeley

March 22: Object

March 29: Room

April 5: Window

April 19: Monster

April 26: Monument

May 3: Mural

Works in Progress: Mondays
East Building Small Auditorium, 12:10 and 1:10 p.m.

Who was Edgar Wind—and Why Does It Matter?
January 26
Debra Pincus, independent scholar

Maria Sibylla Merian Flipped
February 2
Peter Parshall, curator and head of the department of old master prints, National Gallery of Art

Italian Futurism and the Legacy of the Milanese Scapigliatura
February 9
David Gariff, lecturer, National Gallery of Art

"The Fall of Phaeton": Exploring Rubens' Creative Process through an Interactive Web Feature
March 30
Melanie Gifford, research conservator, and John Gordy, Web manager, National Gallery of Art

Tempests on Metal: Tornado Paintings on Copper by Jeff Wilson
April 20
Jeff Wilson, graphics designer, design department, National Gallery of Art

Alma Thomas' "Red Rose Cantata"
May 11
Lea-Ann Bigelow, financial manager, office of the treasurer, National Gallery of Art

Old Topographics: Charles Marville in Haussmann's Paris
May 18
Sarah Kennel, assistant curator of photographs, National Gallery of Art

SUNDAY LECTURES

The Man Who Made Vermeers: Han van Meegeren's Life in Forgery
January 11
Jonathan Lopez, writer and historian
Followed by book signing of The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren

Transforming Destiny into Awareness: Robert Frank's "The Americans"
January 18
Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs, National Gallery of Art

Conversations with Authors: Michael Fried on Photography, Modernism, and the Importance of Not Losing Faith in the Dialectic
January 25
Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Professor of Humanities, The Johns Hopkins University, in conversation with Harry Cooper, curator and of head the department of modern and contemporary art, National Gallery of Art
Book signing of Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before follows

City Views: Pride and Prosperity in the Dutch Golden Age
February 1
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator of northern baroque paintings, National Gallery of Art

Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Master of American Sculpture
February 15 at 12:00 noon
Introduction to the film by Paul Sanderson, producer and director

Is Anything New Under the Sun? Environmental Quality around the Bay of Naples in AD 79 and the Present Day
March 1
Mark Walters, environmental consultant and write

The Society of Dilettanti: Grecian Taste and Roman Spirit
March 8
Bruce Redford, professor of art history and English, Boston University
Followed by book signing of Dilettanti: The Antic and the Antique in Eighteenth-Century England

Art and Nature in Eighteenth-Century Naples: From the Rediscovery of Herculaneum and Pompeii to Emma Hamilton's Attitudes
March 15
Viccy Coltman, senior lecturer in the history of art, School of Arts, Culture, and Environment, University of Edinburgh

Images of Friendship from Renaissance Florence: From Dante to Michelangelo
April 12
Dale Kent, professor of history, University of California, Riverside

Painting the Poor: Manet's "Old Musician" in Context
May 10
John House, Samuel H. Kress Professor, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art

Luis Meléndez: Marvelous Works of Nature Revealed
May 17
Gretchen A. Hirschauer, associate curator of Italian and Spanish paintings, and Catherine A. Metzger, senior conservator of paintings, National Gallery of Art