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Release Date: August 16, 2012

Array of Public Programs Celebrate Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Shaw Memorial at the National Gallery of Art

Paul D. Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid) presents a special performance on Sunday, November 24 in honor of 'Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial.' Photo by Danielle Levitt

Paul D. Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid) presents a special performance on Sunday, November 24 in honor of Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial. Photo by Danielle Levitt

Washington, DC—The 54th Massachusetts Regiment, one of the first regiments of African Americans formed during the Civil War, will be celebrated by the National Gallery of Art in Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Shaw Memorial. Offerings include a live-mixed musical performance by DJ Spooky, lectures, concerts, films, gallery talks, and a teacher workshop. All programs are free of charge in the East Building Auditorium unless otherwise noted. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Lectures 

Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial 
Sunday, September 15, 2:00 p.m.
Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art; Nancy K. Anderson, head, department of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art; Lindsay Harris, research associate, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art; Renée Ater, associate professor of art history and director of academic programs, University of Maryland, College Park
Book signing of Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Shaw Memorial follows.

War Memoranda: A Conversation with Binh Danh and Robert Schultz 
Sunday, September 22, 2:00 p.m.
Binh Dahn, artist, and Robert Schultz, John P. Fishwick Professor of English, Roanoke College 

Performance 

DJ Spooky: A Civil War Symphony 
Sunday, November 24, 2:00 p.m.
Paul D. Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid), composer, multimedia artist, writer, and DJ; accompanied by violinist Danielle Cho, cellist Jennifer Kim, and vocalist Rochelle Rice 
This composition for string ensemble with live-mixed electronic music and video, originally performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, borrows images from the exhibition Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Shaw Memorial

Concerts

Maryland Sinfonietta 
Michael Jacko, guest conductor
Sunday, November 3, 6:30 p.m.
Charles Ives’ Three Places in New England and music by other composers West Garden Court

Rick Robinson and the CutTime Simfonica 
Wednesday, November 6, 12:10 p.m.
Gospel and Civil War–related music
East Building Auditorium 

Leah Gilmore, jazz vocalist 
Wednesday, November 13, 12:20 p.m.
Gospel and Civil War–related music East Building Auditorium 

Film Events

Glory 
Introduction by Ed Zwick Washington premiere of the digital restoration Sunday, September 15, 4:00 p.m. 
In conjunction with the exhibition Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Shaw Memorial, and in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, this new restoration of Glory—the landmark film dramatizing the establishment of the first African American fighting unit and the July 18, 1863, storming of Fort Wagner—a turning point in the war—will be introduced and discussed by director Ed Zwick. (Ed Zwick, 1989, DCP, 122 minutes)

The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry 
Introduction by Mark Samels
Saturday, September 21, 2:30 p.m. 
This PBS American Experience production about the formation of the 54th Massachusetts, the volunteer regiment of northern black soldiers formed after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, is introduced by WGBH-Boston’s award-winning executive producer Mark Samels. Discussion follows the screening. (Mark Samels, 1991, HD-Cam, 120 minutes)

Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Master of American Sculpture 
Wednesdays, October 9, 23, and 30, 12:30 p.m.
Thursday, October 24, 12:30 p.m. 
The life and career of one of America’s most celebrated artists, whose work ranged from large public monuments to portraits in reliefs, cameos, and coins, is told through narratives based on six works—including the Standing Lincoln in Chicago, the Shaw Memorial in Boston, the Sherman Monument in New York’s Central Park, and the Adams Memorial in Washington. (Paul Sanderson, 2007, HDCam, 74 minutes)

The General 
Silent film with an original score by Andrew Simpson
Washington premiere of the digital restoration and world premiere of new orchestral score
Sunday, January 12, 6:30 p.m. 

Buster Keaton based his classic film, one of the great silent masterworks, on the Andrews Raid, an unusual episode in Civil War history that occurred April 12, 1862, in northern Georgia, where a Confederate locomotive was stolen behind enemy lines. The film’s original score was composed by Andrew Simpson, head of the composition and music theory division at Catholic University’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music. The performing musicians are from the National Gallery of Art Orchestra. (1926, Buster Keaton) 

Teacher Workshop 

J. Carter Brown Memorial Evening with Educators: Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Shaw Memorial 
National Gallery of Art, East Building Concourse, Education Studio Wednesday, November 13, 4:00–7:30 p.m. 
This evening event celebrates the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry—one of the first Civil War regiments of African American soldiers (whose heroism was dramatized in the 1989 film Glory). Tour the exhibition Tell it with Pride, featuring sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ iconic Shaw Memorial honoring the 54th. See early photographic portraits of the soldiers, recruiters such as Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, and nurses and guides such as Clara Barton and Harriet Tubman. A selection of work by 20th-and 21st-century artists inspired by the 54th attests to the regiment’s enduring legacy. Don’t miss this evening of art, education activities, food, and fun! Fee: $10 

Registration required; please visit www.nga.gov/teacherworkshops

The fee is waived for first-time participants and for past participants registering with a K–12 teacher new to Gallery programs.

Gallery Talks 
Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Shaw Memorial 
September 17, 19, 20, 27–29, 1:00 p.m.
David Gariff
West Building Rotunda
50 mins.

General Information

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:
Department of Communications
National Gallery of Art
2000 South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353
e-mail: [email protected]
 
Anabeth Guthrie
Chief of Communications
(202) 842-6804
[email protected]

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