American Pictures at the Smithsonian
THE AMERICAN PICTURES SERIES
offers a
highly original approach to art and portraiture. This annual series
pairs
great works of art with leading figures of contemporary American culture.
Each event features an eminent writer, critic, historian, or artist who
chooses
a single image and investigates its meanings. In the process,
he or she also
explores how works of art reflect American identity or
open a window into
our shared history. Most important, the series reveals
how artworks inspire
creativity in many different fields. The series
director is historian and author
Adam Goodheart, who is director of
the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the
American Experience at
Washington College.
AMERICAN PICTURES is made possible through
a pioneering
partnership
among Washington College, the National Portrait Gallery,
and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Additional support comes from the Starr Foundation, the Hodson Trust,
the Hedgelawn
Foundation, and other donors.
2012 American Pictures Event Schedule
Saturday, March 24
Maira Kalman on Diane Arbus’s Untitled (8) (1970-71)
Renowned illustrator Maira Kalman explores a strange and haunting Diane Arbus photograph of five adults in Halloween costumes (not shown). A frequent contributor to the New Yorker and the New York Times, Kalman has written and illustrated many books for children and adults, including And the Pursuit of Happiness (2010).
Maira on The Colbert Report, 2010
Saturday, April 7
Tony Horwitz on Ole Peter Hansen Balling’s John Brown (1872)
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, travel writer, and historian Tony Horwitz has written four bestselling books, including Confederates in the Attic and, most recently, Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War. His subject is a gripping portrait of Brown in captivity: a painting that hides as much as it reveals.
Trailer for Midnight Rising by Tony Horwitz
Saturday, April 21
Edmund Morris on Ronald Reagan at Bergen-Belsen
(television still, 1985)
One of the most celebrated biographers of our time, Edmund Morris is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of three volumes on the life of Theodore Roosevelt, the last of which, Colonel Roosevelt, was published in 2010. Morris will speak about a freeze-frame NBC television image (not shown) that helped inspire his bestselling biography Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan.
Saturday, May 12
James McBride on Singer James Brown
During a Performance at the Shrine (1969)
James McBride is an acclaimed memoirist, novelist and screenwriter; his memoir, The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, was a New York Times bestseller and has sold millions of copies worldwide. McBride is also a saxophonist who tours with his own jazz/R&B band and has written songs for Anita Baker, Grover Washington, Jr., and others.
James McBride on C-Span's Book TV
Event & Ticket Information
Time: Lectures begin at 2:00 p.m. Doors open at 1:30 p.m.
Tickets: Free tickets are available in the G Street lobby beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Location: Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium, lower level
Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture
8th and G Streets, NW, Washington, DC
Accessibility: Barrier-free access is available at G Street entrance.
All areas of the museum are served by elevators.
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown (Red, Yellow and Green Lines)
Information: (202) 633-1000 or NPGPublicPrograms@si.edu
Websites: AmericanArt.si.edu, NPG.si.edu, starrcenter.washcoll.edu
For the Washington College community: The Starr Center will be running free buses from Chestertown to Washington, D.C. for each of the four weekend events.
These trips will also include opportunities for special tours of the museums and time allotted for dinner in Washington's trendy Penn Quarter. Adam Goodheart and faculty from the Department of Art and Art History, which cosponsors the series, are arranging special gallery tours for WC affiliates following each talk.
For information about these events, or to reserve space on the free buses, please contact Lois Kitz at the Starr Center: lkitz2@washcoll.edu,
(410) 810-7161.
Series Partners
WASHINGTON COLLEGE
Founded in 1782 under the personal patronage of its namesake, Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, upholds a tradition of excellence and innovation in the liberal arts. The American Pictures lecture series is a project of the college’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and its Department of Art and Art History. Support for the American Pictures Distinguished Lecture Series comes from the Starr Foundation, the Hodson Trust, the Hedgelawn Foundation, and other benefactors.
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM
The American Art Museum, the nation’s first collection of American art, is an unparalleled record of the American experience. The collection captures the aspirations, character, and imagination of the American people from the colonial
period to today.
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery tells the history of America through the individuals who have shaped its culture. Through the visual arts, performing arts and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists whose lives tell the American story.
The museums share a meticulously renovated historical landmark building in the heart of DC’s cultural district. The building features expanded permanent collection galleries and innovative new public spaces. Collectively, the museums and their programs are known as the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture.
Credits:
Photographer Diane Arbus Poses For A Rare Portrait (1968)
by Roz Kelly/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
John Brown by Ole Peter Hansen Bolling (1823-1906)
Oil on canvas, circa 1872
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Background photos courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, London
Singer James Brown During a Performance at the Shrine (1969)
by Julian Wasser, TIME & LIFE Images/Getty Images
