NEW YORK SCHOOL AND BEYOND
When we think about the abstract expressionists of the middle of the 20th century, the first names that come to mind are Pollock, De Kooning, and Rothko. However, this group included several other, equally remarkable artists such as Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell. Nor less important were the women in this circle, including Lee Krasner and Helen Frankenthaler. This series of lectures looks more closely at their contributions to the movement that became most often referred to as the New York school of painting.
Mentors and painters: Albers and Hofmann
Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell
Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still
Lee Krasner and Elaine de Kooning
Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchel and Grace Hartigan
Arshile Gorky
Willem de Kooning
Jackson Pollock
Mark Rothko
Philip Guston
MARK ROTHKO:COLORS OF EMOTION
For Mark Rothko, art was always, above all else, an expression of emotion – or the state of one’s being the world. Despite his humble immigrant background, he did not strive to attain success in a material sense, but rather, developed a deep distrust of material wealth. Though he was a highly educated man who spoke four languages, he was essentially self-taught - both intellectually and as a painter. This sense of non-belonging shaped his entire career, including his radically simplified, yet profoundly eloquent language of forms and color. In these three sessions, we look more closely at what his painting tells us about his sense of self, and his artistic and spiritual goals.
1. Becoming Mark Rothko – background, early training, first attempts
2. The eloquence of color
3. Painting, Spirituality, and the Material World
FRANCIS BACON: THE LIMITS OF HUMANITY
The question of human nature permeates the world of Francis Bacon’s paintings. What sets humans apart from other sentient beings? How permeable are the boundaries between “us” as creatures of reason, and animals as creatures of instinct? This spring, the Royal Academy of Arts in London is putting on a large exhibition focusing on this crucial subject within his oeuvre. With this series of lectures, we will consider this theme as well within a broader overview of his work and the ways in which it was shaped by dialogues with other artists, from Velazquez to Soutine.
1. Formative years and Influences
2. Figures of Authority
3. Humans and Other Animals
LUCIAN FREUD: THE SKIN OF BEING
Lucian Michael Freud (8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English figurative artists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewish architect Ernst L. Freud and the grandson of Sigmund Freud. His family moved to England in 1933 to escape the rise of Nazism. From 1942 to 1943 he attended Goldsmiths College, London. He served with the British Merchant Navy during WWII.
Freud was an intensely private and guarded man, and his paintings, completed over a 60-year career, are mostly of friends and family. They are generally sombre and thickly impastoed, often set in unsettling interiors and urban landscapes. The works are noted for their psychological penetration and often discomforting examination of the relationship between artist and model. In this three-part series, we explore more closely the sources and the significance of his visual language.
1: The Making of the Artist
2: The Human Figure Refigured
3: Freud and his Familiars: Portraits and Self-Portraits
ANSELM KIEFER AND THE STORM OF PROGRESS
In the course of his long career, Anselm Kiefer has created a body of work that draws on a range of cultural, literary, and philosophical themes and sources —from the Old and New Testament, to Kabbalah mysticism, Norse mythology and the poetry of Paul Celan.
His work defies classification, fusing painting and sculpture, visual arts and literature. There is, however, one constant theme – the complexities of history and the illusion of progress. With this series of lectures, we look at the ways I which this theme has defined his oeuvre.
1. Background and formative years
2. Memory and History
3. Kiefer and Writing
4. Art as Alchemy
ANSELM KIEFER AND VINCENT VAN GOGH: TELL ME WHERE THE FLOWERS ARE
Though working in different eras and styles, Anselm Kiefer and Vincent van Gogh share a profound engagement with themes of memory, transformation, and the expressive power of painting. This lecture examines how Kiefer’s layered, monumental works draw from history and mythology, echoing Van Gogh’s raw emotional intensity and symbolic use of color and texture. By comparing their artistic approaches, we will uncover how both artists push the boundaries of painting to evoke deeper reflections on the human experience.
ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG
Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) burst onto the New York art scene in mid-twentieth century with his mixed-media “combines” that challenged all traditional art categories. Irreverent yet deeply devoted to his craft, this indefatigably inventive artist continued to break the mold throughout his career. One of his favorite motoes was that one cannot make either art or life: one has to work in the space in between. In these four lectures, we explore that ‘space’ as shaped by his endlessly experimental visual language.
1. Texas – Black Mountain – New York
2. Paintings to Combines
3. Images as Hypertexts
4. Creative Collaborations
JASPER JOHNS AT 91: MIND AND MARK-MAKING
Over the course of his long and prolific career, Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) has created a body of work that consistently defies attempts at classification. Though he has been associated with a range of movements, from abstract expressionism to Neo-Dada and pop art, he has always insisted that his creative practice is profoundly “impure.” As he has memorably stated, while sometimes one sees something and then paints, at other times one paints, and only later recognizes what a work of art may have been motivated by – or what it may mean. In this series of four lectures, we will attempt to delve deeper into the enigmatic world of his art
1. Formative Years and Early Breakthrough
2. The wilderness of signs
3. Johns in dialogue with other artists
4. Late Works
LOUISE NEVELSON: PERSISTENCE
Born in 1899 in Ukraine, Louise Nevelson was brought to the USA when her family moved from their native country in 1906. Though she initially studied voice and dramatic arts, she found her true vocation in the visual arts, especially sculpture. She made her mark in the art world through sculpted assemblages from found wood objects. Her unique process transformed everyday materials into compositions that transcended space and altered the viewer's perception of art. This summer, the Louise Nevelson Foundation organized a magisterial retrospective of her work near Piazza San Marco in Venice – as one of the collateral events of the 2022 Biennale – full 60 years after she represented the USA at this exalted biannual event. This two-part series presents a new look at her work - beyond her signature black reliefs - for a deeper understanding of her unique visual language.
JOAN MITCHELL: PAINTING AS A RECOLLECTION
A single lecture program about a very special artist who was, despite her frequent association with the New York School, always following her unique artistic vision.
LOUISE BOURGEOIS: ART AND INTIMACY
Born in 1911, Louise Bourgeois began exhibiting in the 1930’s, and continued creating groundbreakig and challenging works in a variety of media until her death in 2010. Much of those works were deeply personal – and often inspired by traumatic experiences from her childhood that had a lasting impact on her attitudes towards others, especially men. Rather than words, she used images to express her complex outlook on the self and the possibility (or impossibility) to be close to someone else – be it a parent or a lover. In this three-part series, we explore more closely the nature and the significance of her brand of “female script.”
PHILIP GUSTON AND THE CONTROVERSIES OF ART
Philip Guston began his career in the 1930s inspired by Mexican muralists like Diego Rivera and their interest in socially engaged art practices. Though in the 1950s he gained recognition as one of the leading Abstract Expressionists, he abruptly shifted back to figurative art – creating self-consciously crude works that felt almost cartoonish at times.
Panned by critics and fellow artists alike, Guston fell out of favor for a number of years. Yet in recent decades, the works from this phase of his career have come to be recognized for their tremendous boldness and originality. At the same time, many of these figurative paintings, especially those concerning the question of racial injustice and violence, have also caused controversies – most recently exemplified by the postponement of a major retrospective at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
In this three-part series, we look more closely at his artistic goals and why they have been so often misunderstood.
1. The artist as a young man – between art and politics
2. Abstract Expressionism and its Discontents
3. The Controversies over the Klan paintings
ELLSWORTH KELLY
Though Kelly is considered as one of the most important American artists of the 20th century, his work does not fit easily with any specific movement. While some might see his abstract works as highly conceptual, he was fundamentally an intuitive artist who consistently emphasized that his greatest discoveries came merely from looking at the world more attentively. As he said in one interview: "To me the investigation of perception was of the greatest interest. There was so much to see, and it all looked fantastic to me.” This special one hour program was organized to complement an important retrospective of his work at Glenstone Museum, Potomac.
ALMA THOMAS: COLOR, MUSIC, AND THE JOY OF SEEING
Alma Thomas is one of the most important - yet still insufficiently recognized - artists associated with the Washington Color School, such as Morris Luis and Gene Davies. Like them, she explored the power of color and form in luminous, contemplative paintings.
As a black woman, she encountered many barriers along her path to self-realization. However, rather than focusing on racial or feminist issues in her art, she always insisted that her artistic language should be evaluated independently of her race or gender.
WILLIAM KENTRIDGE AND THE THEATER OF IMAGES AND IDEAS
William Kentridge (b. 1955) is arguably one of the most significant artists of our time. Born in South Africa to Jewish parents who spent much of their professional lives advocating for people marginalized by the apartheid system, he grew up with a very strong sense of social justice, which has remained central to his art practice, regardless of his medium of choice. Though he is best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films, he has also created works of art as part of design of theatrical plays and operas. In addition, he has been a theater director himself, collaborating with other artists in productions that combine a variety of media – from drawings to sound and dance. In this three-part series, we explore the main currents of his artistic development.
1. Formative years and Breakthrough
2. What we learn from History: Promises and Failures
3. Kentridge and Human Nature
Our visual culture is as complex and contradictory as the world we live in: liberating in its possibilities and utterly disorienting in its uncertainties. Boundaries between high and low culture, and between various artistic media and styles are constantly challenged. How we critically approach and talk about—and even define—art is a matter of endless debates.
Many artists have moved away from traditional approaches, producing works of art that don’t fit into standard definitions—or have even abandoned the creation of objects at all. Instead, they engage in art practices motivated by specific social issues - be it race relations or the environment. This four-part series provides a broad perspective on trends and ideas that have shaped these art practices in recent decades.
Painting and Sculpture After the “End of Art”
Focus on contemporary artists who have continued working in traditional media, often providing critical reflections on their history and relevance: Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Mark Bradford, Richard Serra, Martin Puryear, Anish Kapoor
Art and Social Change: Commentary, Critique, Action
Artists who use their practices as a platform for social engagement: Barbara Kruger, the Guerilla Girls, JR, Kara Walker, Theaster Gates, William Kentridge
New Media, Immersive Environments, and Spectacle
Contemporary art practices that embrace new media, performance, and installation art: Christo and Jean-Claude, Marina Abramovic, Bill Viola, Pipilotti Rist, Anri Sala, James Turrell, Doug Wheeler, Olafur Eliasson, Yayoi Kusama, and Damien Hirst.
A Global Visual Culture
Artists from diverse backgrounds who have incorporated salient aspects of the visual culture of the West into their own versions of the global art language: Ai Wei-Wei, Cai-Guo-Quiang, Chiharu Shiota, Yinka Shonibare, El Anatsui, Shirin Neshat, Julie Mehretu, Imran Qureshi.
DRINKING THE MILK OF DREAMS: THREE WOMEN ARTISTS FROM VENICE BIENNALE, 2022
Overtaci, Cecilia Vicuña, Paula Rego
The title of the Venice Biennale 2022, “The Milk of Dreams,” came from a book by Leonora Carrington (1917–2011) about a magical world where everyone can change, be transformed, become something or someone else. In this special lecture, we consider three of the women artists that were brought together by the curator Cecilia Alemani in the main pavilion of the Biennale, whose works exemplify the unruliness of that world in which what begins as a dream can often flow into a nightmarish vision: the Danish artist known as Overtaci, born Louis Marcussen (1894-1985), the Portuguese painter Paula Rego (1935-2022) and Cecilia Vicuña, b. 1948 in Chile and currently living in New York.
FOREIGNERS EVERYWHERE: THE VENICE BIENNALE, 2024
The title chosen for the 60th Biennale in Venice of 2024 was "Foreigners Everywhere." As the commissioning curator Adriano Pedrosa has observed, this phrase was intended to convey several meanings. In the first place, it was aimed as a reminder of the fact that we encounter foreigners anywhere we go. Just as importantly, as he als noted, "no matter where you find yourself, you are always truly, and deep down inside, a foreigner." In this two-part session, we look at some of the ways in which this theme finds reflection in the works of artists represented in this wide-ranging showcase of historical and contemporary art.