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Photo: Doug Banville |
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Beckett’s Last Words
John Banville, writer
Although Samuel Beckett did not publish art criticism, his letters as a young man to friends, especially Thomas MacGreevy, the director of the National Gallery in Dublin, show him to be a gifted critic. This talk will focus on Beckett’s love of painting as well as on his final four texts, written between 1973 and 1988.
The Artists, Poets, and Writers Lecture Series is made possible through the generous support of the Drue Heinz Trust.
 October 17–19, 2006
Andrew W. Mellon: An American Life
David Cannadine, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Professor of History, Institute of Historical Research, University of London; Chairman of the Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery of London.
Andrew W. Mellon and Henry Clay Frick were friends for more than forty years. This series of three lectures is presented by historian David Cannadine, whose biography Mellon: An American Life will be published in the fall.
The Artists, Poets, and Writers Lecture Series is made possible through the generous support of the Drue Heinz Trust.
Mellon and Frick: Business and Art
This lecture will focus on Mellon’s remarkably successful career in Pittsburgh, both as a banker and as an industrialist, and his close personal friendship with Henry Clay Frick. Frick’s influence on Mellon as a fledgling collector also will be discussed.
Mellon in Washington: Politics and Pictures
The second lecture in the series will explore Mellon’s career as Secretary of the Treasury from 1921 to 1932, the enhanced scale of his art collecting during this period, nascent plans to establish a national gallery, and the purchase of pictures, in 1930–31, from the Hermitage.
Mellon and Roosevelt: The New Deal and The National Gallery
Mr. Cannadine’s final lecture will look at the political revolution wrought by FDR, Mellon’s 1935–36 prosecution for tax evasion and his posthumous exoneration, and the establishment of the National Gallery of Art.
 February 1, 2006
Beauty in the Details
Elizabeth Murray, artist
A painter examined some of her favorite canvases in The Frick Collection.
This lecture, part of the Artists, Poets, and Writers Lecture Series, is made possible through the generous support of the Drue Heinz Trust
 November 30, 2005
Henry James’s New York
Colm Tóibín, author
Henry James’s novel Washington Square, sections of his travel book The American Scene, and his memoir A Small Boy cover a crucial forty years in the history of New York City, 1865 to 1905. The speaker, winner of The Los Angeles Times 2004 Novel of the Year award, will discuss the city as well as James’s own sense of the development of American taste during this period.
The Artists, Poets, and Writers Lecture Series at The Frick Collection is made possible through the generous support of the Drue Heinz Trust.
November 12, 2003
Painting and Ourselves
Sir Howard Hodgkin, artist
This lecturer will bring an artist's perspective to the relationship between painting and its audience.
November 21, 2002
Chatsworth—The Last Fifty Years
The Duchess of Devonshire
After World War II, the future of large houses such as Chatsworth, which had belonged to the Cavendish family since the 1550s, looked bleak. The Duchess will speak about how she and the Duke embarked on the daunting but enjoyable task of conserving, revitalizing, redecorating, and running Chatsworth after her husband succeeded to the dukedom in 1950.
April 5, 2002
Bridging Past and Present: A Video Master Speaks on Art
Bill Viola, artist
Over the past decade, this video pioneer has actively engaged in a creative dialogue with works by Old Masters. Drawing on examples in The Frick Collection and elsewhere, and from his own work, Mr. Viola will discuss the sources of inspiration in the expressive, emotional, and spiritual elements of art of the past for his videotapes, performances, and installations.
February 7, 2001
Dead Endings
Frank Stella, artist
One of America’s foremost painters will offer his opinions on the state of museum activity and how curators are attempting to handle their new responsibilities.
May 9, 2000
Portraits in The Frick Collection
Chuck Close, artist
The eminent contemporary portraitist will discuss some of the exceptional portraits that hang in The Frick Collection.
November 17, 1998
What is This? Where Did It Come From? Why Is It Here?
Three Questions to Ask of Any Work of Art
James Fenton, author
In a lecture that considered the enduring legacy of the history of taste, connoisseurship, dealing, and collecting, James Fenton discussed the experiences of viewing and acquiring art. What distinguishes a visit to the Louvre in Paris from a visit to the National Gallery of Art in Washington? Why are the experiences of seeing great individual collections such as the Frick, Wallace, or Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum so distinct from one another?
Mr. Fenton is Professor of Poetry at Oxford University and a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books. His new book, Leonardo’s Nephew: Essays in the History of Art and Artists, will be published this month.
This inaugurated a new occasional series of free evening lectures by writers, poets, and artists.
This lecture was made possible through the generosity of the Fellows of The Frick Collection.
Click here for the current lectures in the series. |
