​​​

​

March & April 2026 Public Talk Descriptions

 

Raphael: Artist and Visionary

The Italian painter and architect Raphael became one of the defining figures of the High Renaissance — revered for his grace, harmony, and masterful balance of beauty and structure. His lyrical use of form, color, and composition not only defined an era but continues to shape our understanding of artistic perfection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art will exhibit more than 200 of his drawings, paintings, tapestries, and decorative works from March 29 to June 28, 2026, and this presentation will be a unique window into Raphael’s creative process and the depth of his artistic thinking. 

 

Artemisia Gentileschi: The Spirit of Caesar with the Soul of a Woman

Artemisia Gentileschi was the most famous female painter of the 17th Century. Although trained by her father, she went on to have a successful, independent career, only to fall into obscurity after her death in 1656. She did astonishing work, mostly portraying courageous and rebellious female protagonists. Come and hear what inspired her— her story is as dramatic and powerful today as it was 400 years ago.

 

Florine Stettheimer: Icon of Jazz Age New York

One of New York’s most unconventional painters, Florine Stettheimer was a keen and opinionated observer of the people and rapidly changing world around her. Her famous salon, attended by New York’s avant-garde during the 1920s through the early ’40s, was legendary. She prophetically chose to portray subjects considered controversial even today, such as race, sexual orientation, gender, and religion. Come and hear about the unique life of this German-Jewish artist and see some of her most celebrated works. It is time to recognize Florine Stettheimer as one of the most significant artists of the 20th century, whose work remains as modern and relevant today as it was a century ago.

 

Guerrilla Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly

An anonymous group of activist women artists, The Guerrilla Girls have been fighting since 1984 to expose biases in the art world. They doggedly advocate for equal representation in museums, galleries, and other arts organizations around the world. In order to maintain anonymity, they wear gorilla masks in public and take the names of dead women artists as pseudonyms. Their crusade began with a poster campaign that targeted museums, dealers, curators, critics, and artists who they felt were actively responsible for, or complicit in, the exclusion of women and non-white artists from mainstream exhibitions and publications. Come and hear how these women, the “conscience of the art world,” have used wit and irony to tackle issues of gender and racial discrimination in the art world and beyond. The exhibition How to Be a Guerrilla Girl is now on view till April 12th at the Getty Center in LA.

 

20th Century Women Photographers: Pushing Boundaries, Blazing Paths

Unconventional, innovative, persistent, and courageous are some of the words used to describe three outstanding women photographers whose careers spanned the 20th Century. Imogen Cunningham, Berenice Abbott, and Lee Miller gave us images that record the culture and history of an era. Come and hear about the lives of these pioneering women and see some of their iconic works.

 

Women Painters in Paris: Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, Suzanne Valadon

Despite their relative obscurity, many women painters reached impressive heights of creative achievement and professional success in 19th through early 20th Century Paris. This talk will introduce you to three groundbreaking artists who helped reshape modern art. From Cassatt’s intimate portrayals of women and their domestic lives to Morisot’s luminous Impressionist visions, to Valadon’s bold, unconventional renderings, each forged a path in a city that was both the epicenter of art and a battleground for women seeking recognition. Join us to explore their remarkable lives, their artistic innovations, and the enduring impact they made on the story of modern painting.

 

Three Visionary Women / Three Great Art Museums

What does a woman do when she is born to great privilege, has enormous wealth, loves to travel to faraway places, and has a healthy dose of intellectual curiosity? Well, she collects art of course! And then she must envision a place to exhibit her treasures so that the world can appreciate her passion. This talk will examine the lives of three remarkable women who defied society’s expectations: Isabella Stewart Gardner, Helene Kröller-Müller, and Peggy Guggenheim. We will trace the steps each took to amass three of the most important collections of art in the world. And we will see some amazing paintings, too!

Come along on the journey as we celebrate Women’s History Month!

 

Impressionist Women Painters: Mary Cassatt & Berthe Morisot

​Despite their relative obscurity, many women painters reached impressive heights of creative achievement and professional success in 19th through early 20th Century Paris. Two of the most exceptional are Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot. These women defied many social norms of their time to join the avant-garde alongside their more-famous counterparts, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, and Pissarro. Exploring themes of modernity, they painted imaginative portraits, bourgeois family and leisure life, unconventional landscapes, and contemporary fashion. Come and hear about their struggles and triumphs and see an array of their astonishing and innovative works.

 

Pablo Picasso: Painter, Sculptor, Poet

This presentation introduces the life and art of Pablo Picasso, a towering figure who changed the course of modern art. From his childhood in Spain to his rise as a young prodigy in Paris, we’ll follow Picasso’s remarkable journey through the Blue and Rose periods, the invention of Cubism, and his bold experiments in painting, sculpture, and ceramics. We will discover how Picasso continually reinvented his art, challenging conventions and producing work that continues to inspire and provoke art lovers today.

 

Marcel Duchamp: The Alchemist of the Avant-Garde

Open the dictionary to the word “iconoclast,” and you will see a picture of Marcel Duchamp. He challenged the standards and beliefs of the art world and ushered in a new era of creative license—the reverberations of which are still felt in contemporary art today. Duchamp’s imagination was aroused by elements of Cubism, Surrealism, and even Pop Art, but his resourcefulness meant continuous self-reinvention and deliberate inconsistency. He once said, “I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.” Come and learn about his innovative works and the shockwaves they produced. A blockbuster Duchamp retrospective opens at the Museum of Modern Art on April 12, 2026.

​

April 2026 Public Talk Descriptions

 

A Sisterhood of Sculptors: American Ex-Patriots in Rome

From about 1850 to 1876 a fearless band of nineteenth-century Americans defied Victorian conventions of womanhood and traveled to Italy to become professional sculptors. The cause of these women was to fight for their art, and in doing so, they also took on the battle for abolition and women’s suffrage. They paved the way for the invention of modern womanhood and served as models for a younger generation of women artists. One of these pioneers was Edmonia Lewis, and the first retrospective of her work is now on view at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. Although Lewis and the other extraordinary artists in this talk may be unfamiliar to us today, their remarkable works deserve to be seen and their captivating stories merit telling.

 

Holocaust Art: This Happened

After the end of World War II, writers and philosophers maintained that the Nazi death camps defied representation; no art could ever do justice to the barbarity. Yet survivors have forced themselves to try to make sense of the horrors they endured— in literature, in music, and in visual art. And now, as Auschwitz recedes into the historical distance and the last survivors disappear, the world cannot afford to forget the legacy these artists have left. This presentation will examine the remarkable work of several painters, some who survived and some who did not.

 

Andy Warhol: One Singular Sensation

Few American artists are as celebrated and notorious as Andy Warhol. His iconic paintings, silk screens, photography, films, and sculptures have become indelible representations of the American aesthetic, exploring the relationship between artistic expression and celebrity culture. This presentation will examine Warhol’s life and art from his beginnings as a commercial illustrator in the 1950s, to his iconic Pop masterpieces of the early 1960s, to the avant-garde films from the 1960s and '70s, to his innovative use of readymade abstraction in the 1980s.

 

Marcel Duchamp: The Alchemist of the Avant-Garde

Open the dictionary to the word “iconoclast,” and you will see a picture of Marcel Duchamp. He challenged the standards and beliefs of the art world and ushered in a new era of creative license—the reverberations of which are still felt in contemporary art today. Duchamp’s imagination was aroused by elements of Cubism, Surrealism, and even Pop Art, but his resourcefulness meant continuous self-reinvention and deliberate inconsistency. He once said, “I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.” Come and learn about his innovative works and the shockwaves they produced. A blockbuster Duchamp retrospective opens at the Museum of Modern Art on April 12, 2026.

 

Raphael: Artist and Visionary

The Italian painter and architect Raphael became one of the defining figures of the High Renaissance — revered for his grace, harmony, and masterful balance of beauty and structure. His lyrical use of form, color, and composition not only defined an era but continues to shape our understanding of artistic perfection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art will exhibit more than 200 of his drawings, paintings, tapestries, and decorative works from collections around the world from March 29 to June 28, 2026, and this presentation will be a unique window into Raphael’s creative process and the depth of his artistic thinking.