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October & November Public Talk Descriptions​​​​​​​

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October 2025 

 

Art and Activism: The Life and Legacy of Ruth Asawa

The groundbreaking work of Ruth Asawa, a Japanese American sculptor and passionate arts activist, will be the subject of a blockbuster retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art from October 19, 2025 to February 7, 2026. Asawa was best known for her ethereal wire sculptures that blur the boundaries between art, craft, and nature, but her extensive body of work also includes paintings, printmaking, and public commissions. Asawa’s legacy extends far beyond the studio—she was a tireless advocate for arts education, believing deeply in its power to shape communities and young minds. This presentation will explore her remarkable life, her artistic innovations, and her enduring impact on American art and public life.

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Is It Manet or Monet?

What a difference a vowel makes! Édouard Manet and Claude Monet were two giants of the 19th Century avant-garde who influenced each other in profound ways. However, many aspects of their personal lives, artistic technique, and even philosophical ambitions were radically distinct. In this two-part talk, we will examine these likenesses and differences through the lens of their remarkable works, and you will become an expert in the comparison! Manet in Part 1 and Monet and a quiz in part 2! Bring a pencil!

 

Georgia O’Keeffe: Speaking with Color and Shapes

Georgia O’Keeffe, one of the most important and fascinating artists of the Twentieth Century, has given us astonishing abstract images, radical depictions of giant flowers, dramatic cityscapes, glowing landscapes, and haunting representations of bones against the stark desert sky. This talk will examine how her strikingly inventive works conveyed a spirit of independence, adventure, and passion. Join us to learn why Georgia O’Keeffe and her works have become an indelible part of the mythology and iconography of the American artistic landscape.

 

The Art World’s Most Famous Power Couple:

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, whose tempestuous relationship is legendary, created mesmerizing images that have captivated art lovers worldwide. Join us for this two-part presentation that will acquaint you first with Frida Kahlo, the feminist icon of anguish and passion, and then Diego Rivera, her brilliant and charismatic husband, one of the giants of Mexican Muralism.

 

Painting Venice: How Monet Captured the Floating City

In the fall of 1908, when Claude Monet was already a famous artist, he and his wife Alice spent ten weeks in Venice. The city’s shifting light, shimmering canals, and ornate architecture inspired some of the most atmospheric paintings of his career. This presentation will show how Monet captured the mystery and grandeur of Venice through the radiant language of Impressionism and will be a wonderful complement to The Brooklyn Museum of Art’s exhibition Monet and Venice that will be on view from October 11, 2025 to February 1, 2026.

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November 2025 Public Talk Descriptions

 

Edward Hopper: Alienated Majesty

A roadside gas pump, a nondescript diner, a bleak hotel room—Edward Hopper had a remarkable ability to invest the most ordinary scene with intense mystery and emotional depth. He created enigmatic narratives that are not easily unraveled. His vision lingered on uncanny depictions of New England towns, New York City architecture, and simple, stark, yet intimate interpretations of American life. Exact time and place always seem arrested. He created more than 800 paintings, watercolors, and prints, as well as numerous drawings and illustrations. This talk will reveal why so many claim Hopper to be the supreme American realist of the 20th Century.

 

          Jaune Quick-to-See Smith:

The Sacred and the Profane, the Divine and the Witty

Raised on the Flathead Reservation in Montana, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (1940-2025) addresses the myths of her ancestors in the context of current issues facing Native Americans. Her inspiration also stems from the work of Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Robert Rauschenberg. She uses paint, collage, and found objects to produce both representational and abstract images. Smith has had more than eighty solo exhibits over the past thirty years, organized and curated scores of Native exhibitions, and lectured at almost 200 universities, museums, and conferences.  Jaune Quick-to-See Smith creates a unique, intimate, and insightful visual language grounded in themes of personal and political identity.

 

Gustav Klimt and Vienna’s Golden Age

Gustav Klimt dominated cultural life in Vienna at the turn of the Twentieth Century and was the bridge between the Symbolism of fin-de-siècle Europe and the wave of Modernism that captured the imagination of the Continent. This talk will tell the story of his remarkable life, as well as examine his ebullient landscapes, sensual drawings, and ravishing portraits. We will also discuss what happened to his many Jewish patrons and the Klimt works they owned during the Nazi era and beyond.

 

The Art World’s Most Famous Power Couple:

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo part 2

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, whose tempestuous relationship is legendary, created mesmerizing images that have captivated art lovers worldwide. Join us for this two-part presentation that will acquaint you first with Frida Kahlo, the feminist icon of anguish and passion, and then Diego Rivera, her brilliant and charismatic husband, one of the giants of Mexican Muralism.

 

Art and Activism: The Life and Legacy of Ruth Asawa

The groundbreaking work of Ruth Asawa, a Japanese American sculptor and passionate arts activist, will be the subject of a blockbuster retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art from October 19, 2025 to February 7, 2026. Asawa was best known for her ethereal wire sculptures that blur the boundaries between art, craft, and nature, but her extensive body of work also includes paintings, printmaking, and public commissions. Asawa’s legacy extends far beyond the studio—she was a tireless advocate for arts education, believing deeply in its power to shape communities and young minds. This presentation will explore her remarkable life, her artistic innovations, and her enduring impact on American art and public life.

 

Pablo Picasso: Painter, Sculptor, Poet

Pablo Picasso can be called the 20th Century’s true artistic genius. He recorded his vision of this tumultuous century via his passion for avant-garde art, beautiful women, and original ideas. His inexhaustible creativity, enormous magnetism, and tumultuous life were legendary. Come and learn more about Picasso as revealed through his major paintings and sculptures.

 

John Singer Sargent: Romance, Drama, and the Visual World

John Singer Sargent was an American artist of great renown, who spent most of his life in Europe. This talk will feature many works from Sargent’s early career—portraits that depicted the avatars of modern culture, images of everyday people, and dazzling landscapes that provide a visual chronicle of the places he visited for inspiration. The presentation will begin with paintings that the precocious 18-year-old art student created when he arrived in Paris in 1874 and will continue through the mid-1880s, when his infamous portrait Madame X was a scandalous success at the Paris Salon.

 

Suzanne Valadon and the Parisian Demi-Monde

Suzanne Valadon was the illegitimate daughter of a sewing maid whose formal education ended at age eleven. She worked as a circus acrobat and artists’ model and gleaned what she could about painting by watching and listening to the men who put her image on canvas. Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas were her most important artistic influences. Under their tutelage she began to paint and created powerful, unconventional images, principally of women. Although mostly unknown today, she is regarded by scholars as an important chronicler of women’s experiences. Her paintings remain fresh and modern, cementing her legacy as a significant figure in the history of art.