​​​ October & November 2026 Public Talk Descriptions​​​​​​​​

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October 2026 Public Talk Descriptions

 

Yayoi Kusama: The Moment is Imminent

The art world collectively mourned in August when Japanese painter and sculptor Yayoi Kusama died at the age of 97, calling her controversial, obsessive, visionary, and certainly prolific. She is one of the world’s most popular and recognizable artists. Her Infinity Mirrors immersive experience installations took the world by storm in the 21st Century, but she had been making vibrant and innovative art for decades. Her artistic practice is rooted in her lifelong fascination with the natural world, inspired by her intimate engagement with the colors, patterns, and life cycles of plants and flowers. This talk will discuss her long and productive life and examine her extraordinary work.

 

Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Painting the Joys of Life

Pierre-Auguste Renoir's philosophy can be summed up in this quote: "A picture must be an amiable thing, joyous and pretty-- yes, pretty!  There are enough troublesome things in life without inventing others." Renoir's joie de vivre made him one of the most beloved Impressionist painters, although he harbored a dark side to his veneer of amiability. This talk will examine his long and productive life with all its contradictions and survey his voluptuous nudes, luxurious flowers, pretty children, bustling Parisian streets, and sunny outdoor scenes that are full of people and fun.

 

Frida Kahlo: Dreams, Demons, and Devotion

Frida Kahlo’s paintings illustrate the anguish and passion of a fascinating, complicated personal and artistic life. The astonishing works of this Mexican and feminist icon will be looked at through the lens of her ethnicity, disabilities, and political activism, especially emphasizing her engagement with the natural world. 

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November 2026 Talk Descriptions

 

The WPA: When the Government Promoted Art,

Gave the Country Hope, and Defeated the Depression

In 1935 the United States Government initiated an ambitious employment and infrastructure program known as the Works Progress Administration to contend with the bleakest years of the Great Depression. Federal Project Number One, as its cultural division was known, employed musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in arts, drama, media, and literacy projects. This talk will introduce you to some of the artists and their works that helped lift the nation out of despair, launched many careers, and forged a lasting legacy.

 

Jewish Painters in Paris: Amedeo Modigliani and Chaim Soutine

Despite pervasive anti-Semitism at the turn of the 20th Century in France, Jewish émigré artists Amedeo Modigliani and Chaïm Soutine flourished, helping to define Modernism. Part I of this presentation will acquaint you with Modigliani, the quintessentially unconventional artist, born in Italy, who produced ravishing paintings and expressive sculptures. Part II will introduce you to his equally innovative friend Soutine, an impoverished refugee from the Pale of Settlement. Soutine’s radical ideas, use of blazing color, and ability to express emotion on canvas have distinguished him as a singular phenomenon. Each part of this presentation can be enjoyed on its own, but together they convey a comprehensive picture of the dawn of the avant-garde.

 

Toulouse-Lautrec, Suzanne Valadon and the Parisian Demi-Monde

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a Post-Impressionist painter, printmaker, and illustrator who immersed himself in the colorful and sometimes decadent world of Paris’s circuses, theaters, cabarets, and brothels. He recorded his experiences in enticing, elegant, and provocative images, which we will explore as we learn about his brief, extraordinary life in part I of this talk. In part II we will learn about his most important muse Suzanne Valadon, the illegitimate daughter of a sewing maid whose formal education ended at age eleven. Suzanne 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. But Toulouse-Lautrec was her most important artistic influence. Under his 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.

 

Asher B. Durand: Leading Light of the American Landscape

Asher B. Durand, master engraver and portraitist born in Maplewood, NJ, is widely acknowledged for his visionary contributions to early American landscape painting. He became a leading force in the Hudson River School, giving us resplendent arcadian images suffused with light, color, and atmospheric perspective. An optimist by nature, Durand captured the enthusiasm and uniqueness of the American experience on canvas, which makes him and excellent artist to celebrate on our 250th anniversary.

 

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 recently exhibited more than 200 of his drawings, paintings, tapestries, and decorative works in a blockbuster retrospective exhibition. If you could not get to the Met or you would like to know more, this presentation will provide a unique window into Raphael's creative process and the depth of his artistic thinking.

 

Faith Ringgold: Artist, Author, Educator, Organizer

Faith Ringgold, who died at 93 in April of 2024, once said, “Your job is to tell your story. Your story has to come out of your life, your environment, who you are, where you come from.” Her provocative and politically honest work, which reimagines art history, is born of that commitment. Best known for her story quilts, she also creates politically charged paintings, prints, sculptures, public art, performance art, and more. Faith Ringgold: Artist, Author, Educator, Organizer will give you an in-depth look at this formidable woman whose life and works continue to astonish art lovers around the world.

 

Ben Shahn: The People’s Painter

Ben Shahn is celebrated for his bold, anguished imagery, which he deployed in order to protest against social injustice. His paintings, photographs, graphic art, and public murals were his way to practice tikkun olam, repairing the world. For Shahn, art was a powerful tool for affecting change. He asserted: “If we are to have values, a spiritual life and a culture, these things must find imagery and interpretation through the arts.” Part I of this talk examines Shahn’s life and remarkable work up through the end of World War II, and Part II explores the spectacular productivity of his later years. Each part can be enjoyed on its own.

 

John Singer Sargent: Romance, Drama, and the Visual World, part 1

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. What happens next to Sargent will be discussed in Part II on December 7.

 

Norman Rockwell: An American Phenomenon

The prolific American artist and illustrator Norman Rockwell produced more than 4000 works that chronicle not only ordinary moments from everyday life but also important social and political issues. During his lifetime Rockwell was dismissed by many serious art critics, but this talk will examine why and how he has remained a beloved American original. We will look at many of his iconic paintings, as well as at some that may surprise you. What better way to celebrate America’s 250th than to learn all about this quintessentially American artist!