Melissa McCormick reviews selected scenes from the 11th century Tales of Genji
as she describes the literary classic's role in the genre of Japanese screens. She is introduced
by Janice Katz, Janice Katz, Roger L. Weston Associate Curator of Japanese Art, Department of Asian and Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Glenn Edgerton, artistic director of  Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, reacts to works of art as he comments on the company's residency at the Art Institute during the 500 Ways of Looking at Modern season. He is hosted by Mary Sue Glosser, creative director of lectures and performances at the Art Institute. Following the commentary, Mr. Edgerton leads the audience on a gallery walk in the new Modern Wing.

Photo credit: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in the Modern Wing. Dancers Jason Hortin and Kellie Epperheimer. Todd Rosenberg
Photography 2009.

Leonard Lesko, emeritus Brown University, reviews the legacy of winemaking and tasting in Egypt from about 5000 years ago across the dynasties including special attention to wine jars found in King Tut’s tomb. Christopher Monkhouse, curator of the special exhibition A Case for Wine: From King Tut to Today, introduces the speaker.

A Case for Wine: From King Tut to Today
This event was made possible by the Boshell Foundation Lecture Fund.

Janice Katz, exhibition curator of the special exhibition Beyond Golden Clouds, introduces Kyoto-based artist Jiro Okura. Influenced by John Cage's ideas of chance, Okura's work pays homage to the natural materials that he uses and the natural environment from which they come. In this lecture Okura shares his philosophy and inspiration behind his 1990 screen installation, Mountain Lake Screen Tachi.

Nicholas Cullinan, Curator of International Modern Art, Tate Modern, presents a lecture to accompany the inaugural installation in the new Modern Wing.

The astonishing legacy of Alexander the Great in Asia is explored in this lecture, which discusses the unique art that developed in the Greek kingdom of Bactria in present day northern Afghanistan and southern Uzbekistan. Through a study of its impact on the region of Gandhara (Afghanistan and northern Pakistan) in South Asia, further light is thrown upon the Gandharan collections that have recently been displayed in the newly installed Alsdorf Galleries of the Art Institute.

Odessa born, award-winning poet Ilya Kaminsky begins his presentation reciting one of his poems in Russian, in the high oratorio style. He continues in English through a series published and new work reflecting extraordinary experiences of his young life in the Soviet Union. Passionate intimate moments receive heartfelt attention juxtaposed against a startling landscape of political and social change.

Matthias Böttger discusses his recent projects and design concepts. In 2003, Böttger founded raumtaktik (spatial tactics) with architect Friedrich von Borries with a desire to pursue an investigation of space and spatial intervention. raumtaktik is concerned with the cultural, economic, and political parameters that determine the shape of architecture and urban development.

The "Bauhaus to Green Haus" lecture series brings to Chicago European architects/designers who draw on the Bauhaus tradition and address today's sustainability challenges.

Roman commentaries on triumphal processions suggest that the gaze of the audience was perilously hard to control. Dr. Mary Beard, University of Cambridge, England, offers a new perspective by concentrating on the defeated, from the not so simple facts of their number, identity, and ultimate fate to the moral complexities of their role in the culture of Roman triumph.

Part of The Boshell Foundation Lecture Series.

Karen Manchester, chair of Ancient and Asian Art, introduces scholar Mary Beard to speak about "Urbs et Orbs: The City and the World in the Roman Triumph."  Dr. Beard, University of Cambridge, professor and author of The Roman Triumph reflects on the global character of the Roman Empire.

John Barr, director of the Poetry Foundation, introduces poet Elizabeth Alexander. Born in Harlem in 1962, and educated at Yale, Boston University, and the University of Pennsylvania, Alexander has been on the faculties at Haverford College, the University of Chicago, Smith, and now teaches English and African-American Studies at Yale. This reading features poems from her first book, The Venus Hottentot, which address racial, gender, and cultural divisions; including the poem Alexander read at President Obama's inauguration.

This event was made possible through the generosity of the Poetry Foundation.

1. "A Personal View of Karsh's Life and Work"
Jerry Fielder, Director and Curator of the Estate of Yousuf Karsh, discusses his personal, twenty-five year association with Karsh, reviewing his history, his family, the influence of his mentors, the development of his style, and Fielder's  30 years of working with him and his photographs.
Length:    46:21
File Size:    21.2 MB

2.   "In the Light of Other Days: the Cold-War Portraiture of Richard Avedon & Irving Penn"
Colin Westerbeck, director of the California Museum of Photography at the University of California, Riverside presents a lecture in which he discusses how the portraiture of Penn and Avedon, dialectically different as it is, right down to the lighting, is, nevertheless, a shared reflection of the times in which they were working.
Length:    41:54
File Size:    19.2 MB

3. "Yousuf Karsh, The Last of His Kind"
David Travis, former Chair and Curator of the Department of Photography at the Art Institute of Chicago, discusses why Yousuf Karsh may be the last of his kind.
Travis examines the unique factors in Karsh's own personal background, traditional training, inventive techniques, and attitude toward heroes and hero-worship.
Length:    1:00:50
File Size:    27.9 MB

4. "From Harlem to the Character Project: Representing the Human Subject"
Dawoud Bey, photographer and professor of photography at Columbia College Chicago discusses his own work as a portrait photographer and documentarian.
Length:    38:25
File Size:    17.6 MB

This lecture series brings to Chicago European architects/designers who draw on the Bauhaus tradition and address today's sustainability challenges. Arturo Vittori, co-founder of Architecture and Vision with Swiss architect Andreas Vogler, discusses several of their recent projects which focus on human well-being, mobility, and eco-sustainability all realized through their unique aesthetic approach.

Tomaz Salamun, renowned Slovenian poet, reads from his works, which reflects the postwar struggles of Eastern Europe. His reading was part of a series called Found in Translation in support of the Associated Writers and Writing Projects conference in Chicago.

Presented courtesy of the International Writers' Program, University of Iowa, and the Poetry Foundation.

Recent research on The Scream and Madonna are reviewed by Ingebjorg Ydstie, director of the Munch Museum in Oslo. This lecture event marks the opening of Becoming Edvard Munch: Influence, Anxiety, and Myth.

David Nirenberg, professor of medieval history and social thought at the University of Chicago, discusses the historical interactions and tensions among the three major monotheistic religions.

Presented with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Andre Garolli, artistic director, and Carla Estafan, producer, of Brazil's Compania Triptal discuss their unique interpretation of Eugene O'Neill's sea plays at the Goodman Theatre. Steve Scott, associate producer at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, hosts.

Erin Hogan, art historian and Director of Public Affairs at the Art Institute of Chicago, introduces her new book Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip through the Land Art of the American West. Driving her Volkswagen Jetta solo, Hogan visited and comments on Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty by the Great Salt Lake, Michael Heizer's Double Negative in Nevada, and Walter De Maria's Lightning Field in New Mexico.

The Modern Wing is a complex museum expansion design that tackles age-old museum issues in new ways. Bridget Bush, Project Manager for the Rise Group, discusses engineering solutions that allow the Modern Wing to effectively use natural light, artificial light, temperature regulation, humidity control, and more.

Thomas Gaeghtens, current director of the Getty Research Institute and recent director of the German Center for the History of Art, Paris, reflects on Berlin's encThomas Gaeghtens, current director of the Getty Research Institute and recent director of the German Center for the History of Art, Paris, reflects on Berlin's encyclopedic National Museums and their history.yclopedic National Museums and their history.

David Levering Lewis, New York University professor and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, discusses his new book. The author of seven books and editor of two more, Lewis’s narrative reveals how cosmopolitan Muslim al-Andalus flourished while proto-Europe made virtues out of hereditary aristocracy, religious intolerance, perpetual war, and slavery.

Meredith Mack, Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer at the Art Institute of Chicago, discusses the energy-saving aspects of the Modern Wing's curtain wall, lighting system, and "flying carpet," as well as its use of local and recycled materials. Her lecture includes the challenges of building a museum that is aiming for LEED Silver certification.

Muhammed Sani Umar, director of Northwestern University's Institute of the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa, presents a lecture on Global Debates on Islam in the 21st Century.

Presented with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Nayan Chanda, director of publications at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, presents the Art Institute of Chicago 2008 Presidential Lecture during the annual Chicago Humanities Festival. His lecture refers to research found in his recent book Bound Together; How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers and Warriors Shaped Globalization.

Presented with Chicago Humanities Festival and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Presented in conjunction with Drawn to Drawings: The Goldman Collection,this one-day symposium focuses on the draughtsman's transformation of nature into art.  Lecturers include David McTavish, Julian Brooks,  Catherine Goguel, Laura Giles, and Jorg Merz.

1. David McTavish, Queen's University, Ontario
"Between Nature and Artifice in Early Drawings by Francesco Salviati"

2. Julian Brooks, Assistant Curator of Drawings at the J. Paul Getty Museum "Fantasy and Reality in the Early Life of Taddeo Drawings by Federico Zuccaro"

3. David Ekserdjian, Professor of Art History, University of Leicester
    “Drawing into Painting: Creating the ‘Fantasia’ in the Capella di Eleanora di Toledo”

4. Catherine Goguel, Directeur de recherche,  Departement des Arts graphiques, Musee du Louvre
"Spinning Nature into Fantasy: Jacopo Ligozzi's Holy Family in the Goldman Collection"

5. Laura Giles, Curator of Prints and Drawings, Princeton University Art Museum
 "Transforming the Model: Between Nature and Fantasy in Gianlorenzo Bernini's Adademic Nudes"

6. Jorg Merz, University of Munster
"A Group of Female Heads by Pietro da Cortona Studied from Nature and Transformed into Fantasia for the Frescoes in the Palazzo Pitti."

Internationally noted scholars of tapestry provide an introduction to the exhibition The Divine Art: Four Centuries of European Tapestries. This one-day symposium was made possible through the exclusive sponsorship by The De Wit Foundation.  Scholars include Elizabeth Cleland, Nello Forti Grazzini, Filip Vermeylen, Francois Pascal Bertrand, Charissa Bremer-David, and Guy Delmarcel.


1. Elizabeth Cleland, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York "Rethinking a Masterpiece: The Resurrection from the Allegory of the Redemption of Man"

2. Nello Forti Grazzini, independent scholar, Milan "Expected Recoveries in an Unexpected Place: Some Tapestries (Once of the Durini) at the Abbazia di San Girolamo Della Cervara (Sta Margherita Ligure, Genova)"

3. Filip Vermeylen, Eramus Universiteit, Rotterdam "The Economics of Tapestry Making"

4. Francois Pascal Bertrand, University of Bordeaux "Tapestry Production at Gobelins in the 18th Century"

5. Charissa Bremer-David, J. Paul Getty Museum "Plot Lines: Spoken and Woven"

6. Guy Delmarcel, Univesity of Louvain Exhibition viewing and overviews

Suzanne McCullagh, Anne Vogt Fullert and Marion Titus Searle Curator of Earlier Prints and Drawings, hosts the symposium on Italian Drawings. She begins by reading this manuscript submitted by scholar Maria Faietti, Gabinetto Disegni & Stampe delgi Uffizi, who was not able to attend.

Douglas Druick, Prince Trust Chair of Prints and Drawings, provides introductory remarks.

George Hirthler, consultant to Chicago 2016, reviews the historic Olympic Movement and the leadership role taken by Baron Pierre de Coubertin that was necessary to achieve it. HIrthler invites us to reaffirm Coubertin's commitment to the “enduring values of the Olympic ideal.”

Adam Zagajewski, a leading poet of the Polish New Wave of 1968 and winner of numerous international awards, read selections from his various books. 

This Poets in the World series is presented with the Poetry Foundation.

Diana Eck, Harvard University professor of comparative religions and Indian studies and director of the Pluralist Project, describes the Art Institute’s role as the site for the 1893 gathering called the Parliament of Religions.

Irish-born poet Paul Muldoon, professor at Princeton University and poetry editor of the New Yorker, reads selections from his Pulitzer prize-winning poetry. Poetry Foundation president John Barr provides an introduction to the poet.

Presented with the Poetry Foundation.

Poet Marilyn Nelson, professor emerita at the University of Connecticut, reads and discusses her recent work. Nelson has authored 12 books for adults as well as young people, and has been nominated three times for the National Book Award for poetry.

Cosponsored by the Poetry Foundation.

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet C. K. Williams, Princeton University, comments on the Art Institute's 360 degrees: Art beyond Borders theme and reads some of his most recent poems. Williams has offered 10 books of poetry including The Singing which won the 2003 National Book Award.

Cosponsored by the Poetry Foundation.

James Cuno, president and director of the Art Institute of Chicago launches the season 360 Degrees: Art beyond Borders with a broad and careful definition of the role of the encyclopedic art museums in the world today, providing the history and current challenges of these few essential institutions.

Scholar Kathy Curnow, Cleveland State University, reviews Courtyard Intrigues: Jostling for Chiefly Power in the Art and Life of the Benin Kingdom in support of the special exhibition.

Barbara Plankensteiner, Museum of Ethnology, Vienna, reviews the highlights of the Art Institute’s installation of Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria. 

Adepeju Layiwola, professor at University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria, expands on her entry in the landmark exhibition catalogue Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria. In her lecture she brings clear and accurate reportage of the history of the disturbances and survival of Benin court collections over the past century.

Richard Longworth, Senior Fellow, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Fellow and award-winning Chicago Tribune foreign correspondent, cites research and analysis from his recent book.

Presented with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Internationally noted scholar Barbara Blackmun, Mesa College, San Diego, draws on her field research and years of study of the Benin cultural heritage to review narrative and ritual sources for the images on Benin court ivories and bronzes.

Katherine Bussard discusses how photography has been both an inspiration and a source of discovery for this seminal Pop and Conceptual artist.

Christopher Monkhouse, Eloise W. Martin Chair of European Decorative Arts, traces the evolution of the upcoming exhibition of wine-themed art works, opening at the Art Institute in the summer of 2009.

Molly Faries, Indiana University, reviews recent studies on old master paintings made possible by new infrared reflectograms and other technologies.

Michael Leja, University of Pennsylvania, discusses Winslow Homer's creative process.

Art Institute curator Kathleen Bickford Berzock introduces the special exhibition Benin--Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria.

Architecture and urban design historian Thomas Hines discusses modernism, rationalism, and expressionism in the works of Richard Neutra and Lloyd Wright.

Alice Friedman, author of Women and the Making of the Modern House, explores the role of women in American architecture.

Patricia Junker looks closely at Homer's avid pursuit of fly-fishing and the inspiration it provided for his art.

Mardges Bacon, Northeastern University, traces Le Corbusier's experiences within the culture of Chicago of the 1930s.

This engaging day devoted to Pop and Conceptual artist Ed Ruscha, which kicked off the exhibition Ed Ruscha and Photography, revealed his important and widespread contributions to art of the past 50 years.

1. Artist’s Talk: Ed Ruscha
2. Screen Memories in the Art of Ed Ruscha
3. Space, Place, and Spectatorship in Ed Ruscha's Los Angeles
4. Closing Conversation with Ed Ruscha

The Nichols Bridgeway will form a dynamic connection between the Art Institute and Millennium Park. Hear John Lupinos, Senior Project Manager of the Modern Wing Team, discuss this exciting addition.

Francisco Aragon, Brenda Cardenas, Blas Falconer, and Gina Franco read recent writings and comment on their work.

Cosponsored by the Poetry Foundation.

Nick Cannellis of Turner Construction provides insights into the building of the Modern Wing.

Conservator Judith Walsh, Buffalo State–SUNY, considers how Homer's fresh, spontaneous-looking works often are the result of careful study and deliberate planning.

Art Institute Chair of American Art Judith Barter provides innovative insights into Hopper’s love of film and explains its inspirational role in the settings and mood of his work.

In this special "sneak preview" of the upcoming Winslow Homer exhibition, Martha Tedeschi, curator of prints and drawings, offers an intimate look at the ways that one of America's most celebrated artists discovered the secrets of the watercolor medium.

Franklin Kelly is the senior curator of American and British paining at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Hear Kelly provide the keynote lecture on opening night of the exhibitions Edward Hopper and Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light

Born in Ghana and raised in Jamaica, Kwame Dawes is a poet of precision, passion, and lyricism. At this event, Dawes reads from three of his books: Gomer's Song, Impossible Flying, and Wisteria, Twilight Songs from the Swamp Country.


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As part of our American Perspectives season, distinguished literary scholar and Stanford professor Arnold Rampersad explores the relation ship between jazz and the work of Langston Hughes and Ralph Ellison. His acclaimed study Ralph Ellison: A Biography has been recently published.

Langdon Hammer, professor at Yale University, draws on his recent book, Hart Crane: Complete Poems and Selected Letters, to highlight the aspects of Crane's life and work that have served as inspiration for artist Jasper Johns.

The defining event of the 20th century, the development of the Atomic Bomb is the basis for this John Adams work. The symposium's distinguished panelists include composer John Adams; his librettist and director Peter Sellars; Gerald Finley, who portrays Robert Oppenheimer in the opera; and president  of the Art Institute James Cuno. Join them and many others for a fascinating look at both the opera and the incidents and characters that inspired it. A once-in-a-lifetime convergence of music, history, and scholarship, this not-to-be-missed symposium is an historic event in its own right. Moderated by Wynne Delacoma and Peter Sagal.

Dr. Atomic Part 2

Dr. Atomic Part 3

Check out Chicago Amplified to listen to other Art Institute programs.

Marjorie Perloff, renowned literary critic and professor of humanities at Stanford University, examines the interrelation between the works of Jasper Johns, poet Frank O'Hara, and composer John Cage.

Check out Chicago Amplified to listen to other Art Institute programs.

Ellen Roberts, assistant curator of American art, provides an in-depth "sneak preview" of the exhibition Edward Hopper and reveals how the artist captured the essential qualities of the modern American experience.

The exhibition Jasper Johns: Gray examines for the first time this acclaimed and influential artist's use of the color gray in paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings from 1955 to the present. Hear noted Johns scholar Roberta Bernstein give her insights on the exhibition.

Check out Chicago Amplified to listen to other Art Institute programs.

Sam Stephenson, media historian, sheds new light on Thelonious Monk's famous Town Hall Concert through newly available film and audio clips by W. Eugene Smith, one of Time-Life's greatest photojournalists. He is joined by musician Jason Moran.

Check out Chicago Amplified to listen to other Art Institute programs.

Painstakingly restored, three relief panels from the left wing of the Gates of Paradise and sections of the door's frieze traveled to the Art Institute before being permanently reinstalled in Florence, Italy. Hear Andrew Butterfield  of Salander-O'Reilly Galleries discuss this Renaissance masterpiece.

The creation of Pakistan in 1947 offered the nascent state a new cultural and political beginning. By the 1980s Pakistani artists were exhibiting installations as creative and cutting-edge as any in Europe and America. Hear Marcella Sirhandi, professor at Oklahoma State University, speak about Pakistan's contemporary art movement.

Helen Vendler, distinguished professor at Harvard University and the nation's leading poetry critic, considers the poetry of Wallace Stevens in light of its relation to the work of Jasper Johns.

Bringing together leading international thinkers on Bochner's work, this one-day academic symposium addresses Bochner's ideas about the complex and occasionally contradictory interactions between verbal language and visual art.


1. Introduction and key note speaker Yve-Alain Bois
2. Panel I: Language Jeffrey Thompson
3. Panel I: Language Chrissie Iles
4. Panel I: Language Eric de Bruyn
5. Panel I: Language

Discussion moderated by Scott Rothkopf

6. Panel II: Translation Johanna Burton
7. Panel II:  Translation Christophe Cherix
8. Panel II: Translation Carroll Dunham
9. Panel II: Translation

Discussion moderated by Judith Russi Kirshner

Jan Tumlir teaches art and film theory at the Art Center and University of Southern California, and is a regular contributor to ArtForum, Frieze, and Flash Art. Here, he and Thomas Crow discuss Jeff Wall  and more specifically, Tumlir's essay "Profane Illuminations: The Social History of Jeff Wall."

Ian Wallace is one of the pioneering forces behind Vancouver's conceptual art scene. Wallace taught art history at the University of British Columbia, Jeff Wall's alma mater, and the Vancouver School of Art. Here, he discusses his friendship, travels, and work with his celebrated "student" Jeff Wall.

The Byzantine Empire formed a link between the vital cultures of the Silk Road and the classical traditions of the West.  Cultural diversity and great wealth created a rich artistic mixture.  Robert S. Nelson concludes our Silk Road Scholar Series with an examination of this glorious civilization.

Listen to photographers Barney and Sultan talk about their photographs on view in the Art Institute exhibition So the Story Goes. Recorded on opening day, this conversation reveals their shared practice photographing family members from the 1980s to 1990s and their very different approaches to their projects since that time.

On opening day of the Art Institute exhibition So the Story Goes, our audiences were treated to a lecture by photographer Philip-Lorca diCorcia. Hear diCorcia discuss his many and varied projects over the course of his career.

Tune in as contemporary photographer Mann answers questions from an audience of nearly 400 on opening day of the Art Institute exhibition So the Story Goes. Mann responds to questions ranging from printing techniques to subject matter, from disbelief in photographic "truth" to a Southern weakness for the romantic.

Art historian Susan Fillin-Yeh explores the complex relationship between modern photographic processes and painting in the work of Charles Sheeler.

Elizabeth Pope, curatorial research assistant for the Casas Grandes exhibition, explores some of the complex cosmic symbolism to be found on this ancient American pottery.

Center for Creative Photography Curator Britt Salvesen discusses the contents of the Harry
Callahan Archive, some of the objects it holds, and what it reveals about Callahan's work.

One of the most important
photographers of the 20th century, Harry Callahan holds particular
significance for Chicago, where he made some of his most influential work. Hear Greg Harris discuss an exhibition of Callahan's work at the Art Institute.

The curator of the exhibition Drawings in Dialogue: Old Master through Modern discusses how this extraordinary collection of richly varied drawings came together, and higlights some of the works in the show