Edgar P. Richardson Symposium
The Edgar P. Richardson Lecture Series in American Portraiture, 2020
“Women, Portraiture, and Power”
Webinars via Zoom
Previous Programs
Nov. 10: Combating Racism: Betsy Graves Reyneau, Laura Wheeler Waring, and Representation of Black Achievement
Presenter: Steven Nelson
Tuesday, Nov. 10 | Online via Zoom
In the 1943, the Harmon Foundation commissioned artists Betsy Graves Reyneau and Laura Wheeler Waring to make portraits of eminent Black Americans capable of highlighting black achievement and fighting white prejudice. These forty-two paintings were first shown at the Smithsonian in 1944. This discussion revisited this exhibition, exploring the intersection of gender, philanthropy, Black history and African American art during and just after World War II to showing the complex formation of this exhibition. It also sought to understand the work within the broader context of Americanness during the Second World War.
Steven Nelson is the dean of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA), where he is responsible for its fellowships, meetings, research, and publications.
Watch now: https://youtu.be/cn_YX0QNyT8
Oct. 27: The Veil and the Rebozo: Fashioning Identity in the Self-Portraits of María Izquierdo
Presenter: Mark A. Castro
Tuesday, Oct. 27 | Online via Zoom
In her self-portraits, the painter María Izquierdo boldly proclaimed herself a member of the new generation of women artists that shaped Mexican culture after the revolution of 1910–20. By wearing clothing associated with Mexico’s Indigenous communities, Izquierdo joined her contemporaries in asserting the integral role of these Native cultures in Mexico’s new national identity. At the same time, her interest in portraiture and the utilization of her own, often ambiguous, visual language, set Izquierdo apart from the cultural production of the wider Mexican art world, which was driven by nationalist interests.
Mark A. Castro is the Jorge Baldor Curator of Latin American Art at the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA)
Watch now: https://youtu.be/A0NnBs8gIX4
Oct. 20: Suzanne Valadon: An Artist on View
Presenter: Nancy Ireson
Tuesday, October 20 | Online via Zoom
Marie-Clémentine Valadon (1865–1938), who began her career as a popular artist’s model after a difficult childhood, defied the odds to become a successful painter. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec even gave her the nickname “Suzanne,” after the biblical story of Susanna and the Elders, in which two old men prey on a beautiful bathing woman.
Valadon began exhibiting her prints and drawings in the 1880s, and in the twentieth century enjoyed considerable commercial success. Reactions to her bohemian lifestyle, however, marred her critical reception. Thus, this lecture will explore how Valadon effectively exchanged one kind of scrutiny for another.
Nancy Ireson is the Barnes Foundation’s deputy director for collections and exhibitions and Gund Family Chief Curator.
Watch now: https://youtu.be/vkje0C1FK0o
Oct. 13: Marking the Middle: Loïs Mailou Jones's Mid-Century Portrait Practice
Presenter: Rebecca VanDiver
Tuesday, Oct. 13 | Online via Zoom
During her lengthy career, African American painter Loïs Mailou Jones (1905–1998) created work in a variety of genres. Portraiture played a pivotal role in her artistic practice, from her days as an art student in 1920s Boston and her time in late 1930s Paris to her forty-five-year tenure at Howard University, and beyond. In this talk, Professor Rebecca VanDiver will examine the ways in which Jones's mid-century portrait practice enabled the artist to mark her place in the middle of the increasingly Afro-Diasporic cultural and social scenes of Paris, Washington, D.C., and Port-au-Prince.
Rebecca VanDiver is assistant professor of African American art at Vanderbilt University. She researches and teaches modern and contemporary African American art, with an emphasis on Black women artists.
Watch now: https://youtu.be/opBwxo4TDJM
Sept. 29:Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain: Power, Femininity, and Portraiture in the Court of Felipe III
Presenter: Ross Karlan
Tuesday, Sept. 29 | Online via Zoom
The elaborate portraits of Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain (1584–1611), by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz and Andrés López Polanco, are known for their depictions of the crown jewels and elegant clothing characteristic of Hapsburg portraiture. Yet this series, painted between 1605 and 1610, also presented Queen Margaret as a strong female ruler. Pantoja de la Cruz and Polanco portrayed the queen as both virtuous and feminine as well as politically cunning. This balance was particularly delicate within the contexts of dynastic factions, political alliances, and the rebirth of Spain’s royal portrait collection after it was destroyed in the 1604 fire at the Royal Palace.
Ross Karlan earned his PhD at Georgetown University with a focus on Portugal and Spain in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Watch now: https://youtu.be/DAR63UqMfv4
Sept. 15: The Interiority of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa's Portraits
Presenter: ShiPu Wang
Tuesday, Sept. 15 | 5:00 p.m.| Online via Zoom
Who is Miki Hayakawa (ミキ早川, 1899–1953)? Why is there so little known about the work of an artist who held her first solo show of 150 paintings in San Francisco in 1929, was selected for the inaugural exhibition of the San Francisco Museum of Art in 1935, and contributed to Santa Fe’s vibrant art scenes alongside the likes of John Sloan and Alfred Morang? Professor ShiPu Wang shares discoveries from his journey of piecing together Hayakawa's oeuvre and life and explores how portraiture served as a vital means for her to forge multicultural connections in diverse communities during the Exclusion Era.
ShiPu Wang is the Coats Endowed Chair in the Arts and professor of art history at the University of California, Merced.
Watch now: https://youtu.be/mbJVE1ldqXE
The Edgar P. Richardson Lecture Series in American Portraiture is generously supported by the Edgar P. Richardson Fund.
Simposio de Edgar P. Richardson: "Nuevas perspectivas sobre el retrato"
20 y 21 de septiembre de 2018.
El Centro Académico de la National Portrait Gallery, PORTAL = Portraiture + Analysis, celebró su Simposio Edgar P. Richardson "Nuevas perspectivas sobre el retrato" en el auditorio Nan Tucker McEvoy del museo el 20 y 21 de septiembre de 2018. El evento de dos días reunió a académicos cuyo el trabajo expande las percepciones de la gente sobre la diversidad y complejidad de la representación en los retratos. Los oradores investigaron la dinámica del poder entre los artistas y sus asistentes, la manipulación y evolución de los retratos como objetos físicos, la difusión de imágenes y otros aspectos de este género artístico.
Los retratos están sujetos a los caprichos del tiempo y el lugar, el cambio físico, la translocación y los nuevos modos de interpretación y visualización. El 50 aniversario de la National Portrait Gallery brindó la oportunidad de evaluar el estudio del retrato. Los estudios recientes reavivaron el interés en analizar un género claramente distinto de muchas formas de arte. Como imágenes, las semejanzas reflejan códigos de comportamiento, entornos sociales y políticos, y la retórica visual de su época. Los retratos hacen referencia a temas de identidad y subjetividad, como el género, la raza y la etnicidad.
El simposio contó con un panel de académicos de todo el país que ofrecieron información de sus áreas de experiencia en la evolución del retrato y su influencia en la identidad de la nación. Los dos días de programación concluyeron con una firma de libros y una recepción pública en el Kogod Courtyard del museo.
El Simposio de Edgar P. Richardson se celebra cada dos años por PORTAL, el Centro Académico de la Galería de Retratos, con el Fondo de Simposios de Edgar P. Richardson. Para una lista completa de oradores, vea el Programa de Programación .
NOTA: Todas las sesiones están disponibles para verlas en el canal de YouTube de la National Portrait Gallery .
Program Schedule
El programa de dos días coincidió con el lanzamiento de una publicación de la National Portrait Gallery en asociación con D Giles Limited, Londres, titulada Beyond the Face: New Perspectives on Portraiture . El volumen abundantemente ilustrado presenta 16 ensayos de destacados estudiosos que exploran los medios sutiles por los cuales los artistas y los sujetos transmiten un sentido de identidad y revelan el contexto histórico. Al examinar una amplia gama de temas, desde la caricatura temprana y el vandalismo político de los retratos hasta las selfies contemporáneas y el performance, estos estudios desafían las suposiciones tradicionales de la gente sobre el retrato. Al explorar la diversidad y complejidad de la representación, Beyond the Face: New Perspectives on Portraiture llena un vacío en la beca actual y ofrece un recurso para enseñar historia del arte, subjetividad y la construcción de la identidad. El libro está disponible para su compra en la tienda National Portrait Gallery y en línea.
