16
Aug/20

COCKTAILS WITH THE CURATORS: BEHIND THE SCENES OF “FOR AMERICA”

16
Aug/20

Robert Frederick Blum, Two Idlers, oil on canvas, 1888-89, NA diploma presentation, March 26, 1894 (photo courtesy National Academy of Design)

Who: Jeremiah William McCarthy, Diana Thompson
What: Livestreamed art conversation
Where: National Academy of Design
When: Monday, August 17, $10-$15, 7:00
Why: The National Academy of Design on the Upper East Side had already been closed for exhibitions for several years when the pandemic lockdown hit; at the time, its traveling retrospective, “For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design,” was on the road, having visited Dayton, Connecticut, and Florida before scheduled stops in New Mexico, Iowa, and other locations across the country. It is currently on view at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens in Memphis, but you can catch up with it online August 17 at 7:00 when curator Jeremiah William McCarthy and director of collections Diana Thompson explore the show, which features one hundred paintings from the collection, either a portrait of and/or or by a member, along with a second piece (known as diploma works), which are required upon induction into the academy. The traveling exhibit is divided into five sections: “Founding an American School,” “A New Internationalism,” “Painting America,” “Postwar Realisms,” and “For America,” with canvases by Childe Hassam, Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Edwin Church, William Merritt Chase, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, George Wesley Bellows, Ivan Albright, Andrew Wyeth, Charles White, George Inness, Will Barnet, Maxfield Parrish, Thomas Eakins, Jane Freilicher, Philip Pearlstein, Reginald Marsh, Wayne Thiebaud, Louisa Matthíasdóttir, and others. The hourlong discussion is being held in conjunction with the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, where the show will be on view February 20 – May 9, 2021.