Inspiring Talks

February 1, 2022 | Erin Dougherty

All talks are free for members. Reservations are required. Visit high.org or call 404-733-5000 to reserve tickets.

Virtual Curatorial Conversation: Obama Portraits with Taína Caragol, Dorothy Moss, and Michael Rooks
Thursday, February 10
6 p.m., Zoom

In celebration of the Obama portraits being on display in the High’s galleries, we welcome Dorothy Moss and Taína Caragol from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. Moss is the curator of painting and sculpture and coordinating curator of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative; Caragol is the curator of painting and sculpture and Latino art and history. The two—in conversation with Michael Rooks, Wieland Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art—will discuss the process of commissioning the Obama portraits from Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley.

Left to right: Dorothy Moss, Taína Caragol, Michael Rooks

On-Site Talk: Elizabeth Siegel
Thursday, February 17
7 p.m., Hill Auditorium

Learn about the High’s new exhibition André Kertész: Postcards from Paris from curator Elizabeth Siegel. This exhibition is the first to bring together Kertész’s rare carte postale prints. These now-iconic works offer new insight into his early, experimental years and reveal the importance of Paris as a vibrant meeting ground for international artists, who drew inspiration from each other to create new, modern ways of seeing and representing the world.

On-Site Curator Talk: Lauren Tate Baeza
Postponed

Mark your calendar for an evening with Lauren Tate Baeza, Fred and Rita Richman Curator of African Art. Baeza will review the history of the High’s African Art collection and discuss new ways of interpreting its current holdings and future collecting strategy.

Left to right: Elizabeth Siegel, Lauren Tate Baeza, Erica Hirshler

Conversations with Contemporary Artists: KAWS
Thursday, March 10
7 p.m., Rich Theatre

New York-based artist KAWS will join Michael Rooks, Wieland Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, to discuss his current exhibition at the High, KAWS PRINTS. The exhibition explores the artist’s work as it is grounded in a deep and sustained involvement with graphic art and printmaking. KAWS’s work is known by millions because he has embraced the democratic principle of making his work as accessible as possible in the tradition of American pop art through editions, multiples, toys, and prints.

Support for Conversations with Contemporary Artists is provided by the Jane F. and Clayton F. Jackson Conversations with Contemporary Artists Endowment.

On-Site Talk: Margaret and Terry Stent Distinguished Lecture in American Art: Women Artists before US Suffrage
Thursday, March 24
7 p.m., Hill Auditorium

Explore and enjoy the aesthetic achievements of American women artists before 1920, the year of women’s suffrage, with Erica Hirshler, Croll senior curator of American paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her illustrated talk will examine their accomplishments in a variety of media within the context of social history and the accessibility of an artistic education. As painter Cecilia Beaux wrote in 1915, she looked forward to the day “when the term ‘Women in Art’ will be as strange sounding a topic as the title ‘Men in Art’ would be now.”

This talk is generously supported by the Margaret and Terry Stent Distinguished Lecture Series in American Art Endowment.

Virtual Conversations with Contemporary Artists: Rashid Johnson on The Hikers
Thursday, April 7
6 p.m., Zoom

Join us for a special virtual conversation with Rashid Johnson and Michael Rooks, Wieland Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. The two will discuss Johnson’s film The Hikers, included in the High’s exhibition What Is Left Unspoken, Love. The conversation will begin with a screening of the brief film followed by a dialogue around the artist’s intent and process.

Support for Conversations with Contemporary Artists is provided by the Jane F. and Clayton F. Jackson Conversations with Contemporary Artists Endowment.

Left to right: Rashid Johnson, Mary Weaver Chapin, Kevin Tucker

Gudmund Vigtel Works on Paper Program: Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril: Model, Muse, and Connoisseur
Saturday, April 23
2 p.m., Hill Auditorium

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a brilliant chronicler of Paris nightlife, depicting the dancers, singers, and clowns who captured his attention. But some, such as can-can dancer Jane Avril, were more than mere models: they became his friends and inspiration. In his lithographs, paintings, and drawings, Toulouse-Lautrec explored Avril’s celebrity and humanity. He depicted her many moods and qualities, from her fame as a high-kicking chahuteuse to being a refined print connoisseur. In this talk, Mary Weaver Chapin, curator of prints and drawings at the Portland Art Museum, examines the images and the relationship between these friends and fellow artists and charts the influence that flowed in both directions.

This talk is generously supported by the Gudmund Vigtel Works on Paper Fund.

On-Site Curator Talk: Michael Rooks
Thursday, May 12
7 p.m., Hill Auditorium

Get an introduction to the High’s exhibition What Is Left Unspoken, Love from Wieland Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Michael Rooks. Is love intrinsic, or is it a habit? What is the relationship of love to truth, freedom, and justice? Is love possible without mystery? Can love be scientifically proven? Why is it so hard to say, “I love you”? The exhibition approaches its subject through such questions and proposes that concepts of love are ideas worthy of (re)consideration as alternatives for framing a critical dialogue on art, aesthetics, and culture.

On-Site Curator Talk: American Architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright and the South
Thursday, May 26
7 p.m., Hill Auditorium

Mark your calendar for an evening exploring the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright with the High’s chief curator, Kevin Tucker. Set in the context of Wright’s quest to create a modern American architecture, this presentation will reveal how nature and regional identity shaped his reimagining of Southern and historic motifs. Tucker is a specialist in early-twentieth-century design and architectural history and is the author of numerous publications in the field, including catalogues for Gustav Stickley and the American Arts and Crafts Movement and The Wittgenstein Vitrine: Modern Opulence in Vienna. He has served on committees for various regional and national professional organizations.