This Speakers in the Humanities event, which is free and open to the public, is made possible through the support of the NY Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Speakers in the Humanities program has linked distinguished scholars with diverse audiences since its launch in 1983, bringing the best in humanities scholarship to thousands of people at hundreds of cultural organizations in virtually every corner of NY State. This program is just one of the ways the NY Council for the Humanities helps all New Yorkers to lead vibrant intellectual lives by strengthening traditions of cultural literacy, critical inquiry, and civic participation.
Forgers & Fakes: Studies in Art & Character
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
6:00 PM Cocktails (Cash Bar) and Hor'deuvres
7:00 Dinner
8:00 PM Lecture is Free & Open to the Public
Event Held at the Sterling Glen of Roslyn
100 Landing Rd (for GPS: 99 Landing Rd, Roslyn)
This presentation focuses on specific cases and some of the most interesting characters in 19th and 20th century art forgery, from the well-known criminal to the not-so-well-known minor felons. Such stories and personages will find an audience that loves intrigue, espionage, and justice. "Picture a Rotten Fake," were the words used by art dealer Lord Duveen in a telegram sent in 1937, to warn his staff of an offer for a high-priced "Vermeer" painting. The forger, later identified as Hans van Meegeren, became known as one of the most popular and audacious forgers of the 20th century. This forger and other’s specific economic and psychological motivations, as well as individual personality quirks and character traits, will be revealed. Questions will also be raised that address the continuing challenges of determining artistic authentication. DR. EVIE JOSELOW is an appraiser and lecturer. She teaches design history and architectural history courses at the New York School of Interior Design, Pratt Institute, and New York University. Dr. Joselow served as the Chief of Research at the Commission for Art Recovery, an organization established to identify and locate art looted by the Nazis. Dr. Joselow frequently lectures on art- and architecture-related topics and has been the recipient of many research fellowships for study in the United States and abroad. She has published on art and architectural subjects. She received her Ph.D. in Art History from The Graduate School of the City University of NY, and her B.A. from Vassar College.
The Golden Age of Hollywood
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
6:00 PM Cocktails (Cash Bar) and Hor'deuvres
7:00 Dinner
8:00 PM Lecture is Free & Open to the Public
Event Held at the Sterling Glen of Roslyn
100 Landing Rd (for GPS: 99 Landing Rd, Roslyn)
What made the period between 1930-18948 one of the most imaginative and livliest periods in American motion picture history? This illustrated lecture will look at the many reasons behind the Golden Age of Hollywood. From the late 1920s through the end of World War II, studios like MGM, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and RKO would dominate film production, not only in America but throughout the world. The reasons for Hollywood's success during this period is intriguing. Despite the economic problems posed by the Depression, the studios become virtual entertainment factories, with each studio producing more than 50 movies a year. The legacy of these years of frenzied activity are among the best loved and most significant films ever made. This presentation will examine the forces that made Hollywood the giant of world filmmaking and the special nature of its achievements during its Golden Age, including discussions of studio politics and economics, the star system, and the nature of the moviegoing experience. There will also be an analysis of why this period was so short lived and Hollywood's desperate attempts beginning in the 1950's to recapture its faded glory.BRIAN ROSE is a Professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University, where he teacheds courses in film and television history, theory and economics. He has written several books on televison history and cultural programming, as well as two anthologies on television genres.
COMING IN APRIL....
In the Phantom's Lair: The Architecture
and Decoration of the Paris Opera, April 28th
Gaston Leroux's thrilling novel, "The Phantom of the Opera," has been dramatized repeatedly, from silent film to Andrew Lloyd-Webber's immensely popular musical. The tale revolves around an opera house among the architectural glories of Paris, the Palais Garnier. An imposing and opulent building whose design by Charles Garnier foreshadowed the Beaux Arts style, it opened in 1875 and has witnessed an extraordinary history of operatic performance. This presentation reveals the dramatic story of that magnificent building and its creator. In slides, music and fascinating narrative, we'll tour this matchless palace of music. We'll investigate its history, shot through with political intrigue of Second Empire France. Then we'll "walk" around and through the building itself. We'll delight in Garnier's masterpiece of what he called the "architecture of illustration," rich in sculptures and paintings created by some of the leading artists of 19th century France. And, for a grand finale, there's a moving "Homage to Garnier," with imagery accompanied by music. Barrymore Laurence Scherer is a music critic for The Wall Street Journal and a contributing editor of The Magazine Antiques, and Art & Auction magazine . He is author of the critically acclaimed book Bravo! A Guide to Opera for the Perplexed (Dutton-Plume), The History of American Classical Music (Naxos/Sourcebooks, 2007), and contributor to the book Giacomo Meyerbeer: A Reader (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008). As a lecturer he has given numerous presentations for institutions including the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the New York Philharmonic, and the National Gallery. On radio, he has been a regular commentator for NPR's "Performance Today, " and on the nationally syndicated program, "First Hearing."
COMING IN MAY...
The Gardens of New Netherland:
Dutch Gardening in the New World, May 26th
With their orchards, produce gardens, flower gardens, and crops, Dutch colonists sought to bring a little of the Old World to their New World home. Firth Fabend describes the gardens of New Netherland -- the Dutch colony that would later become New York. The colonists drew inspiration for their gardens from those in Europe, including the royal palaces of Honselaarsdijk and Het Loo in the Netherlands, as well as the beautiful bouquets that were delivered each week to the royal family from the royal gardens. Fabend illustrates the talk with colorful slides that set the scene, a map of New Netherland, the Castello Plan of lower Manhattan (when it was known as New Amsterdam), and some of the many flowering plants described by Swedish naturalist Peter Kalm when he traveled through New York in 1750. With images from both sides of the Atlantic, she relates the gardens of New Netherland to the European models on which they were patterned, including the royal palaces of Honselaarsdijk and Het Loo in the Netherlands. Fabend concludes the lecture with a brief discussion of some of the human links who brought Dutch garden models to New Netherland, and a reading from her historical novel "Land So Fair" describing a Hudson Valley garden modeled on the garden of Peter Stuyvesant, a major figure in the early history of New York City. Firth Haring Fabend is an independent historian with a Ph.D. in American Studies from New York University. Her fields are New Netherland studies, the Dutch Colonial experience in the eighteenth century, and the Dutch in New York and New Jersey in the nineteenth century, with an emphasis on family life and the Reformed Dutch Church. Firth is a Fellow of both the New Netherland Project and The Holland Society of New York.
