2012 NSA Lecture Series

NORFOLK, Va. – (January 2012) – The Norfolk Society of Arts continues its season with four remaining lectures in 2012. The programs are held at 11 a.m. in the Chrysler Museum’s Kaufman Theatre, following a coffee reception at 10:30 a.m. in Huber Court. Admission is free to the public, with preferred seating for Norfolk Society of Arts members.

Wednesday, January 25, Embrace! 17 Artists Take Over the Libeskind Building
Christoph Heinrich, director, Denver Art Museum
The  Denver Art Museum opened its ultramodern Hamilton Building in 2006, and Daniel Libeskind’s design has been a Rocky Mountain landmark ever since. Discover how Denver opened a dialogue between avant-garde art and architecture by commissioning 17 international artists to create new works for a site-specific installation in its titanium-clad extension.

Wednesday, February 22, Public vs. Private: The Patronage of Madame de Pompadour in 18th-Century France
Alden Rand Gordon, Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Fine Arts, Trinity College (and Norfolk native)
She’s known as the most successful mistress in history, but Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson’s talents and trendsetting extended beyond the bedroom to influence much of the French Enlightenment’s culture and arts. Learn how the (in)famous marquise lived two lives: a public life at King Louis XV’s court and an entirely different life in the private residences he gave her.

Wednesday, March 28, Conservation Today at the Venerable Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Gianfranco Pocobene, head of conservation, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum opens its new Renzo Piano-designed wing on January 19, 2012. It follows a strategic plan to preserve the historic building and its collection that features new conservation labs. Pocobene was been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Victorian Society of America for his conservation efforts.

Tuesday, April 17, Crystal Bridges: An American Art Museum for the 21st Century
Don Bacigalupi, Ph.D., director, Crystal Bridges Museum
Bacigalupi was appointed director of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in 2009. The museum, which opened in November 2011 in Bentonville, Ark., was founded by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton. A scholar of postwar American art and popular culture, Bacigalupi has distinguished himself at several institutions. During his six-year tenure at the Toledo Museum of Art, he oversaw the addition of the new Glass Pavilion.  Designed by Tokyo-based SANAA, Ltd., the Glass Pavilion received Travel + Leisure’s 2007 Design Award for “Best Museum” and received other accolades for its innovative architecture.

The Norfolk Society of Arts promotes and enhances the cultural life of the South Hampton Roads community through lectures, special events, and financial support to the Chrysler Museum. Membership is open to all current Museum Members. For more information about joining the NSA, please contact Didi Granger at (757) 853-0221 or at diedremg@aol.com.

The Chrysler Museum of Art is one of America’s most distinguished mid-sized art museums with a world-class collection of more than 30,000 objects, including one of the great glass collections in America, and a new Glass Studio that opened in November. The Museum is located at 245 West Olney Road in Norfolk and is open along with the Glass Studio on Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Thursdays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sundays, noon-5 p.m. The Chrysler campus is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, as well as on major holidays. Admission is free. Special exhibition may have an admission fee. For exhibitions, programming and special events, visit chrysler.org or call (757) 664-6200.