Bray Series Lecture – “Them Damned Pictures”

Guest Lecturer
Michael Kelly
Collector

The Flint Institute of Arts will hold a bray series lecture, Them Damned Pictures, presented by guest lecturer Michael Kelly on Fri. Nov. 2 at 6p in the FIA Theater. This event is free and open to the public.

Even before Tv and Internet, American politics had no shortage of attack ads. But the most effective form of political attacks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was the political cartoon.

With photography in its infancy – and far too expensive for widespread use – these cartoons even appeared in “illustrated weeklies,” a kind of newspaper noted for its high quality engravings.

In the hands of a master, such as Thomas Nast of the Harper’s Weekly, these cartoons could dominate a campaign by converting abstract issues into powerful images that could make or break political careers and even decide a presidential election.

After his successful election as President, U.S. Grant stated that his election victory was due to “the sword of Sheridan and the pencil of Nast.” The boss of New York City’s Tammany Hall machine, William Tweed, once told his minions, “Stop them damned pictures. I don’t care what the papers write about me. My constituents can’t read. But, damn it, they can see pictures.”

This talk will feature examples of this often brilliant imagery, placing them into the context of their times and discussing their impact.

Worth a Thousand Words: American Political Cartoons is on display Nov. 3, 2012 through Jan. 6, 2013 in the Graphics Arts Gallery.

FIA Halloween Happenings

Dr. Suess’s The Lorax

Join the Flint Institute of Arts for Lorax-themed Halloween Happenings on Saturday, October 27 from 10a-4p. All programs are free and open to the public.

The wise and quirky Lorax of Seussical fame was first to go green and inspires great ideas for Halloween fun at the FIA.

Family Film: Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax
10:00a & 12:00p
FIA Theater
A 12-year-old boy searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world.

Gallery Hunt
11:00a–4:00p
FIA Galleries
Search the galleries for characters from Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.

Lorax Green, for Halloeween

1:00p-4:00p

Art School Studios
Ages 5-12
The wise and quirky Lorax of Seussical fame was first to go green and inspires great ideas for Halloween Ghosts and Goblins. Revisit the story by making a pop-up Lorax puppet, his signature mustache, a humming fish hat, truffala tree and Once-ler treat bags, stand up flowers, recycling labels, and a seeded paper heart that really grows.

Thompson Lecture

Old World Splendor for New World Magnates: Collecting Tapestry in America

The Flint Institute of Arts is hosting the 22nd annual Thompson Lecture with Guest Lecturer Thomas P. Campbell, Director of Metropolitan Museu

Guest Lecturer
Thomas P. Campbell
Director, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York City

m of Art, New York City, on October 22 at 6p in the FIA Theater. This is a members-only event. Look for your invitation soon.

Since becoming the ninth director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2009, Thomas P. Campbell has pursued an agenda that focuses on scholarship and accessibility. These priorities maintain the museum’s excellence in its exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, and permanent collections, while encouraging new thinking about the visitor experience. Prior to his appointment, Campbell was a curator for 14 years in the Metropolitan’s Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts where he organized two major exhibitions on Renaissance and Baroque tapestry.

Dr. Campbell has lectured and taught extensively on European court patronage and the relation of tapestries to the other arts. He has also published extensively
on the subject of historic European textiles and their relationship to other art forms of their periods. He has been the recipient of awards and fellowships, including the Iris Foundation Award (Bard Graduate Center) for a scholar in mid-career deserving of recognition for outstanding contributions to the study of the decorative arts (2003).

Born in Singapore and raised in Cambridge, England, Campbell received his B.A. in English language and literature from the University of Oxford in 1984, followed by a Diploma from Christie’s Fine and Decorative Arts course, London, in 1985. He received a Master’s degree in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1999 from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London.

The Thompson Lecture was established in 1991 by Dr. and Mrs. Jack W. Thompson to enable the Flint Institute of Arts to present a distinguished speaker in the arts or humanities each year. The Thompson Lecture is one of the Institute’s few members- only events and was established, in part, to attract new members to the FIA.

Bray Lecture: “Picasso: A Portrait of the Artist” at the FIA

Guest Lecturer
Michael Farrell
Professor of History, University of Windsor,
Ontario, Canada

The Flint Institute of Arts is hosting a Bray Series Lecture with Guest Lecturer Dr. Michael Farrell, who will present “Picasso: A Portrait of the Artist,” in the FIA Theatre on Oct. 12 at 6p. This event is free to the public.

Almost every work of art that Picasso produced was a page taken from his personal diary. This lecture will trace the many portraits of his wives, children and mistresses, which in the end, will give us a remarkable portrait of the artist himself.

Dr. Michael Farrell has been a professor of art history and founder of the Honors Art History Program at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, for the past 30 years. He is also a lecturer for Central Michigan University and has served as adjunct education curator at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Detroit Historical Museum. He also lectures for the Radisson Diamond University of the Sea.

The Bray Series are made possible by the Viola E. Bray Charitable Trust

“Drawing Together: International Cartoons” Lecture & Exhibition at FIA

Agim Sulaj, Italy
Untitled, 2008
12 5/8 x 9 1/8 inches
Courtesy of the Aydin Dogan Foundation

The Flint Institute of Arts presents the exhibition, Drawing Together: International Cartoons, in the Hodge and Temporary Exhibitions Gallery from Sept. 15 to Dec. 30, 2012.

Unlike most American cartoons, the works presented in Drawing Together: International Cartoons do not have captions. Without words, they express concepts and emotions, using a common visual language that cuts across boundaries. Drawn from the international cartoon contest held annually in Istanbul, Turkey, this exhibition presents more than 100 award-winners from over 35 countries, with dates ranging from the competition’s inception in 1983 to 2011. The intent of the competition, organized by the Dogan Foundation, is to stimulate thinking about important issues among nations. Every year 3,000 images are submitted, 300 of which are then seen and selected for awards by a jury made up of international cartoonists.

While many cartoons deal with world affairs, such as war and peace, environmental issues, and human rights, others deal with more personal issues of hope, love, and despair. Through humor, irony, or clever visual metaphor, cartoons have the capacity to make the viewer think, and be challenged on many levels, about important themes and ideas that are sometimes difficult to articulate with mere words. The cartoons not only present the individual perspective of the artist but also depict universal issues that affect us all.

In 2007, the New York Times said the “great cartoons of recent times” provided “an excellent chance to catch up on a quarter-century of world affairs and an eternity of human folly.”

Members Preview & Lecture

The Morality of Laughter: How Humor Tells us Right from Wrong – What to Do and Not Do about It

Friday, September 14, 2012 • 6p

Guest Lecturer Robert Mankoff

Bob Mankoff is the cartoon editor of The New Yorker and founder of The Cartoon Bank. He is one of the nation’s leading commentators on the role of humor in American politics, business and life.

Mr. Mankoff edited The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker(Black Dog & Leventhal), the best-selling coffee table book for holiday 2004, featuring all 68,647 cartoons ever published in The New Yorker since its debut in 1925. He describes this as the golden age of humor, where humor helps build personal connections in business and personal relationships. Mankoff has also edited dozens of cartoon books, published four of his own, and is an accomplished cartoonist. In fact, over 900 of his cartoons have been published in The New Yorker over the past 20 years, including the best-selling New Yorker cartoon of all time (the harried businessman at his desk with a phone to his ear, reviewing his calendar and saying: “No, Thursday’s out, how about never. Is never good for you?”). He is the author of The Naked Cartoonist, a book published in 2003 on the creative process behind developing magazine-style cartoons.

This exhibition is made possible by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

Book Discussion: The Memoirs of Cleopatra

Part I: Art Lecture
Sept 27 • 7p  or  Oct 3 • 1:30p

Part II: Book Discussion
Oct 11 • 7p  or  Oct 17 • 1:30p

Bestselling novelist Margaret George brings to life the glittering kingdom of Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, in this lush, sweeping, and richly detailed saga. Told in Cleopatra’s own voice, this is a mesmerizing tale of ambition, passion, and betrayal, which begins when the twenty-year-old queen seeks out the most powerful man in the world, Julius Caesar, and does not end until, having survived the assassination of Caesar and the defeat of the second man she loves, Marc Antony, she plots her own death rather than be paraded in triumph through the streets of Rome.

Read an Excerpt

Listen to Author Margaret George on NPR