October 22, 2020
When they launched the design competition for their new headquarters in 1922, the publishers of the Chicago Tribune were seeking to build “the world’s most beautiful office building.” Prizes totaling $100,000 were offered to entrants, and 263 designers from 23 countries submitted entries. The competition was a watershed moment in the evolution of skyscraper architecture, and the diversity of the entries underscored the broad palette available to architects as they struggled with appropriate forms for tall buildings. In this lecture, David Brashear will examine the importance of the competition and some of the noteworthy submissions.
March 28, 2020
Join Eliot Dudik, Lecturer in Photography, Department of Art & Art History at William & Mary, for an introduction to the large format camera, and its abilities in producing a portrait. After capturing an image, film will be processed, and the group will gather in the darkroom to see a finished print emerge from the operation. Members, W&M Students, Faculty and Staff: $125 | Non-Members: $150 | Please note that space is limited to 15 participants, and advance registration is required.
March 20, 2020
Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman celebrates the life and career of one of the world’s greatest architectural photographers. Shulman’s images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream. The photographer, who passed away in 2009, captured the work of nearly every modern and progressive architect since the 1930s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Frank Gehry. His images epitomized the singular beauty of Southern California’s modernist movement and brought its iconic structures to the attention of the general public.
Run time: 84 minutes; a brief introduction by the Student Organizers will precede the screening.
February 10, 2020
A noted photographer and writer, Erika Fabian has published 23 books and nearly 200 photo-illustrated articles. Her career includes many years of on-assignment travel and work for National Geographic Magazine. In this session, Fabian will explain the concept that professional photos are not taken but created. She will talk about “picture thinking,” the artistic and technical aspects of National Geographic-type of photography, and how this concept can be adapted in virtually any travel photo situation.
Members, W&M Students, Faculty and Staff: Free | Non-Members: $10
December 3, 2019
After the closure of the Bauhaus by the Nazis in 1933 for its curriculum based on “degenerate” art, many of its artistic luminaries began to feel stymied by the pressures of an all-controlling government. As the suppression broadened, a number of Bauhaus leaders emigrated to the United States, bringing with them a breadth of modernist design principles. In this lecture, David Brashear will investigate the impact of Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, Josef and Anni Albers, and László Moholy-Nagy as they made their presence known in America. Free to Members, W&M Students, Faculty, and Staff. Non-Members: $5 […]
October 30, 2019
A century after its founding, scholars and the art-and-design interested public associate the Bauhaus with modernist architecture, avant-garde design and abstract painting by artists such as Kandinsky, Klee, or Moholy-Nagy. Until recently, mainstream accounts of the school have most often failed to acknowledge the significance of Bauhaus women’s work either on its own or in relation to its impact on the institution. In this talk, Elizabeth Otto, PhD, Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Studies, University of Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences and Ailsa Mellon Bruce Senior Fellow, 2019 – 2020, The Center for Advanced Studies in the […]
October 25, 2019
Join us for our second installment of MUSCARELLE READS. This semester, we are reading Gropius: The Man Who Built Bauhaus in conjunction with our MUSCARELLE EXPLORATIONS: 100 Years of Bauhaus series. Fiona MacCarthy presents a fascinating reexamination of the urges that drove European and American modernism through the life of Walter Gropius, the founder of Bauhaus.
May 24, 2019
David Brashear, Interim Director, Muscarelle Museum of Art Art Museums loom large on the cultural landscape, and when new ones are built, they are important opportunities to present the current state of architectural and design thinking. In this lecture, we will explore recently constructed museums in America, including smaller museums on college campuses and larger institutions that serve as flagship centers of civic engagement in urban settings. We will also check in on the current status of our own quest for a new museum at William & Mary. Free to Members, W&M Students, Faculty, and Staff. Non-Members: $5 Space is […]