IAC ANNOUNCES 19TH ANNUAL AMERICAN ART CONFERENCE:,

“Revelations, Re-examination, Resurrection:

Cycles and Circles in American Art”

Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17, 2014.

Initiatives in Art and Culture (IAC) has announced the agenda for its 19th annual American Art conference, entitled “Revelations, Re-examination, Resurrection: Cycles and Circles in American Art” taking place May 16 and 17, 2014.

A reception and viewing of "Seeking Beauty: Paintings by James Jebusa Shannon" at Debra Force Fine Art, Inc. on Friday, May 16.  A closing reception and viewing of "Full Spectrum 1860 to 2014, American Paintings and Sculpture" will be held at GRAHAM James Graham & Sons on Saturday, May 17.  Opportunities for book purchases and signings are included in the conference.

“We’re thrilled to present the American Art conference for the 19th consecutive year, and to have such a stellar group of speakers,” said Lisa Koenigsberg, President, Initiatives in Art and Culture.  “Our intention this year is to look at the circles in which artists worked to broaden our understanding of that which they created.  Additionally, we explore the cycles of taste that propel movements and styles in and out of favor.”  Koenigsberg continued, “We are grateful to all our sponsors, among them The Henry Luce Foundation and the Richard and Jane Manoogian Foundation, along with many other members of the American art community, for helping to make Cycles and Circles possible.”

The 19th Annual American Art confer­ence will use as a point of departure “Reclaiming American Art” (the 2013 con­ference) which began to explore artists who, while once famous, were no longer and revealed particular phases of artists’ oeuvres that fell from favor as tastes changed.

This year, exploring the extent of artistic activity in a given time and place, and artists rang­ing from the unknown (or “not bought, not taught”) to the renowned to reveal relationships between those now seen as pivotal and others who were members of a given circle are a focus. The conference examines the connections—a person, school and movement, or technical innovation—between one center of artistic activity and another, as well as the interconnections among those who help create a thriving art culture: artists, dealers, collectors, scholars, critics, and curators. The goal is to expand knowl­edge and understanding of American art and the nuances that—far from un­important—can mark the shift from one era to another, and reveal the dom­inant players in this cultural drama.

Formal sessions for the conference will be held at The Graduate Center, City University of New York (365 Fifth Avenue). 

Presenters include:

Margaret C. Adler, assistant curator, Amon Carter Museum of American Art William C. Agee, Evelyn Kranes Kossak Professor of Art History, Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY) Brian T. Allen, director of the museum division, The New-York Historical Society Mark Cole, curator of American painting and sculpture, Cleveland Museum of Art Alfred C. Harrison, Jr., owner of North Point Gallery and authority on Californian art Barbara Haskell, curator, Whitney Museum of American Art Alexander Katlan, conservator and author Valerie Ann Leeds, independent curator and scholar specializing in the work of Robert Henri and his circle Lisa N. Peters, independent art historian and adjunct professor, St. Joseph’s College, Brooklyn Karen E. Quinn, Kristin and Roger Servison Curator of Paintings, Art of the Americas, Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston Louis M. Salerno, owner, Questroyal Fine Art and Blakelock authority Andrew Schoelkopf, co-founder and partner, Menconi + Schoelkopf Nancy Rivard Shaw, curator emerita of American art, Detroit Institute of Arts Carol Eaton Soltis, project associate curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Center for American Art Andrew Thompson, art dealer and scholar, specializing in late 19th- and early 20th-century American paintings James W. Tottis, museum consultant Elizabeth Hutton Turner, University Professor, Department of Art, University of Virginia

CONTACT:    

Michael Arbini, rB&e Public Relations

Michael@rbeane.com, 212-600-1095