19th Annual American Art Conference

The 19th Annual American Art Conference, Revelation, Re-examination, Resurrection: Cycles and Circles in American Art Initiatives in Art and Culture will be held in New York City on May 16th and 17th at the City University of New York in the Graduate Center.

Click HERE for the full program and conference brochure.

The impressive program includes panel discussions, presentations, receptions as well as exhibitions of art.

Additionally, the organizers Lisa Koenigsberg, president, Initiatives in Art and Culture has offered thorough the AW Blog, members of the International Society of Appraiser and all Appraiser Workshop blog readers a discounted rate of $225 for the full conference. That is $125 off the standard registration fee.

You must mention or use the promo code "ISA" when registering for the discount and register by May 4. You can register at www.cyclesandcircles.eventbrite.com or by calling 646-485-1952.
(edited May 5, discount continued until May 10, use promo code linkedin)

If you are appraising art as a profession, the conference looks like an excellent choice on specific artist and period information and content. At $225 for two days it is a bargain given the topics, number of qulaity presentations and the importance and reputation of the speakers.

Click HERE for the full program and conference brochure.

The speakers range from important art dealers to some the most respected museum curators, scholars and conservators in the country (see the impressive list below). Some of the topics include fickle Frame, Thomas Sully, Panel Discussions, England's Washington Allston, Fitz Henry Lane, Luminism to Tonalism, Ralph Albert Blakelock, Winslow Homer, Valentine Dudensing, Thomas Hart Benson, Calder, Realist painting and more.

The conference is hosted by Initiatives in Arts and Culture.

Initiatives in Arts and Culture (IAC) educates diverse audiences in the fine, decorative, and visual arts. Our primary activities are conferences, publications, and exhibitions that take an interdisciplinary approach, considering issues related to fabrication, connoisseurship, cultural patrimony, cultural preservation, and the future of culture. Particular areas of emphasis include American painting, precious substances, the history of frames, the Arts and Crafts movement, the influence of Asian cultures on American fine and decorative art, and the history and future of fashion. IAC’s projects have been supported by a wide array of individual, corporate, and foundation funders.

IAC reports on the conference

In the 19th Annual American Art conference, we will use as a point of departure “Reclaiming American Art” (the 2013 conference) which began to reacquaint us with artists who, while famous at one time, were no longer and with particular phases of artists’ oeuvres that fell from favor as tastes changed. We will continue to contextualize the works of well-known artists in milieus populated by those who fell into obscurity.

Our intention this year is to look at the circles in which artists worked to broaden our understanding of that which they created. We will continue to explore the extent of artistic activity in a given time and place, and those 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. We also look at the connections— be it a person, school and movement, or technical innovation—between one center of artistic activity and another.

Additionally, we explore the cycles of taste that propel movements and styles in and out of favor. We also investigate the interconnections among those who help create a thriving art culture: artists, dealers, collectors, scholars, critics, and curators. Our 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.

Receptions at Debra Force Fine Art and GRAHAM complement the formal program, as do booksignings and book sales.

Speakers 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;
• 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;
• 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;
• Karen E. Quinn, Kristin and Roger Servison Curator of Paintings, Art of the Americas, Museum of Fine Arts;
• Louis M. Salerno, owner, Questroyal Fine Art and Blakelock scholar;
• 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, who is coauthor of the forthcoming Thomas Hart Benton catalogue raisonné;
• James W. Tottis, museum consultant;
• Elizabeth Hutton Turner, University Professor, Department of Art, University of Virginia.

The conference is organized by Lisa Koenigsberg, president, Initiatives in Art and Culture.

Click HERE for more info and HERE to register.