Calendar of Events

Naama Tsabar (MATRIX 189) and Laurie Anderson (MATRIX 46) engage performance and sound as pivotal components in their creative practices. Listen in as Tsabar and Anderson discuss how they use sound as a medium for artmaking, challenge the stereotypes of musical genres through experimentation, and reveal the feminist dialogues at play in their work. Free virtual program. 

Vincent van Gogh’s 1887 Self-Portrait recently returned to the Wadsworth after joining fifteen of the artist’s self-portraits from collections around the world in a landmark exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, London. For more than a century, these works have played a key role in our perception of the famous post-impressionist, his life, and his art. This special lunchtime presentation by Dr. Karen Serres, Curator of Paintings at the Courtauld, gives Wadsworth members the chance to look anew at this beloved painting in our collection. Virtual program. Email invitations will be sent with registration links.

Hear about newly discovered early photographs from the collection from the 1840s through the 1940s in a conversation between Allen Phillips, Collection Imaging and Publications Manager, and Director Dr. Matthew Hargraves. Virtual program. Email invitations will be sent with registration links.

Artists Stephanie Syjuco (MATRIX 190) and Byron Kim (MATRIX 125) discuss their respective MATRIX exhibitions, their creative practices, and how they approach themes of identity, representation, and history in their work. MATRIX Past and Present is an ongoing series of conversations leading up to the 50th Anniversary of the MATRIX exhibitions program at the Wadsworth in 2025. Virtual program. Free with required registration. 
 

Balthus (1908–2001) is one of the most controversial European painters of the twentieth century. Little known during the 1930s, his status as a leading modern artist advanced with the Wadsworth’s crucial help. Join curator Oliver Tostmann as he explores the fascinating story behind the artist’s career and his reception on both sides of the Atlantic. Keep an eye on your inbox for an email invitation and registration link. 

Stigmatized by its associations with cannabis, flameworked glass has been almost completely left out of the broader discussion surrounding the contemporary glass art movement. Recent public policy shifts and greater inclusivity within the glass art community are turning the tide, bringing long-overdue recognition to the contributions of flameworkers. Brandy Culp, curator of Fired Up: Glass Today, moderates a discussion between artists David Colton, Kim Thomas, Carmen Lozar, and Curator of Postwar and Contemporary Glass at the Corning Museum of Glass Susie Silbert about the history, artistry, and ever–advancing technology of flameworking to shed light on this historically under-appreciated technique. Listen as some of the major voices in contemporary flameworking reflect on the art form’s journey from scientific laboratories and underground studios to the mainstream art world. Free with required registration. 

Get an inside look at the Wadsworth’s newest Spotlight exhibition featuring Alexander Calder textiles from the collection, the first project formed by the Art Bridges Cohort Program. During this virtual program exhibition cocurators Erin Monroe and Laura Leonard discuss how these rarely seen textiles expand the story of modern design and reveal a range of influences on Calder’s materials and motifs, from early New England textiles to Latin and South American designs.

Keep an eye on your inbox for an email invitation and Zoom registration link. Not a member? Join today!

Image: Inge Morath, Calder Painting Gouaches, Roxbury (detail), 1964. Photograph. Gift of the Estate of Inge Morath, 2002.12.1

In 1965, choreographer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer premiered Parts of Some Sextets at the Wadsworth Atheneum with a cast of ten performers and twelve mattresses. The work marked a pivotal aesthetic shift in the artist’s approach to movement and helped usher in a radical shift in contemporary dance. Nearly six decades after its presentation here and a subsequent presentation at Judson Dance Theater, the work’s impact continues to be felt through a recent revival and continued scholarship. To celebrate the publication of Remembering a Dance: Parts of Some Sextets, 1965/2019 (Performa / Lenz Press / Wadsworth Atheneum, 2023), Rainer returns to the Wadsworth in conversation with dancer, choreographer, and longtime collaborator Emily Coates. The artists reflect on Rainer’s pioneering career, discuss the process of reconstructing Parts of Some Sextets for the Performa 19 Biennial in New York, and consider the landscape of contemporary dance.

Free with required reservation. A book signing follows the conversation.

Presented in partnership with Performa and sponsored by the Auerbach Library Associates at the Wadsworth Atheneum. Additional support is provided by the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation Fund at the Wadsworth Atheneum.

Image: Yvonne Rainer, Parts of Some Sextets, 1965/2019. Performa 19 Biennial. Photo by Paula Court, 2019. Courtesy Performa