DIRECTOR'S LECTURE SERIES—INVENTING TRADITION: NATIONAL GALLERIES AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS IN THE AGE OF NATION BUILDING

Tuesday, February 11, 2014, 7–8:30 pm
Dr. Janne Sirén

(Complete series: Tuesdays, September 10, 2013; October 1, 2013; November 5, 2013; February 11, 2014; March 11, 2014; and April 8, 2014, 7–8:30 pm)

7–8 pm, Lecture by Dr. Janne Sirén
8–8:30 pm, Conversation with Dr. Sirén and Participants
Series Price:
$375 for Members
$500 for non-members
$200 for students (with valid student ID)
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Auditorium

By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the idea of a museum accessible to the public had spread across Europe and into America. During the age of nation building, from the mid–nineteenth century to the end of World War I, museums became instruments through which governments and wealthy patrons narrated cultural identities for communities and entire nations. The modern art market, the discipline of art history, and the concept of the modern artist-hero were also born during this period. While the operation of museums professionalized between 1870 and 1920, cultural institutions also became axiomatic political instruments of and for fledgling democracies and the social elite. Topics explored in this lecture include the modern synergy among art, cultural institutions, and nationalism and the creative tension between the “academy” and the “avant-garde.”