Discussions
BMA Violet Hour: (Re)Constructing Juan Gris
Join us at the Baltimore Museum of Art for an evening inspired by Juan Gris, a pioneering and revolutionary contributor to the Cubist movement.
The program begins with a performance by PostClassical Ensemble, produced in collaboration with the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain and conducted by music director Angel Gil-Ordóñez. After the performance, take a deep dive into several of Gris’ works through a dynamically illustrated lecture by Dr. Harry Cooper, senior curator and head of modern art at the National Gallery of Art in DC.
RSVP required. Sign up here.
Watch the (Re)Constructing Juan Gris lecture live on YouTube and Facebook.
Arrive at 6 p.m. to enjoy a light reception, cash bar, and access to Color and Illusion: The Still Lifes of Juan Gris
6:00 p.m. Reception in Antioch Court; explore Color and Illusion: The Still Lifes of Juan Gris
7:30 p.m. Performance by PostClassical Ensemble
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor| Audrey Andrist, piano | Netanel Draiblate, violin | Benjamin Capps, cello | Nicolette Oppelt, flute | Fatma Daglar, oboe | David Jones, clarinet
Preludes nos. 5 and 6 for piano – Federico Mompou (1893–1987)
Pantomime and Ritual Fire Dance from El Amor Brujo and Concerto for keyboard and five instruments (1926). Mov. 1, Allegro – Manuel de Falla (1876–1946)
7:50 p.m. Exhibition overview with Katy Rothkopf, The Anne and Ben Cone Memorial Director of the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies and Senior Curator of European Painting and Sculpture; livestream begins
8:00 p.m. (Re)Constructing Juan Gris lecture by Dr. Harry Cooper
Health & Safety
The BMA now requires proof of full COVID-19 vaccination for all guests ages 12 and older to attend in-person events. All doses must be completed at least 14 days before the event. As proof of vaccination, we ask that you please bring your physical vaccination card or a photo or copy of your card at check-in.
About the (Re)Constructing Juan Gris lecture
Among the group of artists who invented Cubism in Paris in the early years of the 20th century, Juan Gris stands out for his faithfulness to that style, which he never left, and for his commitment to the genre of still life. Yet he was no conservative. He explored ideas about representation, color, structure, language, and materials that were as radical as any put forth by Picasso, Braque, or Léger. This lecture will look closely at a small number of paintings in the exhibition to uncover just how Gris reassembled the world around him and put it back together again.
About Dr. Harry Cooper
Harry Cooper is senior curator and head of the department of modern and contemporary art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. A native of Bethesda, MD, he earned his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1997 with a dissertation on the paintings of Piet Mondrian. Cooper curated modern art at the Harvard Art Museum for a decade before joining the National Gallery in 2008. He has organized or co-organized exhibitions on the work of Mondrian, Frank Stella, Stuart Davis, and Oliver Jackson, and has taught art history at Harvard, Columbia, and Johns Hopkins universities. His current project, a retrospective of the art of Philip Guston, will open next year, but its catalogue, Philip Guston Now, is already available. Other publications include The Cubism Seminars, which he edited and introduced for the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts in 2017, and “Decoding Gris,” an essay for the exhibition Cubism in Color organized by the Dallas and Baltimore art museums.
Called “one of the country’s most innovative music groups” by Philip Kennicott in the Washington Post, PostClassical Ensemble (PCE) was founded in 2003 by Angel Gil-Ordóñez and Joseph Horowitz as an experimental orchestral laboratory based in Washington, D.C. All PCE programming is thematic and cross-disciplinary, frequently incorporating art, film, dance, or theater. Its most recent Naxos CD features the world premiere recording of the classic 1944 radio drama Whitman, (“a revelation . . . absolutely marvelous,” said David Hurwitz in ClassicsToday). Of PCE’s five previous Naxos audio releases conducted by Gil-Ordóñez, Dvorak and America, featuring the world premiere recording of the PCE-created Hiawatha Melodrama, was named one of the best CDs of the year by Minnesota Public Radio. Hurwitz also wrote that PCE’s Naxos recording of the Lou Harrison Violin Concerto revealed “a major masterpiece . . . utterly compelling.”
About the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain
SPAIN arts & culture aims to promote Spanish culture in the U.S. through fruitful cultural exchanges among institutions and artists, fostering positive bilateral relations between our two countries. Among its objectives, the program enhances shared knowledge on the cultural and creative industries and facilitates professional opportunities for artists, drawing on our common Hispanic heritage.