Design Agendas Symposium Discussion Panels

On October 26, 2024, as part of the Design Agendas Public Symposium, community leaders, municipal leaders, and scholars joined in dialogue around...

Design Agendas Symposium Keynote Address

On October 25, Toni L. Griffin, professor in practice of urban planning at Harvard University Graduate School of Design gave a Keynote Address as part...

Q&A with Eric P. Mumford and Michael E. Willis

As part of the opening celebrations for Design Agendas: Modern Architecture in St. Louis, 1930s – 1970s, co-curators Eric P. Mumford and Michael...

Timothy Morton: "This Is Hell, It's Not the End of the World"

Organized in conjunction with the exhibition Santiago Sierra: 52 Canvases Exposed to Mexico City’s Air, Timothy Morton, Rita Shea...

Kahlil Robert Irving and Andrea Achi: Archaeology and Contemporary Art

On April 3, 2024, artist Kahlil Robert Irving was joined in conversation by Andrea Achi, Mary and Michael Jaharis Associate Curator of Byzantine Art...

Toxic Sublime: Art and the Climate Crisis

On March 20, 2024, in conjunction with the exhibition Santiago Sierra: 52 Canvases Exposed to Mexico City's Air, panel participants from a range of...

Q&A with Kahlil Robert Irving

On February 23, 2024, as part of the opening celebrations for Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present, artist Kahlil Robert Irving was joined...

Adam Pendleton: To Divide By

“Things are always happening at once,” says Adam Pendleton. “I want the paintings to be like that.” In this video, Pendleton,...

Reading and Talk with Poet Simone White

“Because I believe poetry makes it possible to think impossible thoughts, thoughts that are off the epistemological grid, I believe poetic...

Artist Q&A: Adam Pendleton

  “What is your name?” “Where are you from?” “How did you end up here?” “Can you feel it?”...

Selections from the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, 16th century

Lecture: “Gerard Sekoto and the International Histories of African Modernism” 

  On April 24, 2023, Joshua Cohen, associate professor of art history at the City University of New York, discussed the life and work of the...

Discussion: “Collecting and Exhibiting Modern African Art” 

  As part of the festivities for the opening of African Modernism in America on March 10, 2023, exhibition co-curators Perrin Lathrop, assistant...

Katharina Grosse: Returns, Revisions, Inventions

  "Color can appear anywhere,” says Katharina Grosse. “It is independent from any location … Color gets to you like noise, a...

Opening Event: “Lest We Forget” 

  On view October 20–November 6, 2022, in Ann and Andrew Tisch Park of Washington University in St. Louis, Lest We Forget is an exhibition...

Artist Q&A: Katharina Grosse 

Katharina Grosse is internationally celebrated for her large-scale, on-site works that she paints across built and natural environments. To date, less...

Spring 2022 Interactive Laptop Music Compositions

  Washington University students in the spring 2022 Laptop Music course perform their interactive electronic compositions in the Kemper Art...

Lecture: “Monsters, Cyborgs & Other Vessels: Apparitions of the Yellow Woman” 

  In this lecture, held on March 31, 2022, Anne Anlin Cheng, professor of English at Princeton University and Visiting Hurst Professor in the...

Artist Talk: Nicole Miller 

  The California-based artist and filmmaker Nicole Miller is known for creating videos and multimedia installations that address what it means...

Artist Talk: Chitra Ganesh 

  In conjunction with the exhibition Chitra Ganesh: Dreaming in Multiverse, on view at the Kemper Art Museum in spring 2022, artist Chitra...

Gallery Talk: “(Un)Masking Health” 

  In this February 10, 2022, gallery talk, faculty curator Ivan Bujan, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality...

Artist Talk: Deborah Roberts and Adrian Octavius Walker with Adrienne Davis 

  On December 4, 2021, artists Deborah Roberts and Adrian Octavius Walker, both featured in The Outwin: American Portraiture Today, spoke with...

Artist Talk: Sheldon Scott with Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw

  On November 20, 2021, artist Sheldon Scott, who is featured in The Outwin: American Portraiture Today, spoke with Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw,...

New Perspectives Talk: “Interpreting the Ink Rubbings of the Wu Liang Shrine”

  On November 9, 2021, Yutong Ma, master’s student in the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design in the Sam Fox School of...

Art Movement 

  How does art encourage us to move and be moved? Experience the role of art as a catalyst for movement—embodied, political, and...

Artist Talk: Jess T. Dugan and David Antonio Cruz with Amber Johnson 

  On October 23, 2021, artists Jess T. Dugan and David Antonio Cruz, both featured in The Outwin: American Portraiture Today, joined Amber...

Screening & Artist Talk: Hugo Crosthwaite 

  On September 11, 2021, artist Hugo Crosthwaite, winner of the fifth triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, spoke with Taína...

ASL Tour: “Art & Social Change” 

  On September 7, 2021, artist and educator Meridith Gray Green presented an online American Sign Language tour in conjunction with the 2021...

Discussion and Performance: "Hostile Terrain 94" 

  On September 2, 2021, Tabea Linhard, professor of Spanish and comparative literature and Global Studies affiliate; Mattie Gottbrath,...

Discussion: “Fast Forward”

  Are there currents in contemporary art-making that define our complex sociopolitical, historical moment, locally, nationally, and globally?...

Discussion: “Women’s Work” 

  On April 28, 2021, Arthur Greenberg Undergraduate Curatorial Fellows Lydia McKelvie (AB '22), Alice Nguyen (AB '22), and Hannah Ward (AB '21)...

New Perspectives Talk: “Memory and Resistance: Charles Meryon’s Paris”

  On April 24, 2021, Lacy Murphy, PhD candidate in the Department of Art History & Archaeology in Arts & Sciences, considered the...

A Close Look at "Parking Lots" by Ed Ruscha

  Student educator Jay Buchanan takes a closer look at Parking Lots (Century City, 1800 Avenue of the Stars) #23 by Ed Ruscha in relation to the...

Screening and Q&A: Amy Sillman 

  On April 10, 2021, artist Amy Sillman; Rebecca Sears, lecturer in the Department of Classics in Arts & Sciences; artist and composer Wibke...

A Close Look at “Les Pauvres” by Pablo Picasso (Mandarin)

  Student educator Yue Dai takes a closer look at Les Pauvres by Pablo Picasso in Mandarin.  

A Close Look at “Oenone” by Harriet Hosmer

  Student educator Jay Buchanan considers how artists working in various artistic mediums have connected figures from ancient Greek and Roman...

A Close Look at “Untitled (Colored People Grid)” by Carrie Mae Weems

  Why do artists sometimes label their works "Untitled"? In this video Student Educator Lingran Zhang explores how the title of Untitled...

Lecture: “Blurring the Boundaries: The Rise of Blockbuster Museum-Quality Exhibitions” 

  On February 20, 2021, Valentina Castellani, former director of New York's Gagosian Gallery, discussed the rise of blockbuster exhibitions in...

New Perspectives Talk: “To Do without People: Moyra Davey’s Impossible Renunciation”

  On February 6, 2021, Jenny Wu, MA student in the Department of Art History & Archaeology in Arts & Sciences, situated four of Moyra...

Discussion: “African American Architecture in St. Louis: The Case of Charles E. Fleming”

  On January 30, 2021, Washington University architectural historians Shantel Blakely and Eric Mumford joined architect Michael Willis (AB '73;...

Teaching from the Collection: Thomas Cole, “Aqueduct near Rome”

  Join Manel Errando, assistant professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, for a guided closer look at the Moon in Thomas Cole's 1832 painting...

Guided Close Looking: Fernand Léger, “Les grands plongeurs”

  Join Olivia Mendelson for a guided closer look at Fernand Léger's 1941 artwork Les grands plongeurs (The Divers). 

Guided Close Looking: Rodney McMillian, “Untitled (Clouds)”

  Join Meredith Lehman for a slow look at Rodney McMillian's 2019 artwork Untitled (Clouds). 

New Perspectives Talk: “Myths of the Orient: Deconstructing the European Vision of the Middle East”

  On December 5, 2020, Eve Rosekind, PhD student in the Department of Art History & Archaeology in Arts & Sciences, gave a talk about...

Lecture: “Multidirectional Memories, Implicated Subjects, and the Possibilities of Art” 

  On November 14, 2020, Michael Rothberg, the 1939 Society Samuel Goetz Chair in Holocaust Studies and professor of English and comparative...

Gallery Talk: “The Autonomous Future of Mobility” 

  On November 7, 2020, assistant professors of architecture Constance Vale and Shantel Blakely discussed the historical consequences and future...

New Perspectives Talk: “A Visual Breakdown: Confronting the Strange in Max Ernst’s L’oeil du silence”

  On October 31, 2020, Max Dunbar, PhD candidate in the Department of Art History & Archaeology in Arts & Sciences, explored the...

Lecture: “Activating the Spectator by Reshaping the Aesthetic Field” 

  On October 10, 2020, the Kemper Art Museum presented a live online lecture by Alexander Alberro, Virginia Bloedel Wright Professor of Modern...

Gallery Talk: “Truths and Reckonings”

  On Tuesday, September 29, the Kemper Art Museum hosted an online tour of the spring 2020 Teaching Gallery exhibition, Truths and Reckonings:...

Lecture: “Hybrid Landscape, a Lecture by Walter Hood” 

  On September 26, 2020, the Kemper Art Museum presented a lecture by the renowned landscape designer and artist Walter Hood, principal of Hood...

Discussion: “The Artwork in Flux, a Live Q&A” 

  On September 12, 2020, Natilee Harren, assistant professor of art history at the University of Houston School of Art, joined Meredith Malone,...

Discussion: “Global Vistas: American Art and Internationalism” 

  On Saturday, August 15, 2020, the Kemper Art Museum hosted a live online conversation about the importance of international travel and...

Discussion: “Collection Care: A Conversation with the Midwest Art Conservation Center”

  On July 25, 2020, conservators from the Midwest Art Conservation Center (MACC) joined a live online conversation about what goes on behind the...

Discussion: “The Art of Reading an Ancient Greek Vase” 

  On June 6, 2020, faculty from Washington University's Department of Classics in Arts & Sciences discussed key works from the Kemper Art...

Discussion: “Public Art: Commissions, Collections, and Engagement” 

  What does public art mean while we shelter in place? What can it tell us about who we are during a global pandemic? A live online conversation...

Art on Campus: Jaume Plensa 

  Spanish artist Jaume Plensa discusses his process, public art, and the origins of Ainsa I, the site-specific sculpture is located at the south...

Art on Campus: Katharina Grosse 

  German artist Katharina Grosse discusses painting, its relationship to architecture, and her dramatic 2016 commission for Washington...

Guided Close Looking: Willem de Kooning, “Saturday Night”

  Join Museum educator Meredith Lehman for a 5-minute slow look at Willem de Kooning's 1956 painting Saturday Night. Immerse yourself in the...

Gallery Talk: “Edition MAT and Marcel Duchamp” 

  Ideas of reproduction, transformation, and wide distribution were central to the artistic practice of Marcel Duchamp. On April 25, 2020,...

Selections from the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, 16th century

March 2020

Lecture: “Unstable Futures: Conserving the Immaterial”

   Artistic exploration into technology from the 1960s to today has challenged the field of conservation as technologies rapidly evolve and...

Discussion: “Truths and Reckonings” 

  Taking the concept of the “pop-up” memorial museum as its point of departure, this panel discussion—held on February 10,...

Lecture: “How to Make a Refugee”

  On November 15, 2019, Thomas Keenan, professor of comparative literature and director of the Human Rights Program at Bard College, gave the...

Ai Weiwei: Bare Life 

  “I’m not a person who has a clear plan,” Ai Weiwei said. And yet, he observed, flowing “like a leaf on the...

Artist Q&A: Ai Weiwei 

  In conjunction with the Kemper Art Museum's fall 2019 special exhibition Ai Weiwei: Bare Life, Sabine Eckmann, William T. Kemper Director and...

Allan Sekula, Volunteer’s Soup (Isla de Ons, 12/19/02), 2002–3

Bräunert, Svea, September 2016

Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled (Colored People Grid), 2009–10

Unruh, Allison, September 2016

Isa Genzken, Bill II, 2001, and Little Crazy Column, 2002

Bräunert, Svea, September 2016

Paul Gauguin, Te Atua (The Gods), 1899

Childs, Elizabeth (Washington University in St. Louis), September 2016

Honoré Daumier, Europe, 1867

Valsamas, Maxime, March 2016

Thomas Cole, Aqueduct near Rome, 1832

Coleman, William L. (Washington University in St. Louis), February 2016

Odilon Redon, Une femme revêtue du soleil (A Woman Clothed in Sunshine), 1899

Zahra, Orin, December 2015

Nicole Eisenman, Tea Party, 2012

Shindler, Kelly, November 2015

Art on Campus: Ann Hamilton 

  Ann Hamilton discusses her project O N E E V E R Y O N E · St. Louis, for which she photographed nearly 300 people during a pair of...

(PDF) Freedom's Memorial, 1875

Thomas Ball, Freedom's Memorial, 1875

Harnish, Katherine, April 2015

St. Louis and Arts Philanthropy at Midcentury: The Case of Etta E. Steinberg

Childs, Elizabeth (Washington University in St. Louis), January 2015

Yto Barrada, Tunnel—Disused Survey Site for a Morocco–Spain Connection and Landslip, Cromlech de Mzora, 2001–2002

April 2014

Franz Seraph von Lenbach, Portrait of Prince Otto von Bismarck, 1884–90

van Dyke, James (University of Missouri–Columbia), March 2014

Sanford Robinson Gifford, Rheinstein, Early October in the White Mountains, and Venetian Sails: A Study, 1872–1874

Padgett, Jennifer, December 2013

Hendrick Goltzius, The Great Hercules, 1589

Bass, Marisa, October 2013

Eugene Berman, The Good Samaritan (Le bon Samaritain), 1930

Holz, Keith, March 2013

Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life 1928–1945 

  In the early 20th century, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso invented Cubism and shook the foundations of Western art. But in the 1930s, as the...

Daniel Hopfer, The Peasant Feast, c. 1533–36

Wyckoff, Elizabeth, December 2012

Paul Klee, Zeichensammlung Südlich (Collection of Southern Signs), 1924

McGavran, Sarah, April 2012

Jackson Pollock, Sleeping Effort, 1953

Miller, Angela, March 2012

Fumihiko Maki, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum building, 2006

Mumford, Eric P. (Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis), November 2011

Albrecht Dürer, Melencolia I, 1514

Gregg, Ryan, September 2011

Fernand Léger, Les belles cyclistes (The Women Cyclists), 1944

Malone, Meredith (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), July 2011

Frederic Edwin Church, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, 1883

Bailey, Matthew (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), April 2011

Henri Matisse, Nature morte aux oranges (II) (Still Life with Oranges [II]), c. 1899

Klein, John (Washington University in St. Louis), April 2011

Barbara Kruger, Untitled, 1989–90

Bailey, Bradley, November 2010

Philip Guston, If This Be Not I, 1945

Roth, Lynette, October 2010

Alberto Burri, Gran Ferro M1, 1958, and Gran Ferro M3, 1959

Butler, Karen K. (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), September 2010

Allan McCollum, Pam Beale, 1971

Malone, Meredith (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), August 2010

Max Beckmann, Weather-vane from the series Day and Dream, 1946

Norton, Sydney (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), April 2010

Unknown, Wulfing Repoussé Plaques, c. 1200–1400

Robb, Matthew, March 2010

Robert Motherwell, Interior with Pink Nude, 1951

Butler, Karen K. (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), January 2010

Jean Dubuffet, Tête barbue, 1959, and Poches aux yeux, 1959

Butler, Karen K. (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), December 2009

Wolfgang Tillmans, Portrait series, 2001

Warbelow, Anna, September 2009

Howard Jones, Solo Two, 1966

Malone, Meredith (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), August 2009

Pierre Soulages, Peinture 200 x 265 cm, 20 mai 1959 (Painting 200 x 265 cm, 20 May 1959), 1959

Butler, Karen K. (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), May 2009

Georges Braque, Nature morte et verre (Still Life with Glass), 1930

Butler, Karen K. (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), March 2009

Lorna Simpson, Counting, 1991

Weichbrodt, Elissa, February 2009

Christian Boltanski, Padre Mariano, 1994

DeRoo, Rebecca, January 2009

Raphael Soyer, Girl Standing Semi-nude, c. 1940

Campbell, Bryna, December 2008

Joseph Stella, Man in Elevated (Train), c. 1916–18

Murawski, Michael, November 2008

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Three Crosses, 1660-61

Crenshaw, Paul (Washington University in St. Louis), October 2008

Hermonax, Nolan Amphora, 475–465 BC

McClelland, Grizelda, September 2008

Alexander Calder, Five Rudders, 1964

Malone, Meredith (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), August 2008

Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña, Wood Interior, 1867

Keith, Rachel (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), July 2008

Harriet Hosmer, Oenone, 1854–55

Sutherland Minter, Erin (Washington University in St. Louis), June 2008

George Wesley Bellows, Portrait of Geraldine Lee, No. 1, 1914

Murawski, Michael, May 2008

Willem de Kooning, Saturday Night, 1956

Curley, John J., April 2008

Max Ernst, L’oeil du silence (The Eye of Silence), 1943-44

Eckmann, Sabine (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), March 2008

Joseph Jones, Landscape, 1932

Campbell, Bryna, February 2008

Ludwig Meidner, Selbstbildnis (Self-Portrait), 1912

Popiel, Anne, January 2008

Olafur Eliasson, Your Imploded View, 2001

Malone, Meredith (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), December 2007

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Le chemin des vieux, Luzancy, Seine-et-Marne, 1871–72

Paulson Bradley, Noelle, November 2007

Thomas Eakins, Portrait of Professor W. D. Marks, 1886

Boone, Emilie, October 2007

John Baldessari, Two Compositions (Formal / Informal; Interior / Exterior), 1990

Manchanda, Catharina, September 2007

Marsden Hartley, The Iron Cross, 1915

Murawski, Michael (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), August 2007

Max Beckmann, Les Artistes mit Gemüse (Artists with Vegetable), 1943

Eckmann, Sabine (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), July 2007

Andrea Fraser, Little Frank and His Carp, 2001

Malone, Meredith (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), June 2007

Franz Ackermann, Condominium, 1994–2002

Kovach, Jodi (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), May 2007

Josef Albers, Homage to the Square: Aurora, 1951-55

Murawski, Michael, April 2007

Cosima von Bonin, Rockstars (Character Appropriation), 2003

Kovach, Jodi (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), March 2007

Romare Bearden, Black Venus, 1968

Malone, Meredith (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), February 2007

Lucebert, The Menaced House, 1962

Malone, Meredith (Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis), January 2007

"American Art Chronicle," November 1880

"Art Museum Centennial," Washington University Magazine, Fall 1981

"Stacking Traumas": Communicating Sound, Negotiating Trauma

"The University Collections," Washington University Magazine, Fall 1963

19th- and Early 20th-Century American and European Art

Across Past, Present, and Future: Art by Black Artists

American and European Art Post-1950

Art Talk

Engage in an interpretive conversation about a work of art. 

Art and Activism

Art and Storytelling

Balancing Acts

Combine art and engineering to create a sculpture that responds creatively to design problems.  Download the Balancing Acts educator resource:

Bolas, Gerald D., "One Hundred Years of the Washington University Art Collection," 1981

Borders and Resistance

A close look at the photography of Franco-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada in the collection of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum "All my work explores...

Butler, Karen K., "Frederick Hartt and American Abstraction in the 1950s: Building the Collection at Washington University in St. Louis. St. Louis," 2012

Connecting Literature and Visual Art

Continuous Line Drawing

Slow down, focus your attention, and notice more the longer you look with this close looking activity. 

Conversation Bubbles

Step inside the scene and imagine a conversation between figures with this creative writing activity.  Download a PDF of the Conversation...

Eckmann, Sabine, "Introduction; or, The (Re)Making of Art History," 2016

Ekphrastic Poem

Amplify and expand the meaning of an artwork through vivid description with this creative writing activity.  

Expressing Emotions

Download the Expressing Emotions handout and educator resource:

Group Poem

Practice perspective-taking with this collaborative creative writing activity. 

Ives Memorial Association, Halsey Cooley Ives, LL.D. 1847-1911, 1915

Ives, Halsey C., "The St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts," April 1908

Janson, H. W., "Centennial Address, 1981

Janson, H. W., Modern Art in the Washington University Collection, March 1947

Kansas City Times, "A Gala Week: The Museum of Fine Arts and the New Southern at St. Louis," May 15, 1881

Ketner, Joseph D., "A Gallery of Modern Art," 1994

Leven, Arline, Charles Parsons Collection of Paintings, 1977.

Lines, Shapes, and Colors

Museum of Fine Arts postcard

New York Times, "An Art Gift to St. Louis," May 12, 1881

New York Times, "Current News of the Fine Arts," April 22, 1894

Photograph of Charles M. Kurtz and Halsey C. Ives, circa 1893

Photograph of the original Museum of Fine Arts building at Nineteenth and Locust Streets

Sherwood, Dolly, "My Dearest Mr. Crow," Washington University Magazine, Fall 1981

Spiderweb Weaving

Take a cue from Tomás Saraceno’s Cosmic Filaments and create your own spiderweb while learning the art of weaving.  Download the...

St Louis Globe-Democrat, "A Grand Gift: Mr. Wayman Crow Formally Dedicates the Museum of Fine Arts," May 11, 1881

St. Louis Globe Democrat, "Washington University," June 13, 1879

St. Louis Globe-Democrat, "Art Notes," March 6, 1881

St. Louis Globe-Democrat, "The School of Fine Arts: Closing of the Regular Session-Prof. Halsey C. Ives Makes an Address to the Pupils," May 8, 1881

St. Louis Globe-Democrat, "Washington University: Its Art Department, Museum of Fine Arts and Manual Training School," June 21, 1879

St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Exhibition advertisement, May 30, 1881

St. Louis Post Dispatch, "Washington University: The Crow Art Building and the New Manual Training School," July 31, 1880

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Museum of Fine Arts: Wayman Crow's Generous Gift to the City of St. Louis," May 7, 1881

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Prof. Ives' Return," September 26, 1885

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "The City's Growth: The Progress of Building in St. Louis," August 20, 1879

Symbols in Art and Math

Let’s take a close look at a painting by Alfred Jensen, an artist fascinated by the meaningful patterns found in number systems, in order to...

The Power of Queer Portraiture

Download the educator resource:

Tissue Paper Collage

Create a tissue paper collage inspired by the artist Amy Sillman’s painting process. 

Wallace, William, "Frederick Hartt: A Tribute," 2012