In the first decades of the 20th century, art collector and philanthropist Charles Lang Freer helped make Michigan—especially Detroit and Ann Arbor—into a global hub for the collecting and study of Chinese art. How did Freer, who founded the Freer Gallery of Art that is now part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, connect Detroit with people, institutions, and artworks across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans? And how did these cultural networks relate to and amplify the rising political and economic power of the United States in the early 20th century?

Ian Shin (Assistant Professor of History and American Culture, University of Michigan) will discuss how Charles Lang Freer’s genuine desire to learn about and care for Chinese art and antiquities positioned Michigan in the vanguard of what foreign policymakers today call “America’s Pacific Century.”

This event is co-sponsored by The Freer House/WSU and the DIA's Friends of Asian Arts and Cultures.

In conjunction with the exhibition Van Gogh in America, the Detroit Institute of Arts is hosting two scholarly panel discussions on January 12, 2023.

The second session, which will take place in the DIA’s Lecture Hall and simultaneously livestreamed (on YouTube and Facebook), will discuss the myths surrounding Van Gogh’s persona and his body of work that pervade global popular culture.

This panel discussion featuring Nienke Bakker, Senior Curator, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, as well as Louis van Tilborgh and Teio Meedendorp, both Senior Researchers at the Van Gogh Museum, will discuss some of the many myths that surround Van Gogh and how studies of the posthumous reception of the artist worldwide can help to shed light on the creation and perpetuation of some of these myths.

This discussion will be moderated by DIA curators Jill Shaw (Head, The James Pearson Duffy Department of Modern and Contemporary Art and Rebecca A. Boylan and Thomas W. Sidlik Curator of European Art, 1850–1970) and Dorota Chudzicka (Assistant Curator of Modern European Art).

In conjunction with the exhibition Van Gogh in America, the Detroit Institute of Arts is hosting two scholarly panel discussions on January 12, 2023. The first session, which will be all virtual, will explore the reception of Van Gogh and his art and the history of Van Gogh’s legacy across various geographies: in Holland, Germany, France, Great Britain, United States, and Japan.

Speakers include:

• Chris Stolwijk, General Director RKD–Netherlands Institute for Art History / Professor of History of Dutch Art in an International Context, 1800–1940, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
• Alexander Eiling, Head of Modern Art, Städel Museum, Frankfurt
• Bregje Gerritse, Researcher, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
• Carol Jacobi, Curator of British Art 1850–1915, Tate Britain, London
• Jill Shaw, Head, The James Pearson Duffy Department of Modern and Contemporary Art and Rebecca A. Boylan and Thomas W. Sidlik Curator of European Art, 1850–1970, Detroit Institute of Arts
• Tsukasa Kōdera, Professor of Western Art History, Osaka University

Moderator: Dorota Chudzicka, Assistant Curator of Modern European Art, Detroit Institute of Arts
 

The DIA has a rich collection of Native American artwork that offers insights into the customs, rituals, and daily activities of several indigenous cultures, past and present. Come join us as we celebrate pieces from both North and South America.

Friends of Art & Flowers invites you and a guest to join us for a special private viewing of Van Gogh in America and reception. 

• 6 p.m. | Arrival
• 6:15 p.m. | Remarks from Exhibition Curator, Jill Shaw Head, The James Pearson Duffy Department of Modern and Contemporary Art Rebecca A. Boylan and Thomas W. Sidlik Curator of European Art, 1850-1970
• 6:25–7:25 p.m. | Exhibition Viewing
• 7–9 p.m. | Reception

Complimentary Valet Parking is available at the John R entrance. Please enter through the doors located off John R Street

This virtual tour celebrates the wonderful works of Spanish-speaking artists of various cultures in the DIA’s Collection.

Educators are invited to join us on 11/18 for a workshop featuring a series of sessions focused on creativity, technology, and digital fabrication! Participants will meet best-selling author Peter Reynolds and discover new strategies for creatively engaging students. 

The day will include multiple sessions from which participants will build their own agenda. Options will include research-based principles of creativity inspired by the work of Vincent van Gogh, web-based animation, digital fabrication inspired by van Gogh, and more. Registrants will be contacted after securing their spot to schedule their day in full. 

This one is expected to sellout, so register today!

SCECHs Pending

Thank you to Ford Motor Company Fund and Flagstar Foundation for making this program possible.

Vincent van Gogh was a master of capturing the people and places that shaped him into the artist we all think we know. The letters of Van Gogh offer further insights into the man behind the paint. As in his paintings, a strong sense of self, scene, situation, and setting emerge in his letters.

In this writing workshop offered in conjunction with the exhibition Van Gogh in America, we will look closely at several of these letters to see the writer behind the artist and be inspired to paint with words the world as we know it. 

Peter Markus is the Senior Writer with InsideOut Literary Arts. Markus is the author of a number of books of fiction, among them We Make Mud and The Fish and the Not Fish, which was selected as a Notable Michigan Book in 2015. Markus's most recent book is the collection of poems, When Our Fathers Return to Us as Birds, which explores the death of his father and how this experience shaped Markus to see the world through sharper eyes.
 

Milton Avery: In Retrospect

Milton Avery (1885-1965) is best known for his distilled views of the world using imaginative colors and flattened forms. In a career that spanned the early 20th c. heyday of American Impressionism and the post-World War II triumphs of Abstract Expressionism, he forged a staunchly independent artistic path.

Erin Monroe, Krieble Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, will survey Avery’s life and legacy, from his childhood in a working-class family in Hartford, CT, to the midcentury when he mentored cutting-edge younger artists including Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman.

Presented in partnership with the Ida and Conrad H. Smith Fund.

In this follow-up session, we'll take another look at some of the youngest subjects in the DIA's collection. Who are these children? What does their presence mean? Join us as we consider children in art across time and cultures.

How to Join the live event: 

• Click this link to enter your ZIP code
• You'll be given another link to proceed to watch the event