A Deeper Look at Surface Beauty
- An interactive online colloquium
- Organized by the Freer Gallery of Art/Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- May 12, 2010, 8:30 – 10 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
Taking the Freer Gallery exhibition Surface Beauty: American Art and Freer’s Aesthetic Vision as a jumping off point, this colloquium explores the complicated narratives of cultural transmission and translation that lie beneath the surface harmonies of collector Charles Lang Freer’s aesthetic vision. Following an exhibition overview, curator Lee Glazer will discuss how the objects in the exhibition relate to The Story of the Beautiful, a web resource being developed by the Freer and Wayne State University that will situate Freer and his circle within a cosmopolitan dialogue with European and Asian interpretive communities. Other presenters include:
- Linda Merrill, Emory University
Capturing Aestheticism through Photography: Caffin, Coburn, and Freer - Susan Key, Keeping Score/San Francisco Symphony
Sympathetic Vibrations: Musical Resonances of Surface Beauty - Eunyoung Cho, Wonkwang University
Crossing Boundaries for the Beautiful: Asia and America at the Turn of the Century
Registration is free, but required
Translation in Korean and Japanese available.
Discussion with the online audience will follow.
This event is being organized by the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art/Arthur M. Sackler Gallery with a generous grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art and is free and open to the public.

