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Lecture Series

Public Presentations of Joan Root 

Signature Series ARTISTS’ SECRETS: Looking at Painting with an Artist’s Eye

These presentations explore the decision-making processes that artists consider when creating a work of art. With a deeper understanding of this artistic process, each viewer develops a greater appreciation of the art and the artist. These lectures have been presented at the National Gallery of Art, the Corcoran Gallery, the Kreeger Museum, private venues, and for audiences on Seabourn and Silversea ships.

SERIES I– The Elements of Painting – 4 presentations:

  1. Line
  2. Value:Light, Shade & Shadow
  3. The Magic of Color
  4. Format, Organization & the Golden Ratio

 SERIES II– Themes & Variations – 4 presentations:

  1. Here’s Looking WITHYou
  2. Perspective:Creating & Denying Visual Space
  3. Limitations and Liberties
  4. The Masters and Their Mentors

 SERIES III– Reality & Reflection – 4 presentations:

  1. Creating Illusions:Surfaces, Shading & Shining
  2. Seeing Transparency:Looking At & Seeing Through
  3. The Mirror:Its History, Depiction & Symbolic Meaning
  4. The Self-Portrait:Self-Recognition & Self-Regard

 SERIES IV– Media & Their Masterpieces – 4 presentations:

Live demonstrations and discussions of the different art media are followed by viewing slides and analyzing masterworks employing those media.

  1. Drawing:Pencil, Charcoal, Pen & Ink, Brush & Ink
  2. Water Based Media:Watercolor, Fresco & Egg Tempera
  3. Oil Painting:Benefits & Challenges of Panel & Canvas Supports
  4. Printmaking:Woodcut, Etching, Lithography

 ARTISTS’ SECRETS:

  • Looking at Painting with an Artist’s Eye– Highlights & Summary– [one presentation]

 

ITALY:

  1. The Legacy of Classical Rome

Inspired by Greek culture, Roman art and architecture have influenced     western civilization for 2000 years. [one or two presentations]

  1. The Glory of Renaissance Florence

The rebirth of interest in the visible world combined with an appreciation of classical culture ignited astonishing creativity and a search for beauty. [one or two presentations]

  1. The Grandeur of Renaissance Venice

Located at the crossroads of eastern and western cultures, Venetian art combined a variety of ideas and images to create works of intricate pattern and sensuous color. [one or two presentations]

  1. The Splendor of Christian Rome

During the Renaissance and Baroque eras, Papal financial support for rebuilding Rome attracted Italy’s finest artists who competed for commissions to create the great masterpieces we admire. [one or two presentations]

  1. Classical Greek Art in Southern Italy & Sicily [one or two presentations]
  2. Classical Roman Art in Pompeii & Rome [one or two presentations]
  3. Italian Renaissance and Baroque Painting– Undergraduate, one semester course [10 presentations]

GREECE and SOUTHERN ITALY:

  1. The Glory of Classical Greek Architecture[one or two presentations]
  2. The Glory of Classical Greek Sculpture & Painting [one or two presentations]
  3. Classical Greek Art in Southern Italy and Sicily[one or two presentations]

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN:

  1. Drink and Be Merry:Wine in Ancient Mediterranean Art – Italy, Greece, Egypt [one presentation]
  2. A Feast for Your Eyes:A History of Food Images & Meanings [one or two presentations]

WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN

SPAIN:

  1. Barcelona & the Art of Gaudi[one presentation]
  2. Picasso in Barcelona[one presentation]
  3. Miro in Barcelona[one presentation]

 

MOROCCO:

            The Magic of Morocco:From Matisse to Churchill [one presentation]

FRENCH IMPRESSIONISM and ITS CONTEMPORARIES

  1. Highlights of 19th Century French Painting before Impressionism[one or two presentations]
  2. Highlights of French Impressionism[one or two presentations]
  3. Impressionist Images of the Country[one or two presentations]
  4. Impressionist Images of the City[one or two presentations]

IMPRESSIONIST STARS:

  • Monet[one or two presentations]
  • Renoir and Pissarro[one or two presentations]
  • Degas[one or two presentations]
  • Cassatt & Morisot[one or two presentations]
  • Sisley & Caillebotte[one or two presentations]
  • British Painting in the Age of French Impressionism[one or two presentations]
  • American Painting in the Age of French Impressionism[one or two presentations]

OSLO, STOCKHOLM and ST. PETERSBURG:

  • 19th Century Norwegian Art and Edvard Munch[one presentation]
  • Art Highlights in Stockholm[one presentation]
  • Dutch and Italian Art Highlights in the Hermitage: [one or two presentations]
  • French ArtHighlights in the Hermitage: [one or two presentations]
  • The Creation of the Hermitage Museum and its Great Collectors[one or two presentations]

CARIBBEAN:

  1. Caribbean Inspiration:From Rousseau, the Philosopher to Rousseau the Painter and the Search for the Noble Savage [one presentation]
  2. Gauguin in the Caribbean and His Search for Paradise[one or two presentations]
  3. Pissarro:From a Childhood in St. Thomas to Parisian French Impressionist [one presentation]

MEXICO:

  • Olmec Art[one presentation]
  • Mayan Art[one presentation]
  • Aztec Art[one presentation]

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA:

  • Highlights of the Museo des Bellas Artes[one presentation]

 PACIFIC and AUSTRALIA:

  • Gauguin and His Search for Paradise I:Before Tahiti [one presentation]
  • Gauguin and His Search for Paradise II:Transformed by Tahiti [one presentation]
  • 19th Century Australian Landscape Painting: Artists Discover Australia & Attract New Settlers[one presentation]

VIET NAM:

  • Fabulous Hanoi:Art & Daily Life [one presentation]
  • Vietnam’s Cultural Center:Imperial Hue & Hoi An Village [one presentation]
  • Vietnam’s Unique Lacquer Paintings[one presentation]
  • Rural Vietnam:From the Mekong Delta in the South to the Sapa Highlands in the North [one presentation]

PRESENTATIONS on SPECIFIC ARTISTS:

    ITALIAN:

  • Michelangelo
  • Leonardo
  • Raphael
  • Bellini
  • Titian
  • Caravaggio

    DUTCH:

  • Rembrandt
  • Van Gogh
  • Vermeer

    AMERICAN:

  • Winslow Homer
  • Mary Cassatt

    RUSSIAN:

  • Catherine the Great & Her Collection

    SPANISH:

  • Picasso
  • Miro
  • Gaudi

    FRENCH:

  • Caillebotte
  • Degas
  • Gauguin
  • Matisse
  • Monet
  • Picasso
  • Pissarro
  • Renoir
  • Van Gogh

    NORWEGIAN:

  • Edvard Munch

    GERMAN:

  • Albrecht Durer

ART HISTORY SURVEY:

From the Prehistoric through 1945 – Undergraduate level, two semesters