Summary: January 10, 2009 10:00 a.m–4:45 p.m. To mark the close of the exhibition Joan Miró: Painting and Anti-Painting 1927–1937, MoMA hosts a daylong symposium to consider issues surrounding the artist's creative production during a transformative decade within his long career. A distinguished group of international scholars offer new approaches to this period of the artist's work, examining its relation to the crisis of painting in Surrealism, the specific nature of the French and Catalan avant-gardes of the time, and the broader sociopolitical situation that emerged in Europe as the 1920s came to an end and the political tensions that would lead to World War II became increasingly apparent. Participants include Dawn Ades, Professor of Art History and Theory at the University of Essex, and Co-Director of the Centre for Studies of Surrealism and its Legacies; Juan José Lahuerta, Professor, History of Art, Escola Técnica Superior d'Arquitectura, Barcelona; Susan Laxton, art historian (PhD, Columbia University); David Lomas, Reader in Art History, University of Manchester, England; Robert S. Lubar, Associate Professor, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University; Jordana Mendelson, Associate Professor, Spanish and Portuguese, New York University; and Charles Palermo, Associate Professor of Art History, Department of Art and Art History, The College of William and Mary. Anne Umland, Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, and organizer of the exhibition, introduces the day's presentations. The symposium closes with a roundtable discussion. 10:00–10:20 Welcome and Introduction, Anne Umland 10:20–10:50 "Miró's Challenge to Painting: A Dialogue with Picasso, 1924–1930," Robert S. Lubar 10:50–11:20 "Turning Bodies," Charles Palermo 11:20–11:50 "Anti-Painting and Espagnoles," Juan José Lahuerta 12:00–1:30 Lunch Break 1:30–2:00 "Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí, and the Catalan Avant-Garde c. 1928," Dawn Ades 2:00–2:30 "Telephone Game," Susan Laxton 2:30–3:00 "Grounds for Painting: Joan Miró's Object (Object of Sunset) (1936)," David Lomas 3:00–3:15 Afternoon Break 3:15–3:45 Response, Jordana Mendelson 3:45–4:45 Roundtable Discussion and Q&A Held in conjunction with the exhibition Joan Miró: Painting and Anti-Painting 1927–1937.
