News and Events
Roz Chast: American Pictures Distinguished Lecture Series
April 26, 2009
The fourth and final event of this year's American Pictures series at the Smithsonian featured Roz Chast, the renowned New Yorker cartoonist, speaking about a cartoon by Charles Addams. Held in Washington, D.C. the series is cosponsored by Washington College, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the National Portrait Gallery. Chast's talk filled every seat in the auditorium at the Smithsonian; the audience included over a hundred Washington College students, faculty, staff, and friends.
Before this event, Washington College students offered their own mini-American Pictures lectures throughout the museum. Their presentations were part of a course based on the series offered this semester, in which students learned to look, interpret, and riff on individual artworks just as the guest speakers did. For the last six weeks of the class, each one focused on an individual picture, of his or her choosing, in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum or the National Portrait Gallery.
Click to enlarge photos by Matt Spangler.
Benjy Duke '10 speaks about his chosen picture, Alexandre Hogue's "Dust Bowl" (1933). Duke had conducted oral-history interviews with farmers from his home state of Colorado who had lived through the Dust Bowl.
Students, faculty, and guests watch Duke's presentation.
Preston Hildebrand '12 with his picture, Thomas Hart Benton's "Achelous and Hercules" (1947).
The audience for the talks included students, faculty, alumni, members of the Chestertown community, and passers-by in the museum.
Caroline Perry '10 chose Abbott Handerson Thayer's "My Children (Mary, Gerald, and Gladys Thayer)" (c. 1897).
Douglas Taggart '09 spoke on Mark Tansey's painting "Interception" (1996).
Taggart chats about the painting with Donald and Ann McColl and Adam Goodheart.
Members of the class awaited the start of Chast's talk.
Eleanor Harvey, Chief Curator of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, welcomed guests and spoke about the Smithsonian's partnership with Washington College.
Adam Goodheart, director of the American Pictures series, introduced Chast.
Chast showed several of Addams's famously macabre cartoons.
She spoke about how her New Yorker predecessor had influenced her own work.
Chast also shared stories about her own morbid obsessions in childhood.
The speaker's work has made her one of the best-known and most loved cartoonists of her time—as Addams was in his.
Chast enjoys an exchange with an audience member during the question period.
President Baird Tipson, Terry Cooney, and Vice President for College Advancement Beth Herman watch Chast's talk.
Chast with President Tipson. Starr Center Program Manager Michael Buckley, McColl, Harvey, and Goodheart.
Lecturer in Art Robbi Behr—herself an accomplished illustrator—with her daughter, Alden.
President Emeritus John Toll with Chast.
Lois Fern, National Portrait Gallery Director Emeritus Alan Fern, President Toll, Debby Toll, and National Portrait Gallery Chief Curator Carolyn Carr.
Members of the "American Picture" class gather with Chast in the museum's courtyard after the event.
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