Luc Tuymans and T. J. Clark

Luc Tuymans talks about his own work and about the past, present, and future of painting with noted art historian and author T. J. Clark in this year's Lambert Family Lecture.

Thanks to the tremendous RSVP response, we’ve moved this program to Mershon Auditorium, a larger venue where seating will be general admission (and not reserved). Guests are still encouraged to RSVP to help us track attendance numbers, but it is no longer required to reserve a seat.

Outspoken and often provocative, Tuymans defies the cliché of "letting the work speak for itself," even though many observers consider his images to be among the most eloquent and elegant artworks being made today. Tonight, he is joined in conversation by T. J. Clark, the respected scholar who delivered the inaugural Lambert Family Lecture (an insightful discussion of a single painting by abstract expressionist artist Willem de Kooning) at the Wexner Center in 2004.

Widely regarded as one of the most significant painters of his generation, Tuymans (b. 1958) was born and raised in Antwerp, Belgium, where he continues to live and work. He draws fluently on the vast historical traditions of painting and on more recent forms of visualization, such as photography, cinema, and television, in works that forthrightly grapple with the most compelling and complicated issues of contemporary life. The first U.S. retrospective of his work, jointly organized by the Wexner Center and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, is on view in our galleries through January 3, 2010, and will subsequently be shown in San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, and Brussels.

Among the best known and most avidly read scholars of art and cultural history, T. J. Clark is currently the George C. and Helen N. Pardee Chair and Professor of Art History at the University of California, Berkeley. His acclaimed publications include The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers, The Sight of Death: An Experiment in Art Writing, and Farewell to an Idea: Episodes from a History of Modernism. The breadth and depth of Clark's expertise make him an ideal conversational partner for Tuymans, whose work frequently mines both political history and cultural traditions.

The galleries are open tonight until 9:30 PM so that you can visit the Luc Tuymans exhibition before or after the conversation.

This lecture is made possible by support from the Lambert Family Lecture Series Endowment, which promotes dialogue about global issues in art and contemporary culture by supporting an annual event with distinguished artists and scholars.

Complete image captions
1. Orchid, 1998
Oil on canvas
39 1/4 x 30 1/4 in.
Private collection, New York, courtesy David Zwirner, New York
Copyright Luc Tuymans
Photo: Felix Tirry