New Haven–based artist Titus Kaphar finds inspiration by reaching back through centuries of American history and art history, rescripting familiar dramas and weaving new narratives with paint, tar, wax, plaster, paper, furniture, and more. Kaphar will discuss how works from the Yale University Art Gallery’s collection, including paintings by John Trumbull and Thomas Eakins, became a pivotal source of inspiration during his years at the Yale School of Art and continues to play a role in the current evolution of his complex body of work. In 2007 Kaphar completed the artist-in-residence program at the Studio Museum in Harlem. He is the inaugural recipient of the Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence Fellowship from the Seattle Art Museum, where his work was the subject of a 2009 solo exhibition titled History in the Making.



This talk is presented in conjunction with the Gallery’s special exhibition America Rising, part three of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery and as part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas