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Conferences and Symposia
Conferences, symposia, and study days provide opportunities for in-depth exploration of topics and ideas related to the Gallery’s collection and special exhibitions.
Recent Symposium
Past Conference

Expanding a Shared Vision: The Art Museum and the University
A Conference at Yale
May 8–10, 2014
Academic museum professionals share a vision. We are committed to enriching higher education through excellence in teaching, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and creative integration of the museum into student life. We care about our audiences on campus and beyond …
Past Symposia
Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830
Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Symposium
September 15–16, 2016
Rhode Island was the center of a dynamic and active cabinetmaking trade during the colonial and Federal periods, and its makers produced some of the most iconic pieces of American furniture ever created …

Ceramic Presence: Conversations on Making, Looking, and the Museum
November 12–13, 2015
This two-day symposium gathers artists, curators, collectors, and others for a series of conversations about the role of ceramics within the wider realm of art …

Tell as a Whole: Collaborations between Artists and Architects from the Late Nineteenth Century to the Present
Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Symposium
November 15–16, 2013
To “tell as a whole,” as the American muralist Edwin Howland Blashfield wrote in 1898, is to combine all the elements of art and architecture into a decorative interior of seamless unity …

Imitation is the Sincerest Form… : Marcel Duchamp and the Copy in Contemporary Art
Lydia Winston Malbin Symposium
November 11, 2011
This symposium was organized on the occasion of the restoration of Marcel Duchamp’s Rotary Glass Plates (Precision Optics) (1920) and the manufacture of a facsimile, which makes it possible to demonstrate the …

Gold in Southeast Asia
May 13–14, 2011
Organized in celebration of the gift of the Hunter Thompson Collection of Javanese gold to the Gallery, this symposium coincided with an exhibition of objects from the collection and with the Gallery’s publication of a …

The Art of Adornment: The American Jewelry Tradition from the Seventeenth Century to the Present
Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Symposium
October 16–17, 2009
The 17th Annual Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Symposium explored the study, production, and function of jewelry in America along four themes: fashion and jewelry; materials and techniques; jewelry as …

The Journey of “Chanoyu”: An International Symposium on the Tea Culture of Japan, Past and Present
April 17, 2009
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Tea Culture of Japan: “Chanoyu” Past and Present, this symposium featured discussions on the content and aesthetics of Japanese tea culture by international tea …

Postwar Art and the New York Contemporary Art Market
October 3–4, 2008
This symposium examined art and the New York contemporary art market in the postwar era. Noted scholars, artists, dealers, and collectors discussed how the market for contemporary art changed over the …

“A Freshly Invented World”: Art and Innovation in the 1920s
Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Symposium
April 11–12, 2008
The 16th Annual Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Symposium was organized in conjunction with the exhibition Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy. The Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque …

Hand and Heart: Collecting, Curating, and Creating American Folk Art
Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Symposium
March 31, 2007
The 15th Annual Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Symposium was organized in conjunction with the exhibition Made for Love: Selections from the Jane Katcher Collection of Americana. The Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque …

The Contemporary Print: Artists and Master Printers
March 3, 2007
This contemporary printmaking symposium, held in conjunction with the special exhibitions Making a Mark: Four Contemporary Artists in Print and Jasper Johns: From Plate to Print …

Historical Fictions: Constructing the Past in Gilded-Age America
Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Symposium
October 28–29, 2005
The 14th Annual Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Symposium was organized in conjunction with the exhibition Historical Fictions: Edward Lamson Henry’s Paintings of Past and Present …

Classical Furniture in America, 1800–1840
Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Symposium
September 19–21, 2003
The 13th Annual Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Symposium was organized in conjunction with the exhibition Curule: Ancient Design in American Federal Furniture …