“More Real Than True: Cubist Collage and Trompe l’Oeil” with Emily Braun

“More Real Than True: Cubist Collage and Trompe l’Oeil” with Emily Braun On-Site & Online Talk | Member Appreciation Days

Though trompe l’oeil painting aims to deceive the viewer—at least momentarily—it is also a sophisticated art form that raises questions about the nature of pictorial representation. From 1909 to 1915, cubists Georges Braque, Juan Gris, and Pablo Picasso challenged the conventions of Western painting. At the same time, they looked to the realist trompe l’oeil tradition, engaging with its compositions, motifs, and play with word and image. Art historian Emily Braun considers key moments in the development of cubist collage and the creative competition between the artists who redefined standards of originality and authenticity. Members are invited to join us on-site in the Comcast NBCUniversal Auditorium or online via livestream. Online registrants will be emailed a link to access the talk on Thursday, December 8.

Speaker: Emily Braun

Braun is a distinguished professor at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, and curator of the Leonard A. Lauder Collection. An expert on modern Italian art and cubism, she has organized award-winning exhibitions, among them The Power of Conversation: Jewish Women and Their Salons (Jewish Museum, 2005) and Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2015). In 2014, she co-curated Cubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), which received the Award for Excellence from the American Association of Museum Curators. Her lecture relates to Cubism and the Trompe l’Oeil Tradition, October 20, 2022–January 22, 2023, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which she co-curated with Elizabeth Cowling.