The A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts ─ Fifty Years

The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts were begun in 1952 at the National Gallery of Art in order to bring the best in contemporary scholarship to the public. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the acclaimed series, the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts has published this handsomely illustrated documentary volume. The book tells the story of the genesis of the lectureship, featuring essays by a variety of contemporary scholars that discuss the first fifty lecturers?ranging from Jacques Maritain to Salvatore Settis and including such influential speakers as Anthony Blunt, Kenneth Clark, H. W. Janson, E. H. Gombrich, Kathleen Raine, Jacques Barzun, and Arthur Danto?their fields of expertise, and the subject matter and historical context for their talks. These graceful and balanced writings provide a vivid sense of the significance of the lectureship and its participants through commentary, critique, and lively personal anecdotes.

Elizabeth Cropper is dean of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.