Masterpieces at MoMA: New York's Modern Art Collection with Christian Breed

Our conversation will dive into the history of Western modernism – starting with the constructivist brushstrokes of Paul Cézanne and winding into Picasso’s forays into African art, Amedeo Modigliani’s obsession with masks, and Georges Braque’s first collages. Our expert will also guide us through tracing Henri Matisse’s flat color planes back to their origins in Moroccan tile work.

Together we will learn about the subsequent revolutions of Dada and Surrealism and their counterparts in Italian Futurism. This trajectory will be capped off by an in-depth look at the massive yet minimalist sculpture of Richard Serra.

Led by a Professor of Art History at the School of Visual Arts in New York, this seminar is designed to inspire curiosity as well as future visits to New York's MoMA. Participants will acquire a full sense of the development of European art, its roots in African and Islamic art, and how it laid the groundwork for American abstraction.

Christian Breed is a professor of Art History at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2004, an MFA from Hunter College (CUNY) in 2017, and an Advanced Curatorial Certificate from Hunter College (CUNY) in 2017. He worked and exhibited in Italy from 2003-2012, and his work has been included in the exhibitions Wet Paint (curated by Harry Cooper) at the Workhouse Arts Center, Virginia (2017), Hunter College MFA Thesis Exhibition (2017), Premio Razzano, Museo del Arte Contemporanea del Sannio (2011), Apeiron (solo), Mimmo Scognamiglio Arte Contemporanea (2009), Biennale Giovani, Villa Reale, Monza (IT)(2009), and Premio Maretti, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Della Repubblica di San Marino (RSM) (2005). He is a recipient of the 2015 Kossak Travel Grant, and is co-curator of Copy Translate Repeat, from the Coleccion Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (2018).

This conversation is suitable for all ages.

90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.