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The Kennedy White House
Thu 1st Jun 2023 @ 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
National Archives and Records Administration, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
This talk is about the White House’s most celebrated twentieth century residents. Others had been, perhaps, more intellectual, such as Eleonora Roosevelt, certainly others utterly perfidious, just to name Nixon for one, but no other couple who inhabited the White House were ever so glamorous, sophisticated and celebrated. Of course they will never be forgotten given the tragic end to the Kennedy presidency, but this has tended to overshadow, somewhat, the astounding aesthetic and artistic changes made during their relatively brief tenure. Apart from the wonderful film tour of the residence made by Mrs Kennedy and still shown to visitors today, the Rose Garden was a fine creation by Jackie and her friend, the renowned garden designer Bunny Mellon. So too, the interiors were restored seriously, based on historical research and items belonging to the house throughout its history were purchased and returned, even in many cases gifted back by patriotic individuals. Take a trip down memory lane and visit Camelot in this richly illustrated talk.
Lecturer: Andrew Hopkins
Previously Assistant Director of the British School at Rome from 1998 to 2002 and since 2004, Associate Professor at the University of L’Aquila. Part of his PhD (Courtauld Institute 1995) on Venetian architecture was awarded the Essay Medal of 1996 by the Society of Architectural Historians (GB). A Fellow at Harvard University’s Villa I Tatti in Florence in 2003-2004, and in 2009 was the Paul Mellon Senior Visiting Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Amongst his many publications are, with Arnold Witte, Alois Riegl, The Origins of Baroque Art in Rome (2010), and Baldassare Longhena and the Venetian Baroque (2012).
In general, I give lectures for The Arts Society from January to June each year.