Anish Kapoor Delivers Prestigious Demetrion Lecture at Hirshhorn Nov. 10

Internationally renowned sculptor Anish Kapoor will deliver the annual James T. Demetrion Lecture at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. This program is made possible by the Friends of Jim and Barbara Demetrion Endowment Fund, established in 2001 to celebrate Jim Demetrion’s 17-year tenure as the Hirshhorn’s second director.

“Anish Kapoor is one of most highly esteemed artists working today,” said Melissa Chiu, the Hirshhorn’s director. “But he had yet to win much of the acclaim his work has merited when Jim Demetrion acquired a major piece for the Hirshhorn’s collection in 1989. It is an apt tribute that Kapoor will be giving the lecture that bears Jim’s name.”

Kapoor is also among the 40 artists who have made significant and lasting contributions to the field of modern and contemporary art to be honored Nov. 9 at the Hirshhorn’s 40th Anniversary Gala at 4 World Trade Center in New York City. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Hirshhorn’s programming and exhibitions.

Kapoor creates objects and large-scale site-specific installations that challenge perception and provoke metaphysical introspection. Employing materials such as wax, raw pigment, fiberglass, stone, mirrors and cement, his work engages fundamental dualities of life and death, darkness and light, and presence and absence. Kapoor is the recipient of numerous honors, including the 1990 Premio Duemila, awarded to the best young artist at the Venice Biennale, and the 1991 Turner Prize. He is the most recent contemporary artist to show at the Palace of Versailles, where he is displaying works throughout the gardens. His sculpture “At the Hub of Things” (1987) lends its title to the Hirshhorn’s 40th anniversary exhibition, where it is currently on view.

The lecture will be held in the museum’s Ring Auditorium. The event is free of charge, but seating is limited and tickets are required. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis; pick them up in the Lobby after 5:30 pm on the day of the event.

Photo: Jillian Edelstein

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