Distinguished Guest Lectures – Fall 2023
Coordinators: Arlynn Greenbaum, Bob Reiss, Karen Levin, Estelle Selzer
The bimonthly Guest Lecture Series enhances the Quest program experience by inviting recognized experts in their fields to present on varied subjects. Presentations includ discussions of global policy and political science, literature, theater arts, social science, and music.
This semester’s lecture lineup may be seen here.
DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURE SERIES
Philip Johnson and the Glass House: At Home with Art and Architecture
Presenter: Hilary Lewis, Chief Curator and Creative Director of The Glass House
Presentation Date: September 13, 2023
Hilary Lewis is the inaugural Chief Curator & Creative Director at The Glass House, a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and former home of the architect Philip Johnson. She is co-author of two books on the architect.
The Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut is one of the nation’s most innovative architectural environments. This former home of architect Philip Johnson, first built in 1949, but expanded over decades, continues to preserve a nearly 50-acre landscape that is as much a part of the visual design as the architecture itself.
Johnson was best known in the world of architecture, but he played an equally powerful role as a patron of art. He was one the largest donors to New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The talk will look both at the property, best known for its signature work of modern architecture, and the extraordinary (and complex) figure behind this special property, which served as both a laboratory for architecture and a salon for the arts.
DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURE SERIES
A Conversation with Anna Quindlen
Presenter: Arlynn Greenbaum, Anna Quindlen
Presentation Date: September 27, 2023
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Anna Quindlen will be our Kenneth Leedom/Peter Cott Memorial Guest Lecturer this Fall. We all fondly remember her columns for the New York Times, which were collected in Living Out Loud and Thinking Out Loud.
Quindlen is the author of nine novels including Object Lessons, One True Thing, Black and Blue, Rise and Shine and Alternate Side. Her memoir, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, published in 2012, was a New York Times bestseller. Her book A Short Guide to a Happy Life has sold more than a million copies.
The format will be an on-stage interview conducted by Arlynn Greenbaum, followed by audience questions