Artist Talk | “Portrait of Courage”
Judith and Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi (left) and Kehinde Wiley (right)
Bryan Castro, artist-in-residence, 2022–2023 Core Program
Bryan Castro, How Soon Is Now? The Smiths / Love Spit Love / Bo Diddley’s Who Do You Love?, 2023, acrylic and graphite on canvas, courtesy of the artist. © Bryan Castro
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and Holofernes, c. 1612–17, oil on canvas, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy.
Kehinde Wiley, Judith and Holofernes, 2012, oil on linen, North Carolina Museum of Art, purchased with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Hanes in honor of Dr. Emily Farnham, by exchange, and with funds from Peggy Guggenheim, by exchange, and from the North Carolina State Art Society, Robert F. Phifer Bequest, 2012. © Kehinde Wiley / Courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of Art and Sean Kelly, New York
Saturday, April 15, 2023
Bryan Castro, an artist-in-residence in the Museum’s Core Program, talks about Portrait of Courage: Gentileschi, Wiley, and the Story of Judith. This traveling exhibition features two paintings that depict versions of the Old Testament story of Judith slaying Holofernes: Artemisia Gentileschi’s 17th-century Judith and Holofernes and Kehinde Wiley’s 21st-century Judith and Holofernes. Created 400 years apart and displayed together, the portraits raise contemporary issues through a historical lens.
Plan Your Visit
This program takes place in the conference room on the lower level of the Law Building, with seating on a first-come, first-served basis. The exhibition is located on the ground level of the Law Building. Both are included with general admission. On Saturdays, the Museum is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
About the Speaker
Conceptual artist Bryan Castro creates text-based works. His art has been included in shows at the Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU; / (Slash Art) in San Francisco; and the Black Ground Laboratorio Cultural in Cali, Colombia. Castro is one of six artists in the Glassell School of Art’s prestigious Core Residency Program for 2022–2023.
All Learning and Interpretation programs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, receive generous support from Macey and Harry Reasoner; the Claire and Theodore Morse Foundation; and the Texas Commission on the Arts. Endowment funds are provided by the Louise Jarrett Moran Bequest; Caroline Wiess Law; Windgate Foundation; the William Randolph Hearst Foundation; Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Fondren Foundation; BMC Software, Inc.; the Wallace Foundation; the Neal Myers and Ken Black Children’s Art Fund; Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Ballard; Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Tate; the Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation; Virginia and Ira Jackson; the Favrot Fund; CFP Foundation; Neiman Marcus Youth Arts Education; gifts in memory of John Wynne; gifts in memory of Peter Lotz; and gifts in honor of Beth Schneider.
The Core Program at the Glassell School of Art receives generous funding from The Joseph & Sylvia Slifka Foundation; The Powell Foundation; and The Glassell Family Foundation.
Core fellowships have been underwritten by Anchorage Foundation of Texas; Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Inc.; Mr. Brad Blume; Ms. Bettie Cartwright; Mr. and Mrs. Jamal H. Daniel; Mr. Ronald A. Logan; McClain Gallery; and The Arch and Stella Rowan Foundation, Inc.
“Portrait of Courage: Gentileschi, Wiley, and the Story of Judith” is organized by the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the museum box.
Generous support is provided by:
Bettie Cartwright
The Margaret Cooke Skidmore Exhibition Endowment