AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2016 FALL/WINTER 2016 2 30 Welcome to the Fall 2016 issue LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT CONVIVIUM of AAR Magazine. New York and Rome Galas 4 In this issue, we celebrate this year’s central theme FAR AFIELD 31 of American Classics, exploring programs and work Checking in with Fellows and Residents DONORS that define what it means to be American and the ways in which this is reframed in the context of 6 34 our setting in Rome. We also feature the artists, FROM THE ARCHIVES FELLOWS writers, scholars, and composers in our diverse and Ralph Ellison at AAR The 2016–2017 Rome Prize winners expansive community, as well as one of our signa- ture programs: the Rome Sustainable Food Project, 7 36 which recently published its latest cookbook, Carne. IN RESIDENCE WHEN IN ROME We also highlight new partnerships with organiza- Spotlighting recent Residents AAR Director Kim Bowes shares favorite places tions such as the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation in Rome and the Institute for International Education, which help expand our audiences. FEATURES 10 Vi diamo il benvenuto al numero WANDERING ROME “Autunno 2016” dell’AAR Magazine. A View of One’s Own compares photographic perspectives on Rome Questo numero è dedicato agli American Classics, il tema centrale attorno al quale si snoda l’attività 18 di quest’anno dell’Accademia: eventi e lavori che FOREIGN BODIES definiscono che cosa significhi “essere americani”, Three Fellows make use of AAR’s Fellows Project Fund e le maniere in cui questo concetto si riconfigura to share their work with Rome nel contesto della nostra presenza a Roma. Siamo lieti di farvi conoscere gli artisti, gli scrittori, gli 22 studiosi e i compositori che operano nella nostra SUPPORTING ARTISTS Comunità sempre più ampia ed eterogenea, AAR welcomes Syrian artist Rashwan Abdelbaki a uno dei nostri programmi distintivi, il Rome Sustainable Food Project, che quest’anno celebra 24 la pubblicazione del suo ultimo libro di cucina, WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT AMERICA Carne. Siamo inoltre felici di illustrarvi le nostre The Helen Frankenthaler Foundation sponsors a new nuove collaborazioni, con organizzazioni come la season of conversations on “American Classics” Helen Frankenthaler Foundation e l’Institute for International Education, che contribuiscono a ren- 26 dere il nostro pubblico sempre più vasto. FROM OUR TABLE A new cookbook shares recipes from AAR’s kitchen 29 LENS ON GREEK HISTORY A visit with Trustee Charles Williams II LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT: L’arrivo dei nuovi vincitori del Rome Prize a settem- i bre segna l’avvio di una serie nuova di conversazi- Follow @aarpresident on Instagram for oni che durerà per l’intero anno accademico, e per up-to-the-minute images of all that’s gli anni a venire. Gli argomenti toccati finora sono happening with AAR. molteplici, e spaziano dall’analisi dello smaltimento OPPOSITE dei rifiuti nell’antichità al ruolo delle produzioni AAR president Mark Robbins on the radiofoniche operistiche nella cultura italiana del roof of Fendi’s new headquarters at primo Novecento: siamo desiderosi di scoprire le Rome’s Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, a building commissioned by Benito idee e i progetti che nasceranno in Accademia nei Mussolini in 1943. prossimi mesi. Photo by Sergio Marini. Il lavoro di Borsisti e Residenti crea una cor- posa rete di intersezioni con il tema centrale di quest’anno, dedicato agli American Classics. Le #fellows #staff #thetablegetslonger #chrisbehr #romesustainablefoodproject September 15, 2016 October 12, 2016 (see p. 26) The arrival of the new Rome Prize winners in mostre, i concerti e i programmi tenuti a Roma, New September means the beginning of new conversa- York, Houston e Los Angeles riconsidereranno il tions that will last throughout the year, and for modo in cui il canone classico riflesso nelle immag- years to come. With topics ranging from analyses ini, nella musica, nei testi letterari e scientifici e of ancient refuse deposits to research on the role of nell’architettura ha partecipato a definire ciò che radio opera in early 20th-century Italian culture, significa “essere americani” e le modalità in cui tale we are looking forward to the ideas and projects that identità sarà ripensata nel futuro. Questi programmi will be generated at AAR over the coming months. pongono l’accento sull’importanza vitale dell’attiv- The work of the Fellows and Residents creates ità degli studiosi e degli artisti, e contribuiscono a a rich set of intersections with this year’s central diffonderla presso un pubblico più ampio. theme of American Classics. Exhibitions, concerts, Sempre più, i programmi dell’American and programs in Rome, New York, Houston, and Academy in Rome sono sostenuti e influenzati da Los Angeles will reconsider how the classical canon nuovi rapporti di cooperazione, come quelli—per in image, music, text, and architecture has helped nominarne solo alcuni—con la Helen Frankenthaler #acropolis #conservation #todwilliamsbillietsien define what it means to be American and the ways in Foundation, l’Institute for International Education August 4, 2016 (see p. 29) July 21, 2016 (see p. 30) which such identity will be reframed in the future. e la Quadriennale di Roma. Queste collaborazioni These programs underscore the vital importance sono un esempio del ruolo giocato dall’American of scholars and artists and helps brings their work Academy in Rome all’interno di un dialogo su scala to a wider audience. globale che pone il pensiero innovativo e la cre- Increasingly AAR programs are supported and atività in primo piano nella vita contemporanea. inflected by new partnerships, such as those with L’Accademia sostiene l’attività indipendente nelle the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, the Institute arti e nelle discipline umanistiche, offrendo un for International Education, and La Quadriennale beneficio sempre meno comune, e dà il suo contrib- di Roma. These collaborations exemplify the role of uto affinché questi lavori raggiungano platee più AAR as part of a global dialogue that keeps inno- vaste e diversificate. vative thinking and creativity at the forefront of contemporary life. The Academy provides support for independent work in the arts and humanities, #ninfa #fellows #mika #giorgiomoroder #mckimmedal an ever-rarer commodity, and helps that work reach October 13, 2016 June 9, 2016 (see p. 30) broader and more diverse audiences. Mark Robbins, President 2 Fall/Winter 2016 3 FAR AFIELD: Newest novel by Prose debuts this fall Author Francine Prose (2006 Resident and AAR Trustee) has stated that her favorite writing stylists include John Cheever, this summer and garnered praise Hurlin’s fellowship James Joyce (the story “The in the New Yorker and New York Dead” is a particular favorite), project premieres Times. Currently director of the and Marcel Proust, as well as graduate program in theater at contemporaries such as Deborah to acclaim Sarah Lawrence College, where he Eisenberg. Like her writing, As a puppet artist, Dan Hurlin has teaches both dance composition Francine’s interests are varied a great affinity for performance and puppetry, Dan has served Pinto offers a new look at and wide-ranging. She has worked texts and visual art by the Italian on the faculties of Bowdoin, Rome and the Romantics in art criticism and contributed futurists. While in Rome as the Bennington, and Barnard College Professor John Pinto (1975 Fellow, to the Wall Street Journal and 2014 Jesse Howard, Jr. Rome Prize and Princeton University. He is 2006 Resident) is an esteemed Aperture, among many other pub- Fellow in Visual Art, he learned the recipient of a John Simon scholar who has dedicated his lications. Her most recent novel, that four puppet plays by artist Guggenheim Fellowship in chore- career to the architecture, urban- the observant and darkly humor- and writer Fortunato Depero were ography, an Alpert Award in the ism, and landscape of Rome, with ous Mister Monkey (2016), follows never produced. After traveling Arts, OBIE and BESSIE Awards, and a particular focus on the 18th the intriguing exploits of a con- to Rovereto to study the archives, a United States Artists Prudential century. Howard Crosby Butler stellation of characters affiliated he found a treasure trove of Fellowship in theater. For his next Memorial Professor Emeritus of with an off-off-off-off Broadway documentation with notes with project, Dan is considering a proj- Art and Archaeology at Princeton children’s musical. She conducted stage directions and set designs. ect using futurist performance University, John recently shared research for the novel Caravaggio: Now Dan has created a four- texts, manifestos, and visual art as his work with a wider public, Painter of Miracles while at the play presentation, Demolishing a starting point, or an opera. screened, exhibited, and per- through an exhibition at the American Academy in Rome. Everything with Amazing Speed, Reid Kelley wins formed at numerous national and Morgan Library & Museum last Among her previous novels, with music commissioned by BELOW international venues, including Demolishing Everything With Amazing summer titled City of the Soul: A Changed Man won the Dayton Dan Moses Schreirer, which was a MacArthur the Institute for Contemporary Speed at the Richard B. Fisher Center for Rome and the Romantics. The Literary Peace Prize, and Lovers in presented at Bard SummerScape the Performing Arts at Bard College. Trained as a painter, Mary Reid Kelley Art, Boston, the Tate Modern, and exhibition presented a century the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 pro- (2011 Fellow) creates narrative the Wexner Center for the Arts. of artistic impressions of Rome vided a sweeping view of life in videos set within her own stylized In addition to having received through a superb selection of pre-Occupation Paris. Her works black-and-white drawings. Made the Rome Prize and other awards, prints and drawings by masters of nonfiction include the highly with videographer Patrick Kelley, Mary was recently recognized as such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi acclaimed Anne Frank: The Book, her projects are often informed a 2016 MacArthur Fellow.