"New Lights On Picasso"

Carolyn Benton Cockefair Chair – Pierson Auditorium

Mark your calendar.

Kansas City, MO     Art historians John Richardson and Giljs Van Hensenberg will present "New Lights on Picasso" on April 28, 2010, in the UMKC University Center’s Pierson Auditorium, 5000 Holmes Rd., Kansas City, Mo.

Instructor Carolyn Benton Cockefair believed that everyone – not just traditional college-age students – should continue learning. In honor of this sentiment, the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) is hosting its 44th annual Carolyn Benton Cockefair Continuing Education Series. As part of this year’s series, “New Lights on Picasso” will be the keynote speech.

The public is invited and admission is free. Reservations are needed and may be made after April 1 at https://tickets.cto.umkc.edu/public/ or by calling (816) 235-6222.

Born in London, Richardson has worked as an industrial designer, art and ballet critic and head of art auctioneer Christie’s U.S. operations. He became a close friend of Pablo Picasso in 1950s France, where he established a private museum of Cubism near Avignon. He has since become the preeminent Picasso biographer. His four-volume biography, “A Life of Picasso,” has garnered wide acclaim, including England’s prestigious Whitbread Prize, and critics hailed the third volume as the best life of an artist ever written. He has also published a memoir, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” a collection of essays titled “Sacred Monsters, Sacred Masters” and books on Manet and Braque.

An art historian and author, van Hensbergen has written for The Wall Street Journal and Burlington Magazine and has appeared on BBC Radio and the Discovery Channel. In addition to his collaboration with Richardson on the fourth volume of the Picasso biography, van Hensbergen wrote the critically-acclaimed “Antoni Gaudi: The Biography" and "Guernica: The Biography of a 20th Century Icon.”

Throughout her 17 years at the University, Cockefair drew a following from students and non-credited students who were attracted to her Socratic style of teaching and her ability to link history to current events.

The series, formed in 1966 by Cockefair’s former students, has brought such intellectuals as Tess Gallagher, James Michener, Jeane Kirkpatrick, John Updike and Tom Wolfe to Kansas City. Its purpose is to continue what Cockefair started when she first came to the then University of Kansas City in 1947.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), one of four University of Missouri campuses, is a public university serving more than 14,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. UMKC engages with the community and economy based on a four-part mission: life and health sciences; visual and performing arts; urban issues and education; and a vibrant learning and campus life experience.

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This information is available to people with speech or hearing impairments by calling Relay Missouri at (800) 735-2966 (TT) or (800) 735-2466 (voice).
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This information was provided by
Laura Byerley
(816) 235-1592; byerleyl@umkc.edu

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Thanks, Laura