Watch, Read, Listen

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842) fashioned a remarkable career in portraiture. Her 1784 portrait of Joseph Hyacinthe François-de-Paule de Rigaud, comte de Vaudreuil—acquired by The Huntington with support from The Ahmanson Foundation—is perhaps more important for what it conceals than for what it reveals.

An exhibition of 19 works will be on view in the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art from Dec. 2, 2023, through March 18, 2024. “Art for the People” explores paintings created in the United States between the 1929 stock market crash and World War II.

The Huntington holds the diary of a merchant written during his time in London from December 1768 to April 1769. It offers a rare first-hand account of an American colonist’s experiences in London, just as relations between Britain and North America were deteriorating.

In sitting down with Ford Foundation President Darren Walker for the May 31 “Why It Matters” event, Huntington President Karen R. Lawrence set the stage for a lively conversation.

Spanning nearly 300 years, the acquisitions include works by Edward Mitchell Bannister, Agostino Brunias, Letitia Huckaby, Lilly Martin Spencer, Tiffany and Co., and Tyrus Wong.

A portion of the Fielding Wing in The Huntington’s American art galleries showcases a variety of meticulously crafted quilts, made between 1850 and 1900. Here, curator Lauren Cross speaks to the distinctive nature of Amish quilts.

Ben Robbins, senior postdoctoral researcher in American literature at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, explores the diaries and notebooks that the English novelist Christopher Isherwood kept during the 1930s.

Curator Lauren Cross hosted one of the artists featured in the gallery to discuss the tradition and technique of the Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers’ Collective and the prints made during their artistic residency at Paulson Fontaine Press in Berkeley, California.

The Huntington’s “Gee’s Bend: Shared Legacy” exhibition celebrates the culture of quilts within Gee’s Bend and the quilters themselves as world-renowned artists. Collectively, these works represent not only the tradition of quilts but how quilts can be used to transform a community’s past, present, and future.

In 1924, Henry E. Huntington bought an extensive portfolio from Frances B. Johnston, understood to be the nation’s first female photojournalist. Johnston photographed U.S. presidents, Supreme Court justices, and famous people ranging from Susan B. Anthony to Mark Twain. And she traveled widely to document architecture and gardens.

In sitting down with Ford Foundation President Darren Walker for the May 31 “Why It Matters” event, Huntington President Karen R. Lawrence set the stage for a lively conversation.

On May 31, 2023, Ford Foundation President Darren Walker joined Huntington President Karen R. Lawrence in a conversation about the shifting landscape of charitable giving, the role of art in the pursuit of social justice, and the importance of hope to civic engagement.