Lecture Series In

FRIDAY, JAN 13TH

ASTAIRE, ROGERS, AND THE ART DECO DREAM 12 pm – 1 pm Michael Lasser Virtual Lecture This is a VIRTUAL, pre-recorded event. RSVP on the website to receive a link to the on-demand recording when it becomes available. Glistening dance floors, star-lit skies, sequined gowns, white tie and tails—and the sleek, witty, romantic songs of the age. We have the hard edges of tapping yet the dances and singing are also open and airy. This is the Art Deco sensibility at play in American popular music. Michael Lasser is a writer, speaker, teacher, and critic. He is the author of three books: America’s Songs: The Stories Behind the Songs of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley (co-written with Philip Furia), America’s Songs II: From the 1890s to the Post-War Years, and City Songs and American Life, 1900-1950.

SATURDAY, JAN 14TH

THE FATHER OF CHINESE ART DECO ARCHITECTURE 11 am – 12 pm Jennifer Wong Wolfsonian-FIU, 1001 Washington Ave During the height of the Art Deco era, a wave of Chinese artists came to Paris to learn from Western culture. Among them was architect Liu Jipiao, the organizer and designer of China’s section at the famous 1925 Paris Exposition (which introduced the world to Art Deco), and a key figure in bringing modernist art and architecture to his home country. The architect’s granddaughter, Jennifer Wong, will relate Liu’s life as a student in Paris, his work as an architect and educator on his return to China, and the dramatic change in fortunes that led to him and his family relocating to America.

SATURDAY, JAN 14TH

DANCING IN THE AGE OF DECO 1 pm – 2 pm Walter Nelson Wolfsonian-FIU, 1001 Washington Ave In the 1920s and ’30s, social dancing was more popular in America than at any other time in history. Dancing happened almost anywhere people got together, infused with the same modern spirit that animated the art and architecture of the period. The popularity of dance created a vast infrastructure to support it, from sumptuous dance palaces to nightclubs and many other building types, often in the latest architectural styles. Historian and instructor Walter Nelson uses images and film from the era to capture this lost world of social dance, correcting the very distorted view in today’s popular culture about how people danced in the past.

MAPS AND THE SELLING OF THE SUNSHINE STATE 3 pm - 4 pm Lea Nickless Wolfsonian-FIU, 1001 Washington Ave In the early 20th century, maps played a central role in the development of modern Florida—going beyond the logistics of guiding tourists, investors, and other northerners on their routes to the Sunshine State. Wolfsonian curator Lea Nickless will show how maps were crucial for the promotion of Florida as a premier destination for sunshine and leisure, investment and industry, through graphic strategies that enhanced the state’s appeal. Catch

LIMITED SEATING: FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED.

Nickless’s talk, then visit the exhibition she curated, Plotting Power: Maps and the Modern Age, to see examples of geographic imagery used to persuade and manipulate.

SUNDAY, JAN 15TH

ART DECO’S DECLINE AND RECOVERY ON MIAMI BEACH 11 am - 12 pm Alan Raynor Art Deco Museum, 1001 Ocean Drive Alan Raynor had a career in the business world but has always had a hand in the Arts. He wrote a musical comedy - the book and music - and wrote four scripts for full-length films. In his senior years he developed the skill of sculpting in glass. In a thirty-year span he has actively supported the Art Deco Societies of New York and Miami.

ANOTHER LANDMARK BITES THE DUST: A PRESERVATIONIST’S SCRAPBOOK 1 pm - 2 pm • Nancy Liebman Art Deco Museum, 1001

Ocean Drive Nancy Liebman presents her personal scrapbook chronicling her experiences and memories of the bitter sweet ups and downs of Miami Beach Preservation. She will tell the tales of her years as a preservation activist from the earliest days of the Miami Beach movement through to today. Come share in this rare opportunity to hear the stories told by a person who not only lived them, but stood fast on the front line in the fight to save the historic architecture and unique culture of Miami Beach. Nancy will have copies of her first book Preservation Dreams: Reflections of a Miami Beach Activist available for purchase at this presentation. Her book Another Landmark Bites the Dust: A Preservationist’s Scrapbook will be out in early February.

ISLANDIA: THE MIAMI BEACH THAT WASN’T 2 pm - 3 pm Jason Katz Art Deco Museum, 1001 Ocean Drive In 1962, property owners incorporated The City of Islandia into Dade County. Encompassing 33 islands in Biscayne Bay, Islandia had a population in the single digits. Property owners lobbied for multiple different causeways from Mainland South Florida to their island community. They platted subdivisions. Everything seemed to be on track for major development of these “Pearl Islands” as Ralph Munroe called them. But then, the Federal Government decided to create Biscayne National Park instead. What can we learn from this rare tale of environmental success in South Florida? Jason Katz will tell you all about it. Jason Katz is the publisher of Islandia Journal, a (sub)tropical periodical of regional myth, folklore, history, and ecology. He is a contributing editor to Burnaway Magazine. Jason was born and raised in Miami.

MADE POSSIBLE WITH THE GENEROUS SUPPORT AND ASSISTANCE OF THE WOLFSONIAN-FIU AND OUR STELLAR LINE-UP OF SPEAKERS.