Join senior curator Tom Crouch as he discusses The Fledglings, a 1908 painting by Rudolph Dirks. Dirks, who created the popular comic strip Katzenjammer Kids, visited a pioneer air meet at Morris Park, in the Bronx, in the fall of 1908. He was so enthused by what he saw that he rushed back to his Manhattan studio and produced this 1.8-meter (6-foot) long oil providing an overview of the meet. The focus is on the people, and the excitement of the day. The dozens of figures in the painting look for all the work as if they had stepped out of the comic strips. Still, Dirks was a serious painter, who exhibited at the famous 1913 Armory show that launched modern art in the U.S. The painting will eventually be going on display in the Early Flight Gallery, but for this talk, Crouch will pin up a full-size image of the work, and give a PowerPoint presentation on the painting and the painter.
The Ask An Expert lecture series at the National Mall building is presented every Wednesday at noon. A Museum staff member talks to the public about the history, collection, or personalities related to a specific artifact or exhibition in the Museum.