Watch, Read, Listen

Michael Vinson, author and proprietor of Michael Vinson Americana, shares the tale of John Holmes Jenkins III (1940–1989), a Texas antiquarian bookseller, publisher, historian, and gambler who, in 1971, helped the FBI recover a valuable set of original colored engravings of Audubon’s The Birds of America.

L.A. artists Carolina Caycedo and Mario Ybarra Jr. were invited to create new works in response to The Huntington’s library, art, and botanical collections, as part of the contemporary arts initiative /five, produced in partnership with the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College. Inspired by different forms of ritual, Caycedo reconceptualized iconic Huntington spaces through Afro-Latino and indigenous spiritual practices and dance, while Ybarra responded to the timeless physical and mechanical processes needed to create masterful drawings and prints.

Jonathan Waldman, author of “Rust: The Longest War,” provides an illuminating look at the unsung heroes—engineers—who are working to keep our modern world from wasting away due to rust, which has been called “the great destroyer.” Rust consumes cars, fells bridges, sinks ships, sparks house fires, and nearly brought down the Statue of Liberty. This program is a Trent R. Dames Lecture.

Contemporary artist Tang Qingnian 唐慶年 demonstrates his calligraphy, which enlivens past traditions with a modern aesthetic sensibility. The art of ink and brush calligraphy has long been prized in China as a form of creative expression and an embodiment of scholarly culture. Originally from Beijing, Tang was at the forefront of China’s “New Wave” art movement in the 1980s before relocating to the United States.

Contemporary artist Tang Qingnian 唐慶年 demonstrates his calligraphy, which enlivens past traditions with a modern aesthetic sensibility. Originally from Beijing, Tang was at the forefront of China’s “New Wave” art movement in the 1980s before relocating to the United States. The artist uses cursive script to write the “Song of Eight Drinking Immortals 飲中八仙歌,” a poem composed by the Tang-dynasty poet Du Fu 杜甫 (712–770). 

Sara Karloff, daughter of the screen legend whose iconic performance as the Frankenstein Monster set the standard, shares his more human side.