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Making History
On NJN’s State of the Arts
Friday, April 18 at 8:30 pm; Wednesday, April 23 at 11:30 pm
STATEWIDE – This week, NJN’s State of the Arts discovers art and artists that are Making History. The program looks at an historian who has re-visioned the past in her books and is now taking up a career as a visual artist; an award-winning poet who gives a personal view of the Vietnam War; the historical influence of a chair made for Napoleon; and a new violin concerto that connects the 18th and 21st centuries. Making History airs on Friday, April 18 at 8:30 pm, with a rebroadcast on Wednesday, April 23 at 11:30 pm. State of the Arts, NJN’s long running series, has earned 28 Regional Emmy Awards, including New York Emmy Awards in 2007 and 2005, and Mid-Atlantic Emmys in 2007 and 2006.
• Nell Irvin Painter, Historian/Artist
Nell Irvin Painter is an eminent historian and author, recently retired from Princeton University as the Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita. Her books include Creating Black Americans, Southern History Across the Color Line, Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol, and Standing at Armageddon. She is known for books that question traditional notions of history and how it is told. Painter is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and currently serves as president of the Organization of American Historians. She lectures frequently and maintains a busy schedule of television and radio appearances. And she is now at work on two additional books: The History of White People and Personal Beauty: Biology or Culture? That would be quite enough for most people, retired or not. But Nell Painter has embarked on yet another adventure: she is going back to school, as an undergraduate, to study art, and is taking a full course load at Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts. Her goal is to become a professional artist. State of the Arts producer Amber Edwards spent a few days with Nell Painter — in her capacity as historian and as art student — to find out what drives this accomplished woman to keep topping herself.
• Yusef Komunyakaa, Poet
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa has written vividly about subjects ranging from his experience in the Vietnam War to growing up before and during the Civil Rights movement in Bogalusa, Louisiana. A Trenton resident who currently teaches at New York University, he is the author of more than ten books of poetry as well as many critical essays on his craft and the arts. Komunyakaa has also collaborated on a number of musical performances and recordings that incorporate his poetry, including For Lost Words, which State of the Arts recorded during a recent performance at Trenton’s Passage Theatre. A spoken word jazz opera by North Brunswick composer Vince di Mura, For Lost Words was inspired by the transcendent beauty of Komunyakaa's Vietnam opus Dien Cai Dau. It features di Mura on a multiplicity of keyboards, the vocal stylings of Annielee Moffett, and Jasper McGruder as "The Poet." State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa speaks with di Mura about the history, poetry, music, and politics that went into creating this unique performance, and with Komunyakaa about his life and work as one of America’s most celebrated poets.
• 3-2-1
Both an electric violin and a Golden Age violin are featured in a new concerto for violin, electric violin, and large orchestra that premiered by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra on March 28, 2008. “3-2-1” was composed by Darryl Kubian, an accomplished violinist and member of the first violin section of the NJSO. He is also a renowned composer of concert music and music for film and television. Neeme Järvi conducts the NJSO and the orchestra’s concert master Eric Wyrick, an old friend of Kubian’s, performs the solo parts on a Golden Age 1737 Guarneri del Gesú and a Zeta JV24 electric violin. State of the Arts producer Eric Schultz visits Kubian during rehearsals and the premiere performance of “3-2-1.” Schultz talks with Kubian, Wyrick and Maetstro Järvi about the differences and similarities of playing the two types of violins, separated by almost 400 years of technology.
• Seat of Empire
What can a chair tell you about history? The New York Historical Society owns a chair that can tell you quite a lot. The Empire-style chair was made by Jacob Frères around 1800 for Napoleon’s Council Room at Malmaison, his chateau outside Paris. Napoleon also used the chair as Emperor of France. After his defeat at Waterloo, the chair was purchased at auction by an agent of Napoleon’s older brother, Joseph Bonaparte. Joseph had fled Europe under an assumed name and built a fabulous mansion on the Delaware River near Bordentown, New Jersey. There the chair remained with Joseph for approximately 15 years. Napoleon’s council room chair, along with Joseph’s other furnishing and vast art collection, are thought to have contributed to newly sophisticated tastes in early 19th century America. When Joseph finally left America in 1834, he gave the armchair to his friend Felix Lacoste, the editor of the French newspaper Le Courrier des États-Unis, which was founded and supported by Joseph Bonaparte in New York City. The chair was donated to the New York Historical Society in the 19th century and remained in a storage warehouse until it was rediscovered in the late 1980s. State of the Arts producer Eric Schultz visits the New York Historical Society and speaks with decorative arts curators Margaret Hofer, who lives in Princeton, and Roberta Olson. They explain that Napoleon’s armchair was created as a symbol of power, and that when the chair arrived in America it had an influence on evolving American tastes. The story of this chair, which made history in its own way, will be part of the upcoming State of the Arts documentary, Bonaparte’s Retreat, premiering later this year.
State of the Arts, the award-winning, half-hour arts magazine, airs every Friday at 8:30 pm, followed by an encore presentation each Wednesday at 11:30 pm.
The current episode of State of the Arts can be viewed online at www.njn.net. Individual stories will be available to view following their broadcast by visiting the program online at State of the Arts.
Funding for State of the Arts is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The series producer is Susan Wallner and the executive producer is Nila Aronow.
NJN - New Jersey’s only statewide broadcast television network and public service media resource - provides
New Jersey-centric news and public affairs programming; programs focusing on the arts, the environment, education, and history; access to enriched learning opportunities for K-12 and adult learners; and emergency
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NJN is available on all New Jersey cable systems, satellite systems, and Time Warner Cable channel 750 in NYC.
State of the Arts is also available via video streaming at njn.net after the original broadcast.
Additionally, the program is repeated on NJN’s JerseyVision available on Comcast Digital Cable in New Jersey.
(Check http://www.njn.net/digital/schedule.html for detailed listings.)
NJN – Uniquely New Jersey
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