On Saturday, May 20, 2006, in conjunction with the Group Dynamics 
exhibition, N-YHS will present a one-day symposium.  Moderated by Richard 
Brilliant and presenting a panel of six experts in the fields of 
portraiture, photography and material culture, the symposium will expand 
upon the interconnected artistic, cultural, sociological and historical 
themes in the exhibition.  Speakers and topics include:

-Image Peddling: The Impact of Commodity Culture on Portraiture in the 
Nineteenth Century with Elizabeth Hutchinson, Assistant Professor, Art 
History Department, Barnard College 

-New York Capitalists: The Portrait Valhalla at the New York Chamber of 
Commerce 
with Paul Staiti, Professor of Fine Arts on the Alumnae Foundation, 
Department of Art and Art History, Mount Holyoke College 

-Dynamics of Genre Painting Across the Century: Subjects, Audiences, and 
Missing Persons with Elizabeth Johns, Professor Emerita of the History of 
Art, University of Pennsylvania 

-Individualism and Conformity: Photographic Portraiture in the Nineteenth 
Century 
with Geoffrey Batchen, Professor of the History of Photography, 
Contemporary Art, Cyberculture, The Graduate Center, City University of New 
York 

-Related Objects: The Family Stuff of Victorian Interiors with Cheryl 
Robertson, Curator of American Decorative Arts, Wadsworth Atheneum 

-Rituals of Relaxation: The Visual Culture of Leisure in Gilded Age America 
with Sarah Burns, Ruth N. Halls Professor of Art History, Indiana University