Events
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Visiting Freer House
WSU, Freer House is home to Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute faculty offices and meeting rooms. The Freer House is open periodically to the public for lectures, receptions, exhibits, and guided tours.
Freer House events are held in the Spring and Fall and open to the public. Make a donation today to become an annual Freer House member. Freer House members receive priority invitations and a discounts to events.
Take a virtual tour of the Main Hall of the Freer House. Our sincere thanks to John Boros and Flythroo for producing this 3D tour!
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Event Archive
November 19, 2023
Still Making Waves: Charles Lang Freer and Sotatsu’s Waves at Matsushima
This programming honors the Detroit origins of the Freer Gallery of Art, National Museum of Asian Art on its centennial. This program will also highlights the Canon Tsuzuri Project, a Cultural Heritage Inheritance Project.
Frank Feltens, Ph.D., Curator of Japanese Art, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution Lecture: Sunday, November 19, 2:00 pm at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
VIP Reception:
Sunday, November 19, 3:30 pm at WSU, Freer House
This programming honors the Detroit origins of the Freer Gallery of Art, National Museum of Asian Art on its centennial.
Co-hosted by:
Japan America Society of Michigan and Southwestern Ontario
Freer House/Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute/Wayne State University
Friends of Asian Arts & Cultures, Detroit Institute of Arts
Edo Avant Garde
Film Viewing and Q&A with Filmmaker and Producer: Linda Hoaglund
Loaction: Detroit Film Theater, DIA
Moderators:
Elliot Wilhelm, Curator of Film, Detroit Film Theater
Katherine Kasdorf, Associate Curator of the Arts of Asia and the Islamic World, Detroit Institute of Arts
October 19, 2023
Seven Samurai
Film Viewing at Detroit Film Theater, Detroit Institute of Arts
October 20, 2023
Edo Avant Garde
K-12 Educators' Workshop at Detroit Institute of Arts
Presenter: Linda Hoaglund, Filmmaker and Producer
October 21, 2023
Charles Lang Freer, Chinese Art, and the Making of Global Detroit
Presenter: Dr. Ian Shin, Assistant Professor of History and American Culture, University of Michigan
Moderator: Katherine Kasdorf, Ph.D., Associate Curator, Arts of Asia and the Islamic World, Detroit Institute of Arts
March 23, 2023
Women of Ferry Street: Then and Now
Co-hosted by WSU, Freer House and the Division of Government and Community Affairs at Wayne State University. This Women's History Month program, honored the lives and achievements of six contemporary women of Detroit, including Ann Nicholson, a long-standing Freer House supporter and Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute board member. The event was co-sponsored by BasBlue, a new women's leadership and mentorship club on Ferry Street.
February 23, 2023
The Peacock Room in Detroit, 1904-1919
Speaker: Diana Greenwold, Ph.D., Lunder Curator of American Art, Freer Gallery of Art,
Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art
Guest Host: Kenneth Myers, Ph.D., Curator of American Art, Detroit Institute of Arts
December 8, 2022
The Peacock Room in Detroit, 1904-1919
May 24, 2022
Mad About Painting: Hokusai & Freer
Speaker: Frank Feltens, Ph.D., Japan Foundation Associate Curator of Japanese Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art
Moderator: Katherine Kasdorf, Ph.D., Associate Curator, Arts of Asia and the Islamic World, Detroit Institute of Arts
Mad About Painting Video, Mad About Painting Postal Flyer, Mad About Painting Digital Flyer, Mad About Painting Lecture Report
Hiroko Lancour named Freer House Artist in Resonance
Hiroko Lancour was the DIA's featured artist for May, 2021 and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! Hiroko has long been inspired by the legacy of Charles Lang Freer, a Detroit art collector who had a deep understanding and appreciation for the art, culture, and people of her native land of Japan. Hiroko is an active volunteer for the Freer House and has made significant contributions to researching and documenting Freer's travels and exceptional connections to Japanese art and artists. In 2017, the Freer House hosted a solo exhibition of Ms. Lancour's artwork, the first-time original art had been displayed in the house since Freer's passing in 1919. A video about Hiroko and her extraordinary artwork was filmed by Gary Watts and edited by DIA staff.
March 31, 2022
Wonderful & Alarming Women: Charles Lang Freer and the Women Who Helped Establish His Museum
Lillian Wilson, Ph.D., Humanities Career Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow, Wayne State University, and Founder and Director of Detroit Historical Consulting
Wonderful and Alarming Women Video, Wonderful and Alarming Women Postal Flyer, Wonderful and Alarming Women Digital Flyer, The Women who Befriended Freer: A Reference Guide, Wonderful and Alarming Women Lecture Report
February 10, 2022
Freer and Egypt
A free, online program co-sponsored by the Freer Gallery of Art, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian, and the Freer House, Wayne State University
Gretchen Welch, Volunteer Docent, Freer Gallery of Art, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian
Film Viewing: May 13 - 23, 2021
Edo Avant Garde: Film Viewing and Special Live Discussion
Speakers
Linda Hoaglund, Filmmaker
Yukio Lippit, Ph.D., Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University
Moderators
Katherine Kasdorf, Ph.D., Associate Curator, Arts of Asia and the Islamic World, Detroit Institute of Arts
Elliot Wilhelm, Curator of Film, Detroit Film Theater, Detroit Institute of Arts
Edo Avant Garde Live Discussion: May 20, 6:30PM, 2021
January 11, 2020
Phebe Vandervort Goldstein: A Celebration of Life
November 10, 2019
West Meets East: Charles L. Freer, Trailblazing Asian Art Collector
Helen Tomlinson, Ph.D., Author and Scholar
May 19, 2019
Freer House and Garden Tours
December 2, 2018
Charles Lang Freer and his Adventures in Chinese Art Collecting
Daisy Yiyou Wang, Ph.D., The Robert N. Shapiro Curator of Chinese and East Asian Art, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
November 4, 2018
An Accidental Photographer in Korea: Portraits of a Lost Seoul at the Charles Lang Freer House
September 16, 2018
Freer House Garden Revitalization Dedication
June 14, 2018
Freer House Welcomes Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko of Mikasa
June 12, 2018
Symposium - Interconnections Through Art and Culture: American Museums and the Building of U.S.-Japan Relationships
November 4, 2017
Artist in Resonance: Hiroko Lancour at the Charles Lang Freer House
October 21, 2017
Michigan Historic Preservation Network 23rd Annual Fall Benefit
Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient, Dr. Thomas W. Brunk
Citizen Award Recipient, John Douglas Peters
June 4, 2017
From Traveler to Aesthete: Charles Lang Freer and Indian Art
Brinda Kumar, Assistant Curator, Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
March 26, 2017
A Museum Rises: How Charles Lang Freer's Collection of American and Asian Art Landed on America's Mall
Geoffrey G. Drutchas, Cultural Historian
November 30, 2016
Silent Windblown Shrines: Abbott Thayer and the American Landscape
Kevin Murphy, Senior Curator of American Art, Williams College Museum of Art
May 22, 2016
Charles Lang Freer and the Discovery of Korean Ceramics
Louise Cort, Curator of Ceramics, Freer | Sackler Galleries of Art, Smithsonian Institution
April 3, 2016
Cultivating History: Revitalizing Freer's Detroit Garden
David Michener, Ph.D., Associate Curator, University of Michigan, Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum
Fred Knight, Principal, K.C. Runciman Landscapes
James Viste, Owner, Edgewise Forge, LLC, Adjunct Faculty, College for Creative Studies
January 28, 2016
The Merrill-Palmer School, 1918-1930: Its Origin in Context
Catherine Daligga, Ph.D., Independent Scholar and Activist
November 15, 2015
Beneath the Surface: A Scientific Investigation of Freer House's Original Decorative Paint Treatments
Cathy Selvius De Roo, Ph.D., Conservation Scientist, Detroit Institute of Arts
November 1, 2015
Freer House Welcomes the Consul General of Japan at a Lecture in his Honor
The Introduction of Japanese Art to America: The Bostonians and Japan at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Dr. Anne Nishimura Morse, William and Helen Pounds Senior Curator of Japanese Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
April 26, 2015
The Business of Asian Art: Yamanaka & Company and Charles Lang Freer
Yuriko Kuchiki, Author and Journalist
October 10, 2014
The Artist's Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887-1920
Anna O. Marley, Ph.D., Curator of Historical American Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
September 7, 2014
James McNeill Whistler: A Case for Beauty
A PBS Arts Documentary produced by Karen Thoms
May 4, 2014
In Attendance to the Realm: the Kano School of Painters in 17th Century Japan
Yukio Lippit, Ph.D., Professor, History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University
In Attendance to the Realm Luncheon Program
In Attendance to the Realm Luncheon Program
2013 Freer House Lecture Series
November 3, 2013
Welcome Reception for the Consul General of Japan on the Occasion of Japan Culture Day
The Legacy of Charles Lang Freer: Detroit and Japan
William Colburn, Director, Freer House
October 20, 2013
A Thousand Graces: Freer's Pilgrimage to the Buddhist Cave Temples at Longmen
and his Collection of Chinese Art
David Hogge, Head of Archives,Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian
Daisy Yiyou Wang, Ph.D., curator of Chinese and East Asian Art,Peabody Essex Museum
Daisy Yiyou Wang, Ph.D., curator of Chinese and East Asian Art,Peabody Essex Museum
June 2, 2013
Heels over Head: Mr. Freer, Swami Vivekananda, and the Art of Yoga
Debra Diamond, Ph.D.,Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian
March 10, 2013
Harmony in Design: Freer House, the Detroit Club and the Architecture of Wilson Eyre, Jr
Jeffrey A. Cohen, Ph.D., Architectural Historian, Senior Lecturer and Chair, Growth of Cities Department,
Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia, PA
Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia, PA
October 7, 2012
Lecture & Symposium - The Living Legacy of Charles Lang Freer: Detroit and Washington D.C.
Points of Contact: Freer's Vision for American and Asian Art - Past, Present, and Future
Julian Raby, Ph.D., Director, Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art, Smithsonian Institution
April 1, 2012
Painting with Pottery in the Peacock Room
Louise Allison Cort, Curator for Ceramics
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
October 23, 2011
Whistler's Seriousness
Carole McNamara, Senior Curator of Western Art,
University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA)
University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA)
March 27, 2011
Freer and Whistler Through Music, Art and Letters
A benefit concert event announcing the Freer House "Whistler Gallery" Restoration Project. The remarkable relationship of the famous American artist, James McNeill Whistler, and the Detroit industrialist and art collector, Charles Lang Freer, will be the focus of this special concert event.
January 30, 2011
Lasting Legacy: Charles Lang Freer's 1910 "Exhibition of Oriental and American Art" and the University of Michigan
Anna Wieck, Ph.D. Candidate, History of Art, University of Michigan
Mei-Chen Pan, Ph.D. Candidate, Comparative Literature, University of Michigan
Sarah Conrad, Ph.D. Candidate, American Culture, University of Michigan
Mei-Chen Pan, Ph.D. Candidate, Comparative Literature, University of Michigan
Sarah Conrad, Ph.D. Candidate, American Culture, University of Michigan
October 24, 2010
A Discerning Taste for Japanese Art: the Formation of Charles Lang Freer's Collection
Ann Yonemura, Ph.D., Senior Associate Curator of Japanese Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian
October 8, 2010
A Celebration: New Freer House Roof and National Register of Historic Places Designation
March 28, 2010
Charles Lang Freer and Detroit's Pewabic Pottery
Thomas W. Brunk, Ph.D., Indepent Art and Architecture Historian
March 19, 2010
Midwest Regional Conservation Guild's Spring 2010 Meeting Newsletter
February 7, 2010
A Benefit Concert at Freer House
A recreation of the historic first concert held at the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. on February 7, 1924 by the Library of Congress. Chamber music of diverse composers performed by the Scarab Club String Quartet.
Freer House Benefit Concert Program
Freer House Benefit Concert Program
October 25, 2009
The Blue Room: Whistler's Peacock Room in Detroit
Linda Merrill, Ph.D., Visiting Professor of Art History, Emory University Whistler scholar,
former Curator of American Art, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian
former Curator of American Art, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian
May 19, 2009
Charles Lang Freer and Egypt
Dr. Massumeh Farhad, Chief Curator and Curator of Islamic Art
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
May 3, 2009
Charles Lang Freer and Egypt
Dr. Ann C. Gunter, Professor, Northwestern University
Former Curator of Ancient Near Eastern Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian
Former Curator of Ancient Near Eastern Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian
February 8, 2009
Pretty Women: Freer and Feminine Beauty
Dr. Kenneth John Myers, Curator of American Art and Head of the Department of American Art,
Detroit Institute of Arts
Detroit Institute of Arts
November 9, 2008
Surface Beauty: American Art and Freer's Aesthetic Vision
Lee Glazer, Ph.D., Curator of American Art, Freer Gallery of Art Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian
Surface Beauty Presentation
Surface Beauty Presentation
November 11, 2007
Freer and the Detroit Institute of Arts
Dr. Thomas Brunk, Historian and Authority on the Freer House
April 29, 2007
Anchor and Ornament: The Freer Gallery and the McMillan Plan for the National Mall
Rev. Dr. Geoffrey G. Drutchas
February 11, 2007
Freer and Whistler: An "Amazing!" Friendship
Dr. Kenneth John Myers, Curator of American Art and Head of the Department of American Art, Detroit Institute of Art
November 5, 2006
Charles Lang Freer and the Arts & Crafts Movement in Detroit
Dr. Thomas W. Brunk, Historian and Authority on the Freer House
January 29, 2006
Charles Lang Freer: The Patron of Pewabic
Dr. Thomas W. Brunk, Historian and Authority on the Freer House
November 10, 2005
Detroit: Freight Cars Before Automobiles
John Douglas Peters
October 27, 2004
Freer House Interior Finishes
Steven Seebohm
May 15, 2004
The Detroit Connection: James McNeill Whistler / Charles Lang Freer
Arnold Klein
Flyer for event no longer available.