THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 18, 1994 TAG: 9410180057
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
ON WEDNESDAY, Earl A. Powell III, director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., will speak in Norfolk on ``The National Gallery of Art in the 20th Century.''
Sounds like future talk. At the National Gallery, however, the future is scheduled for a spring arrival.
As of May, museum visitors will be able to peruse the collection via an interactive computer system equipped to provide digital color images, text, graphics and animation.
Even sound will be available, providing patrons with a pronunciation guide for foreign words.
Seventeen work stations will greet gallerygoers at the entrance of the Mall so they can create a specialized tour by locating works of interest, then printing out a gallery map directing them to the objects.
With some works, visitors will be able to study a work in detail, from composition to historical context.
The first so-called Micro Gallery was installed at the National Gallery in London; The Boston Sunday Globe called it ``possibly the single most effective tool ever'' for gallerygoers.
The National Gallery of Art's Micro Gallery, the first in America, is being paid for by the American Express Foundation.
Powell, 50, has led the National Gallery since September 1992. Before that, he was director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 1980. He holds a doctorate from Harvard and specializes in 19th and 20th century European and American art.
He will speak at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Chrysler Museum, 245 W. Olney Road. A 10 a.m. coffee will precede the free talk, sponsored by the Norfolk Society of Arts. Call 664-6200 for more information. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Earl A. Powell III, director of the National Gallery of Art in
Washington, will speak Wednesday at the Chrysler Museum.
by CNB