A Conversation with Thomas Demand

Focus: The Collection

Join us for a presentation by artist Thomas Demand, followed by a conversation with Sarah Greenough, the National Gallery’s senior curator and head of the department of photographs. Together they will discuss Demand’s current work, his pictures in the Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker collection, and those in the National Gallery’s collection.

About the Presenter

Thomas Demand (b. 1964) lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles. His work investigates the persistence of images and their ability to embed themselves in a society’s collective memory. He studied sculpture at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and he often makes mural-scale photographs. Instead of finding his subject matter in landscapes, buildings, and crowds, Demand uses paper and cardboard to meticulously reconstruct images taken from various media sources, often well-known historical pictures or widely seen photographs from the news. Once he has photographed his re-created environments—always devoid of figures but often displaying evidence of recent human activity—he destroys his models, further complicating the relationship between reproduction and original. In 2004, he represented Germany at the São Paulo Biennale. Demand has four photographs in the National Gallery’s collection. 

The following generous donors made gifts in honor of Robert E. Meyerhoff to support the Robert E. Meyerhoff Lecture and Program Series Endowment: Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen and Marc Andreessen, Frederick W. and Candace K. Beinecke and The Prospect Hill Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Alma Gildenhorn, Joan and David Maxwell, Mr. Raj K. Nooyi and Ms. Indra K. Nooyi, Emily and Mitchell Rales, Sharon Percy Rockefeller and John D. Rockefeller IV, David M. Rubenstein, Denise Saul and The Honorable Andrew M. Saul, and Darren Walker.