Join us online for the 2026 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture.
Talks will present new research by curators and writers Nancy Ireson, Nontobeko Ntombela and Skye Arundhati Thomas, drawing on the themes and frameworks of the American Folk Art Museum’s modern and contemporary collection.
Approaching modernisms from various times and geographies, this year’s lecture presents three painters who captured the world through dreamlike and symbolic perspectives, Henri Rousseau (1844 – 1910), Gladys Nomfanekiso Mgudlandlu (1917-1979) and Lalitha Lajmi (1932-2023).
Art historian and curator Nancy Ireson unveils new findings on Henri Rousseau’s celebrated paintings; curator and art historian Nontobeko Ntombela reframes the pioneering position of Gladys Nomfanekiso Mgudlandlu as South Africa’s first Black woman artist, revealing a complex interplay between cultural identity, artistic freedom, and social context; and Skye Arundhati Thomas examines Lalitha Lajmi’s self-portraits within the broader political and social context of post-independence India.
The Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture Series highlights new and important contributions to the field of folk and self-taught art. This annual series honors the late Anne Hill Blanchard, an inspiring and passionate leader in the field and a devoted supporter of the American Folk Art Museum.
Schedule
1:00 p.m. EST Welcome & Opening Remarks
1:10 p.m. EST Nancy Ireson on Henri Rousseau (France; 1844 – 1910)
1:40 p.m. EST Nontobeko Ntombela on Gladys Nomfanekiso Mgudlandlu (South Africa; 1917-1979)
2:10 p.m. EST Skye Arundhati Thomas on Lalitha Lajmi (India; 1932-2023)
2: 40 pm EST Q&A
Speakers
Skye Arundhati Thomas is a curator, writer and editor from India. Their latest book, an anthology of writing and art, Palestine is everywhere (Ed.) is co-published by TBA21, Silver Press, and the87Press. Pleasure Gardens (co-written with Izabella Scott) was published by Mack Books in 2024, as was a book on the painter Lalitha Lajmi, by Sternberg Press. From 2021-24 they were co-editor of The White Review. They have previously curated shows at Galerie Anne Barrault and Beaux-arts de Paris.
Nancy Ireson is an Art Historian and curator with over 20 years of industry experience. She was Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions & Gund Family Chief Curator at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia from 2018-2025, and has held curatorial positions at Tate Modern, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Courtauld Gallery, and the National Gallery, London. Exhibitions she has curated or co-curated include Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets (Barnes, 2025) Modigliani Up Close (Barnes, 2022), Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel (Barnes, 2021), Picasso 1932: Love, Fame, Tragedy (Tate Modern, 2018), Modigliani (Tate Modern, 2017), Temptation! The Demons of James Ensor (Art Institute of Chicago, 2014), and Cézanne’s Card Players (Courtauld Gallery, 2010). Ireson holds a PhD on Henri Rousseau from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, and an MBA from the Alliance Manchester Business School.
Nontobeko Ntombela began her career as a curator in 2000 and has worked at various institutions, including the Art for Humanity (2000-2002), BAT Centre (2002-2005), Durban University Art Gallery (2005-2010), and the Johannesburg Art Gallery (2010-2012), where she managed art collections and curated numerous exhibitions. In 2012, Ntombela assumed an academic position at the University of the Witwatersrand (School of the Arts), where she remains a lecturer in art history, curating, and heritage studies in the Department of Curatorial, Publics, and Visual Cultures. During her time at Wits, she has developed the curatorial programme, which was inaugurated in 2019. Since joining Wits, her curatorial practice has shifted from community-based projects to more archivally, research-led historical curatorial approaches. Some of her most notable curatorial projects include: “Then I Knew I Was Good at Painting: Esther Mahlangu, A Retrospective (2024-2025) at Iziko National Gallery and Wits Art Museum, “When Rain Clouds Gather: South African Black Women Artists 1940–2000” (2022-2023) at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town, The Burden of Memory (2019) a multiple cite event in the city of Yaoundé Cameroon; A Fragile Archive (2012) at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, some of which were co-curated. She is the 2025 winner of the South African National Arts and Culture Awards for Outstanding Curator. In the same year, her PhD dissertation titled “Valerie Desmore’s Refusal(s): Art Practice as Biomythography” (2024) won the African Studies Review ASR Best Africa-Based Dissertation Award. Ntombela serves on the Johannesburg Art Gallery Acquisitions Committee. She has previously served on other committees for the Department of Arts and Culture, VANSA (Visual Arts Network of South Africa), the National Arts Council, KZNSA (KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts), the Art for Human Rights Trust, and the UNISA Art Gallery.
Images
Left: Lalitha Lajmi, Woman and child with three birds, 2015. Watercolour on paper, 14 1/2 x 11 in. Courtesy of the Estate of Lalitha Lajmi and galerie anne barrault, Paris
Middle: Henri Rousseau. Unpleasant Surprise (Mauvaise surprise), 1899–1901, Oil on canvas. The Barnes Foundation
Right: Gladys Mgudlandlu, Two white birds flying over Mountains and Trees, 1962. Gouache, 22 1/16 x 14 9/16 in.
Registration
Space is limited; advance registration is required. Please consider making a donation when you register to support ongoing virtual programming.
Instructions for joining with a Zoom link and password will be provided by email upon registration confirmation under “Additional Information.” Closed captioning will be provided in English. For questions or to request accessibility accommodations, please email publicprograms@folkartmuseum.org.