LECTURE SERIES Made possible with the generous support and assistance of the Wolfsonian-FIU and our stellar line-up of speakers. This year’s lectures are centered around our festival theme: “Art Deco Celebrates the Radio”
FRIDAY, JAN 14TH
DECO RADIO: THE MOST BEAUTIFUL RADIOS EVER MADE 12 pm - 1:30 pm Peter Sheridan
BROADCAST HYSTERIA: ORSON WELLES’S WAR OF THE WORLDS AND THE ART OF FAKE NEWS 12 pm - 1:30 pm A Brad Schwartz
This lecture will be prerecorded and made available online. Register at artdecoweekend. com to receive a link to the video
This lecture will be prerecorded and made available online. Register at artdecoweekend. com to receive a link to the video
This is the untold story of the Art Deco radio and the extraordinary contributions of famous industrial designers in the 1930s, who contributed so much to the development of radio and the world-wide spread of the Art Deco style. Enjoy a look at the most beautiful radios ever made.
In Broadcast Hysteria, A. Brad Schwartz boldly retells the story of Welles’s famed radio play and its impact. Did it really spawn a “wave of mass hysteria,” as The New York Times reported? Schwartz is the first to examine the hundreds of letters sent to Orson Welles himself in the days after the broadcast, and his findings challenge the conventional wisdom.
Peter Sheridan has been in general dental practice in Macquarie Street Sydney, Australia since 1971. An accredited professional photographer specializing in fine art, Peter is also an internationally respected collector, historian and lecturer in the field of Art Deco design. His collections are considered world class and have been displayed by the National Gallery of Victoria and featured by the The National Trust and the Historic Houses Trust. He is the author of 4 major award-winning photographic reference books on design and architecture: Radio Days (2008); Deco Radio (2014); Sydney Art Deco (2019) and\ Sydney Art Deco & Modernist Walks – Potts Point & Elizabeth Bay (2021) In 2001 Peter was honored by the Australian government and awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his work with people with Multiple Sclerosis. Peter is an avid tennis player competing in Australia and overseas in Masters’ tournaments.
A. Brad Schwartz is a doctoral candidate at Princeton University, studying 20th century American history with a special interest in questions of media and journalism, law and policing, and the cultural production of history. His undergraduate thesis at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor explored Orson Welles’s 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast, drawing upon an untapped trove of listener letters to challenge the standard narrative of the so-called “panic broadcast.” This research became the basis for his first book, Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds and the Art of Fake News (Hill and Wang, 2015). In 2013, he co-wrote a documentary about War of the Worlds for the PBS series American Experience, based in part on his thesis research. His second book, Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and the Battle for Chicago, co-written with Max Allan Collins, was published by William Morrow in 2018.
Art Deco Weekend | 18 | Miami Beach 2022
