ACLA

Art Exhibition: Legacies and Visions. From Comel to Karshan
2024-09-27 - 2024-10-06 | Domus Comeliana, Pisa
Legacies and Visions.
From Comel to Karshan
Masterpieces from the collection of the Institutio Santoriana – Fondazione Comel
(19th to 21st century)
Venue: Domus Comeliana, Pisa
Dates: 27 September – 6 October 2024
Curated by Giulia Martina Weston The exhibition displayed a significant body of unpublished artworks from the collection of Professor Marcello Comel (1902–1995), founder of the Institutio Santoriana – Fondazione Comel. Best known for his lifelong commitment to medicine and medical humanities, Comel emerges as a visionary patron and a distinguished collector.
The selection of masterpieces included paintings by Gerolamo Induno, Moses Levy, Giovanni Lomi, Arturo Tosi, Lorenzo Delleani, Giuseppe Pallanti, Carlo Sbisà and Arturo Nathan, as well as works on paper by Telemaco Signorini, Mario Sironi, Filippo De Pisis and Renato Guttuso. Furthermore, the show unveiled a suite of drawings by American artist Linda Karshan, belonging to various stages of her career. Forming the core of her prestigious gift to the Fondazione Comel, these magnificent artworks document the relevance of Comel’s collection in the present and its impact upon future generations.
Catalogue Artemide edited by Giulia Martina Weston. ”La cultura è fondamentalmente unità spirituale” / Culture is fundamentally a spiritual unity
Marcello Comel, De Humanis Humane (1976)

Fibonacci Days 2024
2024-11-23 - 2024-11-24
FIBONACCI DAYS 2024
Venue: Various locations in the city of Pisa
Dates: 23 – 24 November 2024
November 23rd marked the conventional day of the birth of Leonardo Pisano, known as Fibonacci. A series of celebratory events took place in honor of the Pisan mathematician throughout Pisa.
Linda’s Shell was chosen as the emblem to represent the 2024 Fibonacci Days celebration.
The full agenda for the event can be found HERE.

Screening of 'Walking the Western Range II'
2025-01-28 08:00 - 17:00 UTC | Remarque Institute, 60 5th Ave 8th Floor, New York, NY, NY 10011, United States
Walking the Western Range II
Venue: Remarque Institute, New York
Date: 28 January 2025
Hosted by Stefanos Geroulanos In January 2025, The Remarque Institute of New York, our esteemed institutional partner, hosted the screening of Walking the Western Range II, choreographed and performed by Linda Karshan and filmed by Ishmael Annobil (Western Galleries, British Museum, London, July 24, 2023).
This initiative was part of a series concerning Legacies of Classical Ideas and their Recasting in the 20th Century, generously supported by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and presented in collaboration with ACLA.
The event was hosted by Stefanos Geroulanos, Director of the Remarque Institute and Professor of European Intellectual History at New York University, in conversation with Linda Karshan, President of ACLA.
The discussion was followed by the recitation of an ekphrastic poem by Karthika Nair, composed in response to Karshan’s work. We thank Karthika Nair for agreeing to publish the poem wRiting Time II: Wandering the Western Range through Linda Karshan in our journal De Litteris et Artibus.
As a means of introduction, we are pleased to share a meaningful extract of Linda Karshan’s correspondence with Karthika Nair, in which the artist reflects upon her performance drawing in the Western Range.
“In The Western Range, I walked a labyrinthine form, by necessity. While decisions were made at every turn, it all seemed inevitable. As if I had no choice. I drew my art in Karshan time.
I began in the Egyptian galleries, at the very spot visitors-of-old entered the British Museum. While I had not much affinity with these oversized kings and queens, I warmed to them, over time.
As they did to me. We developed a professional relationship.
They lead me to The Rosetta Stone, around which I ‘twirled’, readying myself for classical Greece–close to my heart. And mind (The Rosetta Stone, key to learning, grounded me for all that lay ahead.)
It should be noted, Karthika, that The Parthenon Galleries were built only in 1966. I visited them, by design, in 1968, crossing The English Channel by ferry. I sensed, already then, that these marbles and I belonged together.
From the Rosetta Stone, it was almost straight ‘run’ towards the Parthenon Galleries.
I nodded, respectfully, to the Hellenistic copies en route. But copies they are; they had little hold on me. I navigated past them, eager to enter the world of ancient Greece in the age of Pericles.
Here I felt at home, in perfect harmony with the frieze. It may even be a case of ‘energetic inversion’ as Warburg would put it, where classical forms reappear in modern dress.
The Parthenon Galleries are grand, and they took time. Karshan Time.
‘I wanted to construct a time that belonged to me, alone’ (Italo Calvino, On Shells and Time).
The sound of the work kept me in pace and in place.
Exiting the Parthenon Galleries, I moved forward in time. I was still at home in this later, Greek world. The smaller temple was in my sights; the three, winged figures ‘had my back’.
Quickness, lightness, exactitude, visibility and multiplicity were the orders of the day.
Less taken with the Hellenistic galleries, I nodded, respectfully, but not in awe.
‘Passing through’: a bardo, of sorts. They were a necessary transition to Assyria, and the lion hunt of King Ashurbanipal.
I bore in mind his pride in being an educated man. A king who ruled with wisdom and intelligence. I aimed to match that with grace, born of respect, while worrying about the lions aloft by my side.
I slowed down a bit, in response to their call. Variety was needed, I felt.
Finally, I could exit, and pose between two giant, winged figures.
For effect, without affect.
Simply to mark human scale and proportion.”

'Celebrating the Karshan Gift to The Courtauld'
2025-10-14 05:00 - 19:00 | The Courtauld, Somerset House, London, WC2R 0RN
Venue: The Courtauld, London
Date: 14 October 2025
Hosted by The Society for the History of Collecting Attendees will hear about the legacy of lifetime collector Howard Karshan told by artist Linda Karshan in conversation with staff from the Courtauld, as well as through archival footage created by the collector’s two sons.
Attendees will first gather in the Drawings Gallery to study a suite of prints by Wayne Thiebaud. They will then go to the Study Room to admire a selection of drawings from the Karshan Gift where Linda Karshan will be in dialogue, explaining how the Karshan Gift was made. Finally, a short documentary shown in the Learning Centre will explore Howard Karshan’s passion for collecting drawings, and the context in which he was able to acquire some of the finest works by modern and post-war masters available on the market. The evening will close with a drinks reception.
This event is to coincide with the launch of the Griffin Catalyst exhibition ‘Wayne Thiebaud. American Still Live’, on view at The Courtauld between 10 October 2025 and 18 January 2026, which features one of the drawings gifted by the Karshans to the Courtauld. For the first time, a Karshan drawing is used as a trigger for a major show, which sets the stage for future exhibitions of that kind. It is highly recommended to see the show prior to attending this event.
More details are available from the following link:
https://thesocietyforthehistoryofcollecting.wildapricot.org/event-6318198
