TALKS

VISAGES FOR ALL Independent writer and art historian Avis Berman presents the C. Richard Hilker Distinguished Lecture at the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts. She discusses “A Need for Portraits: John Sloan, Robert Henri, and John Butler Yeats.” Tonight, 6:30 p.m., National Academy, 1083 Fifth Ave., between 90th and 91st streets, 212-369-4880 ext. 300, free, reservations required.

ART

IMPRESSION, SUNRISE The Wil denstein & Co. Gallery presents “Claude Monet: A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Gra noff,” an exhibit of more than 60 paintings by the Impressionist culled from public institutions and private collections to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The show, which honors the late and highly influ ential art dealers, is the largest retrospective of Monet’s work to be held in New York in more than 30 years and spans the length of his career. Through Friday, June 15 Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Wildenstein & Co., 19 E. 64th St., be tween Fifth and Madison avenues $10 general, $5 students and sen iors.

A TOUCH OF NIRVANA The Japan Society presents the opening of “Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan,” an exhibit of 47 Japanese and Chinese works painted between the 13th and the 16th centuries. The exhibit ex plores the origins and traditions of painting associated with Zen Bud dhist communities during an era of singular artistic merit. In many of the works, Buddhist monks are de picted in spirit-infused states whether sleeping, dreaming, walk ing, or reaching enlightenment Since World War II, there have been only two large-scale shows mounted on this subject outside Japan. Through Sunday, June 17 Tuesday–Thursday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Saturday Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., Japan Soci ety, 333 E. 47th St., between First and Second avenues, 212-832-1155 $10 general, $8 students and sen iors, free to members and children under 16.

COAST TO COAST London-based Greek artist Emi Avora and New York artist Julia Kunin join forces in the exhibit “Against Nature.” The title is taken from a 19th-cen tury novel by Joris-Karl Huys man, which describes elements of decadence, taste, and beauty from the perspective of the narrator Des Esseintes. Through Friday June 22, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, the Crown Building, 730 Fifth Ave. at 57th Street, 212-445 0444, free.

NEO-GERMAN EXPRESSIONIST

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents the opening of an exhibit of new paintings by a German artist, Neo Rauch. The show in cludes 14 paintings that feature Mr. Rauch’s distinctive industrial palette. The works depict a parallel world of hypertrophied humans, for which the acclaimed young artist references Surrealism, public murals, and the heroic 1950s workmen and women of Eastern bloc political posters — all elements of the socialist realist aesthetic of communist East Germany, where Mr. Rauch grew up and received his artistic training. Gary Tinterow is curator of the exhibit. Through Sunday, October 14, the Met, 1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd Street, 212-535-7710, $20 suggested donation, $10 seniors and students, free for members and children under 12. For more information, go to metmuseum.org.

FOOD & DRINK

HOTEL GETAWAY Chef Charles Wiley of the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, Ariz., prepares a dinner celebrating the best hotel chefs in America. Dishes include devilfriend oysters with pickled vegetables, Copper River salmon with morels and fava beans, and a bananas foster tart with rum ice cream and a caramel crisp. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., James Beard House, 167 W. 12th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues 212-627-2308, $155 general, $125 members.

MUSIC

MEET IN PERSON The New York Philharmonic goes “Offstage” and presents violinist Julian Rachlin before he begins a three-day recital series with the Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall. Mr. Rachlin performs and discusses his career with a host from the radio station 96.3 WQXR, Jeff Spurgeon. Tonight, 7:30 p.m., Barnes & Noble, 1972 Broadway at 66th Street, 212-875-5656, free.

PHOTOGRAPHY

TURN ON THE LIGHT “Illuminations: Photographs by Lynn Davis” is an exhibit that documents Ms. Davis’s travels throughout the world in search of the greatest universal sites, both man-made and natural. Ms. Davis documented individuals interacting with their local environments, and religious artifacts. Through Monday, July 16, Monday and Thursday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., closed Tuesday, Wednesday, 11 a.m.–7 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Rubin Museum of Art, 150 W. 17th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues, 212-620-5000, $10 general, $7 students, seniors, and neighbors of the museum, free for children.

READINGS

‘LOVE IS A MIX TAPE’ Freebird Books & Goods hosts a reading with writers Darcey Steinke and Rob Sheffield. Ms. Steinke reads from her memoir “Easter Everywhere” (Bloomsbury), in which she tells the story of her growing up as the child of a Lutheran minister and a depressive former pageant queen, before embarking on a journey to find a meaningful spiritual life. Her nonfiction work has been featured in such publications as Vogue magazine, the Washington Post, and SPIN magazine. Mr. Sheffield, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, reads from “Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time” (Crown), a celebratory memoir and eulogy for “the decade of Nirvana,” including the sudden death of the rock critic’s wife from a pulmonary embolism. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., Freebird Books & Goods, 123 Columbia St., between Kane and Degraw streets, Brooklyn, 718-643-8484, free.

TALKS

INVISIBLE NO MORE The Museum of the City of New York presents Arnold Rampersad, the author of “Ralph Ellison: A Biography” (Knopf ), a book that explores its subject’s complexity as a cultural intellectual and one of America’s most important writers. Ellison counted Saul Bellow, Langston Hughes, Robert Penn Warren, and Richard Wright as close friends Mr. Rampersad was given com plete access to Ellison’s letters and writings. He is the Sara Hart Kim ball Professor in the Humanities and a member of the Department of English at Stanford University In a review of the work in The New York Sun on April 18, book critic Adam Kirsch writes, “Thirteen years after Ellison’s death, Mr Rampersad has written what is likely to become the definitive life of one of the American century’s most brilliant, enigmatic, and un happy figures.” Tomorrow, 6:30 p.m., MCNY, 1220 Fifth Ave. at 103rd Street, 212-534-1672 ext 3395, $9 general, $5 members.

FREEDOM TIME “Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War” is a panel discussion about the strug gles that freed black slaves faced after the Civil War, when cam paigns were mounted to suppress rights and freedom. These cam paigns were so successful that, a century after Appomattox, black Americans were still fighting for rights that had been in the Consti tution since 1870. Panelists in clude the dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and a writer for the New Yorker magazine, Nicholas Lemann; a pro fessor of law at New York Law School, Annette Gordon-Reed, and an editorial journalist, Brent Sta ples. Tomorrow, 6:30 p.m., New York Historical Society, 170 Cen tral Park West at 77th Street, 212 868-4444, $15 general, $10 stu dents, seniors, and educators, $8 members.

ART

COMMENCEMENT CELEBRATION The New York Studio School opens its 2007 MFA Thesis Show, featuring the paintings and sculptures of 20 MFA graduates. Student artists include Babette Rittenberg, Elena Skvirskaya, Todd Bienvenu, and Ignacio Pla Lopez De Muriallas. The school has been in operation for 40 years, teaching painting, drawing, and sculpture in graduate programs. Selections from the exhibit include Laurie Frick’s “Red and Blue” (2007), above. Tonight, opening reception, 6:30 p.m., exhibit through Tuesday, June 5, Monday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., NYSS, 8 W. 8th St., between Fifth Avenue and MacDougal Street, 212-673 6466, free.

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