Nell Painter Presents Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over | In Conversation with Clay Risen

Nell Painter, artist and professor emerita of history at Princeton University, and author of The History of White People, presents a vivid and incisive memoir about changing one’s life . Following her retirement from Princeton University, celebrated historian Dr. Nell Irvin Painter surprised everyone in her life by returning to school–in her sixties–to earn a BFA and MFA. In Old in Art School, Painter finds meaning in the artists she loves, even as she comes to understand how they may be undervalued, and struggles with the unstable balance between the pursuit of art and the inevitable, sometimes painful demands of a life fully lived. Bringing to bear incisive insights from two careers, Painter weaves a frank, funny, and often surprising tale of her move from academia to art. Painter presents her new memoir in conversation with New York Times editor Clay Risen, with a wine reception to follow.