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Release Date: February 24, 2004

When: 6 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2004

Where: LBJ Auditorium

Note: This event is free for Friends of the LBJ Library. There are a limited number of seats that may be available to those who are not members. For more information, or if you would like to become a member of the Friends of the LBJ Library, call Larry Reed at (512) 478-7829, ext. 296.

The Venus de Milo became a celebrity the moment she was discovered on an Aegean island in 1820, and her celebrity has never faded. But by attracting many admirers, the statue has also provoked jealousies, disputes, and international intrigues that took a century to die down and have never been completely resolved.

Former Texas Monthly editor Gregory Curtis will look at how the statue arrived in a dispirited and broken France and brought the country back up for real reasons as well as a clever art propaganda campaign by the French. Curtis will also look at how great powers can use their national art treasures for noble-and for much less than noble-purposes.

Curtis is the author of Disarmed: The Story of the Venus de Milo, about which Pulitzer Prize winning author Robert Caro writes, "In plunging us into the mysteries behind the glowing achievement that is the Venus de Milo, Gregory Curtis has created quite an achievement himself-a memorable, fascinating, thrilling book."

Curtis began his career at Texas Monthly as a staff writer from 1972 to 1981. During his tenure as editor from 1981 to 2000, the magazine won several prizes including five National Magazine Awards. In 2000, Curtis was selected by Columbia Journalism Review as one of the ten best magazine editors in the country.

Curtis will be signing Disarmed: The Story of the Venus de Milo from 5 to 5:30 p.m. in the lobby of the LBJ Auditorium prior to his address.

A reception will follow Curtis' address in the Great Hall of the LBJ Auditorium.