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Williams College Museum of Art Kicks Off Summer Activities with World
Premiere at Williamstown Theatre Festival
Williamstown, MA — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is
pleased to announce the world premiere of Crispin Whittell’s “Villa
America” at the Williamstown Theatre Festival as a highlight of
an exciting summer and fall program schedule for Making It New: The
Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy. On view at the museum from
Sunday, July 8 through November 11, 2007, the exhibition explores
the lives of Sara and Gerald Murphy, the captivating American “expats” who
inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night. Written
and directed by Whittell, and exploring the lives and circle
of the Murphys, “Villa
America” opens Wednesday, July 11 at the '62 Center for
Theatre and Dance.
The Museum’s Gala Premiere Opening for the exhibition takes place
on Saturday evening, July 7 from 7:00 to 10:00 pm. In preparation
for the Gala Premiere Opening, the museum will be closed to the
public during the day. An
enchanted evening, “Murphy-style,” awaits with live
music, cocktails, a buffet dinner, and a special viewing of the
exhibition “Making
It New.” Plan to be at the Williams College Museum of Art when 1920s
Paris comes to the Berkshires! Tickets are $100 per person and
available by contacting Judy Pellerin, Museum Secretary, or calling
(413) 597-2037.
Then, on July 14, WCMA presents a free family festival on the museum's
front lawn. Visitors are encouraged to bring their children to discover
how the Murphys inspired modern artists and writers such as Picasso and
Hemingway as they traveled between America and France. Themed activities,
food, and music provide entertainment for all.
Gallery talks on the exhibition, the lives of the Murphys, and their
connection to literature, dance, food, theater, and art are scheduled
throughout the summer and fall. A summer camp for young people aged 11
to 14 explores the connection between visual art and dance in the exhibition
and includes a workshop at Jacob's Pillow. In addition, WCMA offers curriculum
and workshops for teachers who wish to integrate a gallery visit of the
exhibition into their classroom teaching.
An unconventional symposium that includes art, music, dance, and cocktails
is slated for the fall, proving the Murphys' motto that there is a place
for style in everything. Guest speakers are Amanda Vaill, author of Everybody
Was So Young: Sara and Gerald Murphy, A Lost Generation Love Story;
Harold Koda, Curator-in-Charge, Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum
of Art; Kenneth Silver, Professor of Fine Arts, Chair Department of Fine
Arts, New York University; and Andrew W. Jaffe, Clay Artist in Residence
and Director of Jazz Activities, Senior Lecturer in Music, Williams College.
A complete program schedule follows.
Program Schedule:
Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy
Gala Premiere Opening
Please note the museum will be closed to the public all day.
July 7, 2007
7:00 pm–10:00 pm
Celebrate in style with live music, cocktails, and a buffet dinner.
The exhibition will be open to Gala attendees for a special preview.
Tickets are $100 per person and support museum exhibitions. Contact
Judy Pellerin, Museum Secretary, at (413) 597-2037 for more information.
Parking will be available the night of the Gala behind Thompson
Chapel. Shuttle service will run continually to the museum entrance.
Please check in upon arrival. The museum is wheelchair accessible.
Guests with special needs should call the museum in advance.
Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy
Special Public Preview
Sunday, July 8
10:00 am
The museum opens early for a special public preview of the exhibition.
“Villa America”
July 11–July 22, 2007
The Williamstown Theatre Festival presents the premiere of “Villa
America,” an original play commissioned by the Festival about Sara and
Gerald Murphy, written and directed by Crispin Whittell. Performances take
place in the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance. Tickets are available at wtfestival.org
or by calling 413-597-3400
Family Festival: Bon Voyage! Travel with the Murphys
Saturday, July 14
1:00-4:00 pm
3:00 pm exhibition tour with Curator Deborah Rothschild
Celebrate the opening of the exhibition Making It New: The Art
and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy with a family festival
set on the museum's front lawn. Discover how the Murphys inspired modern
artists and writers such as Picasso and Hemingway as they traveled from
America to France. Enjoy French crepes, ice cream, and other treats;
make art in Paris; and learn to dance the Charleston on Broadway. Go
on a treasure hunt in the galleries and join a curatorial talk at 3:00
pm. An all-day outdoor concert by the Kwajmal Jazz Band showcases
music from the 1920s to 1940s.
Gallery Talk
Making It New: The Art and Style
of Sara and Gerald Murphy
Tuesday, July 17
2:00 pm
Deborah Rothschild, Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary
Art
Gallery Talk
Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy
Tuesday, July 24 at 2:00 pm
Kathryn Price, Assistant Curator
Teachers’ Workshop: Making Connections
Wednesday, July 25
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Elementary school teachers are invited to explore
ways to teach with art and make connections to exhibitions at Kidspace at
MASS MoCA and the Williams College Museum of Art.
Gallery Talk
The Murphys & Dance
Saturday, July 28 at 2:00 pm
Emily Schreiner, Coordinator of Education
Programs
Summer Camp: Moving Through Visual Art
Monday August
6 – Friday August 10
10:30 am – 2:00 pm
Explore the connections between visual art and
movement in this intensive art camp for young people aged 11
to 14. This program includes a field trip and workshop at Jacob’s Pillow.
In a tour of Making
It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy, participants
will enter the world of modern art, where the inspiring couple,
Sara and Gerald Murphy, were friends with such artists as Pablo
Picasso and Fernand Léger, writers F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest
Hemingway, as well as singers and dancers. Just as the Murphys
created art out of their life, participants will explore and experience
visual art through looking, making, and performing. Limited enrollment.
Call 413-597-2038 for reservations. Visiting artist, Julia Morgan-Leamon
Gallery Talk for Educators
Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy
Tuesday, August 7
2:00 pm
Cynthia Way, Director of Education and Visitor Experience, and
Emily Schreiner, Coordinator of Education Programs
Gallery Talk
The Murphys & Literary Connections
Saturday, August 11
2:00 pm
Cynthia Way, Director of Education and Visitor Experience
Gallery Talk
The Murphys & the Machine Age
Tuesday, August 14
2:00 pm
John Stomberg, Deputy Director
A Place for Style in Everything: An “Un-Symposium”
Saturday, September 15
1:00-5:00 pm
Followed by reception and cocktails.
Art, music, dance, and cocktails set the stage for conversations about
life in the 1920s, Murphy-style.
Special guests include:
Amanda Vaill, author, Everybody Was So Young:
Sara and Gerald Murphy, A Lost
Generation Love Story
Harold Koda, Curator-in-Charge, Costume Institute, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art
Kenneth Silver, Professor of Fine Arts, Chair Department of
Fine Arts, New York University
Andrew W. Jaffe, Clay Artist in Residence
and Director of Jazz Activities, Senior Lecturer in Music, Williams
College
Performances by Williams College students
Gallery Talk
Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy
Wednesday, September 19
4:00 pm
Deborah Rothschild, Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary
Art
Teachers’ Open House
Thursday, September 20
4:00-6:00 pm
Teachers, administrators, and home-schooling parents are
invited to preview the exhibition, sign up for tours and workshops, and
enjoy Murphy-style refreshments with colleagues.
Teachers’ Workshop: Making It New
Friday, September 28
9:00-4:00 pm
Designed for high school teachers, this workshop
explores the curricular connections in the exhibition, Making It New: The Art and Style
of Sara and Gerald Murphy. Following a tour of the exhibition,
we will discuss ways to use the interdisciplinary curriculum developed
for this exhibition by a team of English, history, and art teachers from
Greenwich Central High School in Greenwich, New York.
Interdisciplinary Gallery Talk Series
This October, distinguished scholars explore facets of the literature,
theater, music, and art presented in the exhibition Making It
New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy.
On Literature
Sara and Gerald Murphy and Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night
Wednesday, October 10
12:10 pm
Robert Bell, Frederick Latimer Wells Professor of English
On Costume
Wednesday, October 17
2:10 pm
Deborah A. Brothers,Costume Director and Lecturer in
Theatre
On Music
Wednesday, October 24
12:10 pm
David L. Smith,John W. Chandler Professor of English
On Cubism
Wednesday, October 31
12:10 pm
Charles W. Haxthausen, Faison-Pierson-Stoddard Professor of Art
History
Family Workshop: Circle of Friends
Saturday, October
20
2:00-4:00 pm
In conjunction with the exhibition, Making It New:
The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy, families are invited
to “meet” the
Murphys and their circle of friends: the painters Pablo Picasso
and Fernand Léger, writers F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway,
and other legends of the era. Families will learn about modern
art and writing as they work on art projects together. Ages
6-10. Limited enrollment. Call 413-597-2038 for reservations.
Part of Words Are Wonderful.
Concert
La chanson des rêveurs: Songs of Poulenc
and Milhaud
Saturday,
November 3
7:00 pm
Allison Mondel, soprano; Dan Foster, piano
Held in conjunction with the exhibition Making It New: The Art
and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy, this concert features
the songs of Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud, friends of the Murphys
who forged a bold new style built upon modernist ideals and captured
the wit, flare, and insouciant charm of their age.
The exhibition
Making It New explores how the Murphys’ legendary style—modern
in its apparent simplicity and freedom from stifling social regimentation—was
a kind of manifesto, and touchstone, for the artists and writers of the
Lost Generation. The exhibition shows how the Murphys' friends—F.
Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, Serge
Diaghilev, and Jean Cocteau—were among those who encoded the
ethos of the Murphy’s lives into progressive 20th-century art, literature,
music, and taste. The exhibition features works of art by Pablo Picasso,
Georges Braque, Fernand Léger, and Man Ray, as well as theatrical
sets and costumes, the music of Cole Porter, the Murphys’ unique
home movies, and reminiscences by famous authors and their friends, along
with artwork seen for the first time in the United States from major European
museums.
Making It New has been made possible in part by the National
Endowment for the Humanities: great ideas brought to life; the Terra Foundation
for American Art; the Getty Foundation; and the Dedalus Foundation, Inc.
Any views, finding, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this
exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment
for the Humanities.
After its showing at the Williams College Museum of Art, Making It
New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy travels to the
Yale University Art Gallery (February 26–May 4, 2008) and the
Dallas Museum of Art (June 8–September 14, 2008). The exhibition
is accompanied by a major publication, Making It New: The Art and
Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy, published by University of California
Press, Berkeley.
The Williams College Museum of Art is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free and the museum is wheelchair accessible. Contact: Suzanne Augugliaro, Public Relations Coordinator, 413.597.3178.
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