Fall films at the Clark

 “OLD MASTERS IN NEW FRAMES”

Free film series with scholarly commentary in Clark auditorium

Thursday evenings at 7:00 starting September 20

"Old Masters in New Frames" pairs highly-esteemed feature films about famous artists with scholarly interlocutors affiliated with the Clark, each of whom will put the another frame around the subject, offering an introduction and/or leading a post-film discussion. 

September 20 Thursday 7pm: Andrei Rublev.  (1966, 205 min, Russian with subtitles)  Andrei Tarkovsky's masterful epic explores not just the life and work of the famous icon painter, but the whole cosmos of late medieval Russia, in a cinematic classic of art, faith, and history.  Steve Satullo, film programmer for the Clark, will introduce the series and the film.  For the convenience of viewers unable to stay late on Thursday, this film will be repeated on Friday 9/21, with Part One at 1:00 pm and Part Two at 3:00 pm.

October 4 Thursday 7pm: The Mill & the Cross.  (2011, 95 min.)  Lech Majewski offers a unique portal -- through special effects and dramatization -- for entering the world of a Pieter Bruegel painting, with the artist himself (played by Rutger Hauer) as guide.  Keith Moxey, Chair of Art History at Barnard College, will provide context and commentary on the film.

October 18 Thursday 7pm: Caravaggio.  (1986, 90 min.)  Derek Jarman's bold experiment in portraiture tells the story of the scandalous Italian Baroque painter, played by Nigel Terry, with his muse and model played by Tilda Swinton.  Michael Cassin, director of the Center for Education in the Visual Arts at the Clark, will tell tales about the painter and his world.

November 1 Thursday 7pm: Edvard Munch.  (1974, 172 min.).   Peter Watkins' brilliant docudrama follows the early life and career of the grim Norwegian painter, showing what led to The Scream.  Jay Clarke, Manton Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs for the Clark and author of Becoming Edvard Munch: Influence, Anxiety, and Myth, will introduce and assess the film.

November 15 Thursday 7pm: Lust for Life.  (1956, 122 min.)  Vincente Minnelli’s adaptation of the Irving Stone novel is an unusually serious Hollywood biopic, imbued with the colors of the art and the life.  Kirk Douglas gives an impassioned performance as Vincent Van Gogh, with Anthony Quinn as Paul Gauguin.  Perspective will be provided by Richard Kendall, Curator at Large for the Clark and author of Van Gogh’s Van Goghs.