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15/7/2005

Moving Pictures

Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown

American Art and Early Film, 1880-1910

Williamstown, MA‹ Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) launches the exhibition, 'Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film 1880-1910', with an historically-inspired public celebration on the museum lawn, Saturday, July 16 from 4:00-8:00 pm. The Festival will include live music and dancing demonstrations and performances, boxing lessons, Coney Island food, and art activities for children. Based on the themes explored in early film, the festival aims to bring the Turn-of-the-Century environment and its characters to life. The galleries will be open to allow visitors to tour the 'Moving Pictures' exhibition.

During the early 20th century, painters such as George Bellows and the filmmaker Thomas Alva Edison sought to capture the energy and suspense of boxing in differing art forms. Continuing the time-honored traditions of this sport, boxing coach Djata Bumpus of Pioneer Valley Boxing Center will provide sparring lessons in one of the festival tents. Several of his assistants will be present to teach basic boxing techniques and encourage new participants. All ages are welcome.

The summertime sounds of Jazz, Ragtime, and Foxtrot will be in the air, performed live by the Williams Reunion Jazz Band. Comprised of dedicated alumni from Williams College, this acclaimed ensemble of horns, drums, piano, banjo, and song are set to prove that 'Classic American Jazz is alive and well' in the 21st century.

Following the theme of combining art with music and dance, Barbara Roan and Danny Michaelson of the Bennington Ballroom Company will be twirling in the Dancing tent. Skilled in the art of foxtrot, waltz, American tango and swing, these instructors will encourage visitors to put on their dancing shoes and emulate moves from the turn of the century. Here one can imitate the spirited steps in George Luks's The Spielers or the slapstick gestures seen in the film 'The Tough Dance.'

For children, Ani Magic, a group specializing in special effects and art, will demonstrate the art of creating animated films using Claymation figures. Artists Irnina Borisova and Eugene Mahmut will demonstrate how to make Claymation figures and show the process of transforming them from still figures into animated film.

Face painters will create fantastic designs on visitors of all ages. Children can create a spinning image and a zoetrope. Both involve designing a drawing that changes and moves once it is put into motion.

Refreshments, hot dogs, and popcorn will be for sale throughout the festival. Cold lemonade and iced tea will be served, along with carnival favorites such as cotton candy, snow cones, and hand scooped Wilcox Dairy ice cream and root beer floats. All items are priced at $1 per item; picnic tables and seating will be available. There is no charge for the festival or art activities. Tours of the 'Moving Pictures' exhibition will be given throughout the festival.

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In "Moving Pictures," paintings are placed alongside early films to show how artists and audiences of that period grappled with the new visual technology. The moving pictures on view are drawn primarily from the Edison, Lumière, and American Mutoscope and Biograph companies while the paintings are by such artists as Thomas Eakins, George Luks, John Sloan, and George Bellows. This important exhibition, which includes over 150 paintings, posters, and photographs and 50 films, follows the 1880 experiments of Eadward Muybridge and other motion photographers through the development of moving picture technology in the 1890s and the wave of creativity the new medium generated among American artists. The exhibition catalogue, with an accompanying interactive DVD of the paintings and films, features essays by prominent scholars from the fields of art history, film studies, and American studies. Organized by Nancy Mowll Mathews, Eugénie Prendergast Senior Curator, the exhibition travels to three other venues: Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, N.C., March-July 2006; Grey Art Gallery, New York University, September-December 2006; and The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., February-May 2007. Funded in part by The Henry Luce Foundation, the Eugénie Prendergast Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Williams College Center for Technology in the Arts and Humanities (CTAH).

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Related Events:
"Moving Pictures" Opening Festival
Saturday, July 16, 2005
4:00–8:00 pm
Celebrate the opening of the exhibition “Moving Pictures” with an all-American country fair to be held on the museum lawn. Featuring Coney Island food, street performers, period music and dancing. Special art activities will be offered. Fun for children of all ages!

Summer Camp 2005: “Moving Pictures”
Tuesday, July 19–Friday, July 22, 2005
10:00 am–12:30 pm
Participants will learn to create art in motion; activities include making optical illusions, performance art, and video animation. $75 fee for materials; pre-registration required. Space is limited to 12 participants, ages 8–12.

The Magic Lantern Show
Saturday, August 6, 2005
3:00 pm
David Brooke, former director of the Clark Art Institute, will present a Magic Lantern slide show with his Victorian Stereopticon, a 1900 double lantern. Brooke began collecting lantern slides more than 25 years ago. He has many hand-painted slides, some that create an illusion of movement by means of a crank, lever, or slipping glass. A gallery tour of the exhibition "Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film 1880–1910" will follow.

Music with Michael Lasser: "Take Your Girlie to the Movies"
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
7:00 pm
Michael Lasser, well-known lecturer, broadcaster, writer, teacher, and host of the Peabody-Award-winning public radio program Fascinatin' Rhythm, will play and discuss recordings of American music from the 1880s through the 1910s. In connection with "Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film 1880–1910."

"Moving Pictures" Keynote Speaker and Symposium
Friday, October 21, 2005
'62 Center for Theatre and Dance, Williams College
4:00 pm
Keynote speaker Charles Musser, Professor of American Studies and Film Studies, Yale University. A reception will follow at the museum.

Saturday, October 22, 2005
'62 Center for Theatre and Dance, Williams College
9:00 am–5:00 pm
Featuring distinguished speakers from the fields of art history and cinema studies, this symposium will explore the complex relationships between early film and American art, 1880-1910--the development phase of this extraordinary new visual medium.

All events take place at the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) unless otherwise noted.

Opening: July 16, 2005, 4:00‹8:00 p.m.

Image: Liebler & Maass Lithography (New York), Rosabel Morrison in “Carmen,” ca. 1896, lithograph, The Library of Congress, Washington, DC, Prints and Photographs Division

WCMA | 15 Lawrence Hall Drive, Ste 2 | Williamstown | MA | 01267
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.

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