French Cancan. 1955. France. Directed by Jean Renoir
These notes accompany screenings of Jean Renoir’s French Cancan on October 31 and November 1 and 2 in Theater 3.
As regular followers of this series know, I can’t get enough of Jean Renoir. I feel a stronger emotional kinship with him than with any other filmmaker, except possibly Charles Chaplin or John Ford. Read more
In the audio slideshow above, the Shanghai-based artists Ji Weiyu and Song Tao, who work together under the collective name Birdhead, talk about their installation in MoMA’s New Photography 2012 exhibition. Read more
Five for Friday, written by a variety of MoMA staff members, is our attempt to spotlight some of the compelling, charming, and downright curious works in the Museum’s rich collection.
Walking around the galleries on a Tuesday, when MoMA is closed to the public and virtually empty, is a rare treat Museum employees can enjoy. Read more
MoMA Design Studio‘s little designer, Sky Chu. Photo by Martin Seck
A few months ago, my team and I here at MoMA had the challenge of designing the title wall for the exhibition Century of the Child: Growing By Design, 1900–2000, a broad survey of 20th-century design for children with “children and childhood as a paradigm for progressive design thinking.” When we met with the curators, Juliet Kinchin and Aidan O’Connor, they suggested trying a less formal approach for the design of the title wall, perhaps using handwriting. So two of our experienced designers spent two days experimenting with every type of handwriting font and non-digital handwriting they could think of. The results were good, but not quite right. It was clear to us that we needed to take a different approach. That’s when we suddenly realized, what could be better than having an actual child help us? And that’s how my 6-year-old son Sky became a MoMA designer. He sat down at the dinner table one night, wrote out the title of the exhibition three times, and then said, “done.” So it was. And after we enlarged the text, we realized the average letter height is as tall as Sky himself—3 feet, 9 inches!
The little designer leaping in front of his work, and one of his own alphabets. Photos by Martin Seck and Ingrid Chou
Tottenville High School Marching Band leading the audience out of the Child in the City of Play symposium through MoMA Studio: Common Senses. Photo by Sarah Kennedy
It’s not often that you leave a symposium feeling more awake than when you started, but that was certainly the case for every attendee and participant of last week’s The Child in the City of Play: Growing by Design Read more
Unforgiven. 1992. USA. Directed by Clint Eastwood
These notes accompany screenings of Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven on October 24, 25, and 26 in Theater 3.
Clint Eastwood’s diverse acting performances and directing accomplishments in Western films have earned him a solid place high in the pantheon of such genre artists as Ford, Hawks, Wayne, Cooper, Fonda, and Stewart Read more
In the audio slideshow above, photographer Shirana Shahbazi talks about her stunning site-specific installation in MoMA’s New Photography 2012 exhibition. Read more
American Photographs cover image
Walker Evans’s American Photographs is a touchstone for modern photography—a remarkable collection of photographs that shows a “poetics of editing and sequencing,” according to MoMA’s former Chief Curator of Photography Peter Galassi, that “helped to establish the photographer’s book as an indivisible unit of artistic expression.” Read more
Irwin Glusker. 2013 Phases of the Moon Calendar. 2011
Since time immemorial the curious have gazed at the ever-changing shape, color, and size of the moon and wondered. The luminous, celestial orb has inspired songs, myths, poetry, and art for thousands of years, and, as we now know, is responsible for the life-enriching tides of the oceans. Read more
The Searchers. 1956. USA. Directed by John Ford
These notes accompany screenings of John Ford’s The Searchers on October 17, 18, and 19 in Theater 3.
The Searchers and [The Man Who Shot] Liberty Valance are the two masterpieces within Ford’s later project of disclosing the dark underbelly of the American West’s progress from wilderness to civilization Read more
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