In the video interview above, Gretchen Wagner, an assistant curator in the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, talks about the essay she wrote for the publication Modern Women: Women Artists at The Museum of Modern Art, titled “Riot on the Page: Thirty Years of Zines by Women.”

In this video interview, Brooklyn-based artist Conrad Ventur talks about his work, in particular his installation for the Greater New York exhibition at MoMA PS1, This Is My Life (Shirley Bassey) (2009). In this work, Ventur uses footage of Welsh singer Dame Shirley Bassey singing her 1968 hit song “This Is My Life” at various points during her decades-long career.

The Big Trail. 1930. USA. Directed by Raoul Walsh

These notes accompany screenings of Raoul Walsh’s The Big Trail, August 11, 12, and 13 in Theater 1.

We last crossed paths with Raoul Walsh (1887–1980) when we looked at his early gangster film, Regeneration. Walsh, like Howard Hawks, was eclectic in his choice of genres and retained some of the same aura of robust masculinity that Hawks affected. With rare exceptions, however, Walsh’s films lacked the gravitas and profundity of great art. By saying this, I don’t want to appear dismissive.

Confetti from George Maciunas’s New Flux Year. c. 1967. The Museum of Modern Art. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008

Upon opening an orange faux-reptile-skin box marked only with the typed words “top” and “pull,” we received quite a surprise: out jumped a coiled toy snake and a shower of confetti printed with the words “New Flux Year.” Rattled, we soon found that the joke was on us, as we were left returning every last scrap of paper, along with the spring-loaded snake, back into the box before shutting it carefully.

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.

Five Visceral Works in the Collection

I’ve always been something of a tomboy, so it’s not surprising that I’m drawn to beautifully visceral works of art. Readers beware: continue only if your stomach shares your boundless appreciation of modern art.

In this video interview, Veronica Roberts, Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Painting and Sculpture, discusses her exhibition Lee Bontecou: All Freedom in Every Sense, one of the exhibitions celebrating the landmark publication of Modern Women: Women Artists at The Museum of Modern Art.

Martin Ramirez. Untitled (Alamentosa). c. 1953. Pencil and watercolor on paper. The Museum of Modern Art. Latin American and Caribbean Fund and Committee on Drawings Funds. © Estate of Martín Ramírez. Photo courtesy Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York, NY.

I first encountered the work of Martín Ramírez in the winter of 2007, when our neighbors at the American Folk Art Museum mounted a major retrospective of his drawings and collages. Making my way through the exhibition, I was struck by the vibrant landscapes and recurring iconography that appeared to reflect both twentieth-century modernization and the folk traditions of the artist’s native Mexican homeland: images of Madonnas; horseback riders, or jinete; and, as seen in this untitled work, a recent MoMA acquisition and the first work by Ramírez to enter the collection, trains entering and exiting tunnels.

In the Making Alumni, Summer 2010, during the artmaking workshops.

We’re all familiar with the time-honored “What I 
Did Last Summer” essay. For many of us, this dreaded homework 
assignment meant trying to glamorize the hours we spent busing tables at a local restaurant or counting license plates on a family road trip. But for five hundred New York City teens, “What I Did Last Summer” is a 
chance to revisit their experience as participants in The Museum of 
Modern Art’s intensive studio art program, In the Making: Summer at 
MoMA.

Westfront 1918. 1930. Germany. Directed by G. W. Pabst

These notes accompany screenings of G. W. Pabst’s Westfront 1918, August 4, 5, and 6 in Theater 3.

When we last encountered G. W. Pabst (1885–1967), he had made the startling Die Buchse der Pandora (Pandora’s Box).

For teens, feeling disconnected from one’s peers, parents, and school is par for the course. In some ways, this disconnect can be a good thing: as teens move away from these childhood bonds, they begin a process of self-discovery and self-realization, figuring out who they are and who they want to be in the process.