National Gallery of Art: Gauguin – Maker of Myth
Gauguin (1848–1903) abandoned impressionism to create an art driven less by observation than by imagination. His gifts as an artist were matched by a talent for creating myths about places, cultures, and most of all, himself. This film explores his search for an authenticity he felt missing in modern Europe, a search that took him to ever more remote lands: Brittany, Martinique, and Polynesia. Never finding the paradise of his dreams, he recreated it in his paintings, sculpture, drawings, and prints. The film is made possible by the HRH Foundation.
- Tuesday, October 10 – 2:30 pm Comcast 21
- Thursday, October 12 – 8:30 pm on Comcast 15
- Sunday, October 15 – 8:30 am on Comcast 15
National Gallery of Art: George Bellows
Bellows arrived in New York City in 1904 and depicted an America on the move. In a twenty-year career cut short by his death at age 42, he painted the rapidly growing modern city—its bustling crowds, skyscrapers, and awe-inspiring construction projects, as well as its bruising boxers, street urchins, and New Yorkers both hard at work and enjoying their leisure. He also captured the rugged beauty of New York’s rivers and the grandeur of costal Maine. The film is made possible by the HRH Foundation.
- Tuesday, October 17 – 2:30 pm – Comcast 21
- Thursday, October 19 – 8:30 pm – Comcast 15
- Sunday, October 22 – 8:30 am – Comcast 15
National Gallery of Art: David Smith, American Sculptor, 1906–1965
David Smith was one of the most important sculptors of the twentieth century. His ideas about art and his methods are revealed in archival footage—through reminiscences by his daughters and in conversations with fellow artists Helen Frankenthaler and Robert Motherwell. The film takes viewers to Bolton Landing in upstate New York, where Smith had his studio.
- Thursday, October 5 – 8:30 pm – Comcast 15
- Sunday, October 8 – 8:30 am – Comcast 15
- Friday, October 27 – 12:30 pm – Comcast 15
National Gallery of Art: Henri Rousseau – Jungles in Paris
The self-taught Rousseau was rejected by traditionalists but championed by avant-garde artists and writers including Picasso. Rousseau is best known for his jungle landscapes that depict a world both seductive and terrifying. The film considers them in the context of France’s fascination with the exotic during the nation’s colonial expansion in the late nineteenth century. It features archival film and photographs as well as present-day footage of the Parisian parks, zoos, and greenhouses that fueled Rousseau’s imagination.
- Monday, October 23 – 9:00 am – Comcast 21
- Tuesday, October 24 – 2:30 pm – Comcast 21
- Thursday, October 26 – 8:30 pm – Comcast 15
National Gallery of Art: Henry Moore – A Life in Sculpture
Henry Moore’s long journey from a nineteenth-century coal-mining town in the north of England to the center stage of the twentieth-century art world was driven by talent, vision, and ambition. He fused ideas from non-European cultures, surrealism, and nature into unique sculptural works that made their way into galleries and private collections around the world. This program traces Moore’s career through footage of the artist at work, views of his sculptures and drawings, and interviews with colleagues Anthony Caro and Bruce Nauman, critics, and curators.
- Monday, October 30 – 9:00 am – Comcast 21
- Tuesday, October 31 – 2:30 pm – Comcast 21
