Producer of over 25 exhibition films for the National Gallery of Art
2018
Dawoud Bey: The Birmingham Project
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/dawoud-bey-interview.html
In 2005 American photographer Dawoud Bey (b. 1953) visited Birmingham, Alabama, to explore the possibility of making work that would commemorate the September 15, 1963, bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. He spent the next seven years getting to know the community and the history and considering how he could best represent the children who were killed that day. The Birmingham Project, a series that includes photographic diptychs and a split-screen video, is Bey’s powerful response. Produced in conjunction with the exhibition Dawoud Bey: The Birmingham Project, this ten-minute interview with the artist explores the inspiration and evolution of the project, as well as Bey's broader interests in portraiture and American history. Made possible by Heather and Jim Johnson and Neil and Sayra Meyerhoff.
Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice
Jacopo Tintoretto changed the face of Venetian painting. His fast and furious brushwork was likened to a thunderbolt. Combining the rich colors of Titian with the dramatic muscularity of Michelangelo’s figures, Tintoretto covered the walls of his native city with pictures that astounded his contemporaries; Vasari declared him “the most extraordinary brain that the art of painting has ever produced.” This documentary, produced for the exhibition, Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice, includes original footage of Tintoretto’s works in the churches and palaces of Venice and interviews with curators and scholars.
Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings
Sally Mann: Collodion and the Angel of Uncertainty
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/mann-colldion.html
Made in conjunction with the exhibition Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings, this nine-minute documentary explores Mann’s use of collodion wet plate negatives, a process used by many Civil War photographers. But unlike her predecessors, who worked hard to create perfect negatives, Mann readily embraced the flaws—such as specks of dust or pools of chemicals. These very imperfections, Mann explains, enable her to capture a sense of the South, where “the very air is redolent with the spirits of the past.” Produced by the department of exhibition programs.
2016
Stuart Davis: In Full Swing
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/stuart-davis.html
Narrated by John Lithgow, this film was made in conjunction with the exhibition Stuart Davis: In Full Swing. Stuart Davis (1892 –1964) was an American original. Trained as a realist painter, he became a pioneering abstract artist after seeing works by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, and other European modernists at the Armory Show in New York in 1913. Davis’s exuberant, colorful compositions echo the dynamism of the American scene and the rhythms of jazz, the artist’s lifelong passion. This documentary surveys his career and includes original footage shot on location in New York and Gloucester, Massachusetts; interviews with scholars and a musician; images of Davis’s paintings; and archival footage and photographs of the artist. Produced by the department of exhibition programs. This film was made possible by the HRH Foundation.
Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/los-angeles-to-new-york-dwan-gallery.html
This film is made in conjunction with the exhibition Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery, 1959–1971, on view from September 30, 2016, to January 29, 2017. Produced by the Department of Exhibition Programs, the film follows the career of Virginia Dwan, who opened her first art gallery in Los Angeles in 1959 and went on to organize dozens of exhibitions of remarkable range, representing movements as diverse as abstract expressionism, pop art, minimalism, conceptualism, and land art. In her earliest days as a dealer, Dwan brought New York art and artists – Larry Rivers, Franz Kline, Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, among others – to a West Coast audience and supported young French artists, including Yves Klein. The opening of a New York location in 1965 made Dwan Gallery the country’s first bicoastal gallery. There Dwan’s aesthetic shifted toward the spare, restrained look of minimalism. In 1971 she abandoned her career as a dealer and focused on supporting ambitious earthworks, such as Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty – a 1,500-foot coiled sculpture on the shore of Great Salt Lake in Utah. The film includes a new interview with Virginia Dwan, comments from Claes Oldenburg and Charles Ross, whose work she supported, and archival footage of the exhibitions and happenings she sponsored in the 1960s. The film was made possible by the HRH Foundation.
Barbara Kruger: in her own words
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/krueger.html
This 6-minute film features works from the exhibition In the Tower: Barbara Kruger, presenting Kruger’s profile works—images of faces or figures seen in profile, over which the artist has layered attention-grabbing phrases and figures of speech. The film is narrated by the artist, who discusses her background, process, and methodology. It covers Kruger’s early career beginning in the 1970s as she transitioned from her work as a layout editor for Condé Nast to the art world. By the end of the decade she had begun her “picture practice,” a conceptual approach that involved culling images from manuals and magazines and adding attention-grabbing language using her signature style of direct-address, complete with personal pronouns and active verbs. Kruger’s work now spans a variety of formats, from paste-ups to large-scale silkscreens and photographs, billboards, multichannel videos, and book-cover designs. This film was made possible by the HRH Foundation.
2015
Drawing in Silver and Gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/silver-gold-johns.html
This film was produced in conjunction with the exhibition Drawing in Silver and Gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns. Used by artists since the Middle Ages, metalpoint in its simplest form involves inserting gold or silver wire into a stylus to make drawings on paper prepared with an abrasive coating. Kimberly Schenck, head of paper conservation at the National Gallery of Art, demonstrates the process of preparing the paper; Mark Leithauser, the Gallery’s chief of design, demonstrates various ways of drawing with metal; and Stacey Sell, associate curator in the department of old master drawings, comments on the techniques used by the artists. This film is made possible by the HRH Foundation.
Power and Pathos
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/power-and-pathos.html
Narrated by Liev Schreiber, this film was made in conjunction with the exhibition Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World, on view at the Gallery from December 13, 2015, to March 20, 2016. Produced by the department of exhibition programs, it explores artistic achievements of the Hellenistic period from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC to the rise of the Roman Empire. Bronze, with its gleaming surfaces, tensile strength, and ability to capture fine detail, became the preferred medium of Hellenistic sculptors for lifelike portraits expressing character and individuality, innovative images of deities, and dynamic expressions of movement. The film includes footage shot on location at archaeological sites in Greece—Delphi, Corinth, and Olympia—and was made possible by the HRH Foundation.
2014
El Greco: An Artist's Odyssey
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/el-greco-artists-odyssey.html
Narrated by Adrien Brody, this film was made in conjunction with the exhibition El Greco in the National Gallery of Art and Washington-Area Collections: A 400th Anniversary Celebration. El Greco (1541 – 1614) was born Domenikos Theotokopoulos in Crete. He began his career as a painter of icons for Byzantine churches. Moving to Italy and then to Spain, his work fused lessons learned from the glories of Byzantium with the ravishing color of Venetian art and the elegant artificialities of Roman mannerism. Settling in Toledo, he created a passionate outpouring of work. He painted haunting portraits of saints and scholars, biblical scenes, martyrdoms, and miracles in a highly personal, visionary style charged with emotion and drama. His work puzzled many contemporaries, but later artists, including Picasso, considered him a prophet of modernism. This film was made possible by the HRH foundation
2013
Five Byzantine Churches
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/byzantine.html
Five Byzantine Churches, musical accompaniment without narration (2013, 12 min.)
This film presents still and original moving footage of historically significant Byzantine churches in Greece. Set to the music of Byzantine hymns and chants, the film evokes the original context of many works of art in the exhibition Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections at the National Gallery of Art, October 6, 2013–March 2, 2014. Produced by the Department of Exhibition Programs at the National Gallery of Art. This film was made possible by the HRH Foundation
Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes
Above, 30 minute version.
60 Minute version: https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/diaghilev.html
Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, narrated by Tilda Swinton (2013, 60 min.)
Narrated by Tilda Swinton, this film was made in conjunction with the exhibition Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929: When Art Danced with Music. The impresario Serge Diaghilev was the creator and driving force of the Ballets Russes. He persuaded, cajoled, and charmed the greatest talents of the early twentieth century to join his company. Artists (Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse), composers (Igor Stravinsky and Erik Satie), choreographers (Michel Fokine and George Balanchine), and dancers (Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova) all collaborated to realize Diaghilev’s dream of a seamless fusion of the arts. The spectacular productions of the Ballets Russes dazzled audiences and revolutionized modern dance. This documentary includes footage of revivals of Ballets Russes performances by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, the Paris Opera Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet, and the New York City Ballet. Also featured are sets and costumes from Diaghilev’s innovative productions, as well as interviews with dancers, musicians, and scholars. This film was made possible by the HRH Foundation.
2012
Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/joan-miro.html
This documentary, narrated by Ed Harris, was produced by the National Gallery of Art in conjunction with the exhibition Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape. Joan Miró was passionately committed to his native Catalonia and its struggle for independence from Spain. But he also longed to escape into artistic freedom. This tension drove his art in strange and beautiful ways. Miró was by turns influenced by Dada, surrealism, and abstract expressionism. His changes in styles and subjects also reflected the horrific events of the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the dictatorship of Franco. This documentary includes original footage shot in Barcelona and Catalonia, images of Miró's paintings and sculpture, and archival footage and photos. This film was made possible by the HRH Foundation.
George Bellows
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/bellows.html
Narrated by Ethan Hawke, this film was made in conjunction with the exhibition 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. This documentary includes original footage shot in New York City and Maine; examples of Bellows' paintings, drawings, and prints; and archival footage and photographs. The film is made possible by the HRH Foundation.
2011
Gauguin: Maker of Myth
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/gauguin.html
Narrated by Willem Dafoe and with Alfred Molina as the voice of Paul Gauguin, this film was made in conjunction with the exhibition 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 available for sale at the National Gallery of Art. The film is made possible by the HRH Foundation.
2010
Arcimboldo: Nature and Fantasy
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/arcimboldo-nature-fantasy.html
Narrated by Isabella Rossellini and produced by the National Gallery of Art, this film traces the career of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, an artist whose work thrilled and delighted the Habsburg courts of the later 16th century. Arcimboldo was best known for his "composite heads"—faces composed of fruits, vegetables, fish, flowers, and beasts of all kinds. The film explores the connection between his paintings and the burgeoning natural sciences, the voyages of discovery, and the atmosphere of intellectual curiosity at the courts of Europe. The film is made possible by the HRH Foundation. Produced in conjunction with the exhibition Arcimboldo, 1526–1593: Nature and Fantasy.
In the Tower: Mark Rothko
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/mark-rothko.html
This short documentary, narrated by curator Harry Cooper, was produced by the National Gallery of Art in conjunction with the exhibition In the Tower: Mark Rothko. The film considers Rothko's style, which infused abstract painting with emotional significance. Recognized in the 1950s for his use of brilliant colors, Rothko changed direction in the 1960s and produced a series of canvases known as the black-form paintings. Critics and artists often associated the darkness of these works with Rothko's bouts of illness and depression, but Cooper argues that the paintings are a continuation of the painter's lifelong exploration of light.
The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Exhibition Highlights, Gesture, Picture the Frame, Scrape, Concentricity, Line, Part 1
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/meyerhoff-part-1.html
The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Exhibition Highlights, Art on Art, Drip, Stripe to Zip, Monochrome, Figure or Ground, Part 2
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/meyerhoff-part-2.html
Over the course of nearly half a century, Robert and Jane Meyerhoff acquired works by some of the most influential American artists in the postwar era, building a collection that bridges the divide between abstract and figurative painting. More than 40 artists are represented, with special focus on Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Brice Marden, Robert Rauschenberg, and Frank Stella. Harry Cooper, the National Gallery's curator of modern and contemporary art, gives a tour of the exhibition, which includes 126 paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture. By discussing the works according to themes such as Line, Drip, Gesture, and Concentricity, he presents the collection in new and often unexpected ways. The Meyerhoffs have donated 47 works to the National Gallery of Art since 1987, and their entire collection will eventually be given to the museum.
2009
In the Tower: Philip Guston
2008
Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/pompeii-roman-villa.html
Narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi and produced by the National Gallery, this excerpt is from a new documentary film that examines the explosion of artistic activity around the Bay of Naples beginning in the first century BC. The film includes original footage of houses in Pompeii and of the seaside villas that dotted the coastline of the Bay of Naples. The 30-minute version of the film is on view and for sale at the National Gallery of Art. The film is made possible by the HRH Foundation. Produced in conjunction with the exhibition Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples.
J.M.W. Turner Film
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/j-m-w-turner.html
This excerpt is from a new documentary chronicling the rise of one of the greatest landscape painters of all time, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), who rendered the subtle effects of light and atmosphere in revolutionary ways. A barber's son, he entered the Royal Academy art school at age fourteen and became, over the course of six decades, the leading British artist of his era. This overview of Turner's career and influences includes footage of locations important to him in Wales, Switzerland, and England, and readings from writers and artists of the era, including John Ruskin and Lord Byron. A 30-minute version of the film may be purchased at the National Gallery of Art. Narrated by Jeremy Irons and produced by the Gallery in conjunction with the exhibition J.M.W. Turner, the film is made possible by the HRH Foundation.
2007
Edward Hopper
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/edward-hopper.html
This excerpt is from a documentary produced by the National Gallery of Art that includes archival footage of Edward Hopper (1882–1967), new footage of places that inspired him in New York and New England, including his boyhood home in Nyack and his studio on Washington Square, where he lived and worked for more than 50 years. Narrated by actor and art collector Steve Martin, this film traces Hopper's varied influences, from French impressionism to the gangster films of the 1930s. Artists Red Grooms and Eric Fischl discuss Hopper's influence on their careers. Curators discuss recent and diverse perspectives on Hopper's art. The film is made possible by the HRH Foundation. Produced in conjunction with the exhibition Edward Hopper.
2006
Dada
A brief silent film composed of documentary footage from the World War I–era ran continuously in the first room of the exhibition.
Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris
48 paintings by Henri Rousseau, including landscapes, allegories, portraits, and the largest group ever assembled of Rousseau's jungle paintings, were shown in this first major retrospective of the artist's work in 20 years. The exhibition was organized thematically, beginning with Rousseau's first jungle picture, Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!), followed by sections that focused on Rousseau's forest pictures, suburban landscapes, allegories, portraits, and jungle paintings, and the exotic in 19th-century popular culture. A special documentary film narrated by Kevin Kline, Henry Rousseau: Jungles in Paris, was produced by the National Gallery of Art, department of exhibition programs. The film was screened daily in the East Building Auditorium. A short version was shown continuously in the exhibition.
2005
Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre
More than 200 paintings, works on paper, sculptures, and printed materials focused on art created in the Parisian district of Montmartre at the turn of the 20th century. Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre, a 10-minute film, was shown continuously in a theater adjacent to the exhibition. An expanded 30-minute version of the film was shown daily in the East Building Small Auditorium and intermittently in the East Building Auditorium.
2004
Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya
The artistic world inside the royal courts of the ancient Maya was explored in this exhibition, which presented 156 objects associated with ancient Maya kings and queens. The works, which included stone sculptures, ceramics, and masks, were gathered from some 30 public and private collections in Central and South America and Europe. Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya, a 12-minute film, was shown continuously within the exhibition. Showings of an expanded 30-minute version of the film were held in the large auditorium.
2003
The Art of Romare Bearden
The 131 works in this comprehensive retrospective of Romare Bearden's work included paintings, drawings, and watercolors, monotypes and edition prints, collages, photostats, wood sculpture, designs for record albums, costumes and stage sets, and book illustrations. Many of the works represented places where Bearden lived and worked including the rural south, Pittsburgh, New York, and the Caribbean island of St. Martin. The exhibition was drawn from more than 85 museums and private collections.
The Art of Romare Bearden, a 12-minute film on Bearden's life produced by the National Gallery, was shown continuously in the exhibition. An expanded 30-minute version of the film was shown in the large auditorium. The film was narrated by Morgan Friedman and features an interview with musician Wynton Marsalis and Donald Glover as the voice of Romare Bearden.
Édouard Vuillard
30 minute film (and short exhibition film)
This exhibition presented 233 objects spanning the career of Parisian artist Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940). Included were paintings, folding screens, theater programs, prints, drawings, photographs, and ceramics. A series of decorative panels, The Public Gardens, 1894, were shown together for the first time since 1906. Some of the works in the exhibition had never before been on public display. A 30-minute film entitled Édouard Vuillard, produced by the National Gallery, was shown in the East Building large and small auditoriums. An abbreviated version of the film was shown continuously in the exhibition