Painters Painting: A Candid History of the New York Art Scene 1940-1970

  • Tuesday June 07, 2016 7:00 PM

June 7Painters Painting: A Candid History of the New York Art Scene, 1940–1970, 1973
In the past, Emile de Antonio has made some fine documentaries, including Point of Order and Millhouse. . . . His newest film, Painters Painting, represents a change of mood. It’s a great big, cheerfully uncritical hug of a movie about a subject he adores, the contemporary New York art scene and the people who make it hustle. Vincent Canby, New York Times, March 20, 1973

For this Tuesday Evenings: Films, we seek to shed light on the exhibition Frank Stella: A Retrospective by screening Painters Painting. Released in 1973, this is the definitive documentary on the New York School of painters from 1940 to 1970. Director Emile de Antonio captures the zeitgeist of this existentialist time as he interviews key artists such as Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Hans Hofmann, Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Larry Poons, Kenneth Noland, and Frank Stella, as well as a key figure of that moment, curator and art historian Henry Geldzahler. With this now-historical film, de Antonio gives a revealing glimpse into the studios and attitudes of a progressive and critical era in art.
(116 min.) 

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Tuesday Evenings at the Modern: Films is an extension of the very popular lecture series Tuesday Evenings at the Modern, which is offered 10 weeks in the spring and fall of each year, this film-based weekly program runs through the summer months and strives to continue the consideration of ideas and issues pertaining to the art and architecture of the Modern and to contemporary art in general.   
 
Selections for screenings are related to or recommended by artists and speakers who have participated in the lecture series or are otherwise affiliated with the museum. There is nothing particularly prescriptive about the line-up, but as with the lecture series, themes can be found and connections made. To create a full experience, these presentations include a brief introduction and opportunity for discussion following the films.  
 
Seating is available in the Modern’s auditorium at 6:30 pm, and the program begins at 7 pm. The museum’s galleries and Café Modern's bar service are open until 7 pm on Tuesdays, June 7 through July 26, 2016.

This program is free and open to the public. Up to two free tickets can be obtained at the admission desk beginning at 5 pm the day of the screening.