The Bruce Museum begins the spring season with an exciting schedule of special events and programs, including a month-long film series highlighting the achievements of four women artists and architects in celebration of Women’s History Month.
Two major exhibitions are currently on view in the Museum’s newly renovated galleries: On the Edge of the World: Masterworks by Laurits Andersen Ring from SMK—the National Gallery of Denmark and Under the Skin, which highlights recent scientific discoveries through a combination of remarkable imagery and real biological specimens.
The Collecting Reimagined: A 2D Curiosity Cabinet exhibition is on view through Sunday, March 29, 2020. Helping close the Curiosity Cabinet with expert insight is Dr. Inge Reist, Director Emerita of the Center for the History of Collecting, which she established at The Frick Collection in 2007. On Thursday, March 26, 6:30 - 8:30 pm, Dr. Reist will give a presentation, Art, Science, and Alchemy: Royal Collecting in the European Curiosity Cabinet.
Details about these and other Bruce Museum programs and special events taking place in March are provided below. For complete calendar listings and to register for programs requiring reservations, visit brucemuseum.org or call 203-869-0376.
March 2020
Sunday, March 1, 2:00 – 3:00 pm. The Bruce Museum Seaside Center’s Fred Elser First Sunday Science Series: Night Sky Landscapes. Photographer Stan Honda has been an artist-in-residence at six national parks and has been featured on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day an impressive eight times. In his presentation, he will share images of sweeping landscapes and astronomical phenomena from his long-term project photographing the night sky. He will also discuss how he combines astronomy and photography into artistic statements about how we move through the universe around us. Held at the Bruce Museum Seaside Center, Greenwich Point Park. Free admission. Family activities from 1:30 – 3:30 pm.
Wednesday, March 4, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm. Celebrating Women Artists Film Series: The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo. This 90-minute documentary explores the 20th-century icon who became an international sensation in the worlds of modern art and radical politics. Award-winning filmmaker Amy Stechler of Daylight Films was granted unprecedented access to photographs, paintings, newsreels, and home movies, many of which have never been published or broadcast. Stechler's research includes more than 20 interviews with principals in Kahlo's life, including Mexican authors Carlos Fuentes and Carlos Monsivais and Kahlo's principal biographer, Hayden Herrera. Rita Moreno – the Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy Award-winning actress – narrates the film.
The film presentations are free to Museum members and visitors with paid admission. A brief discussion will follow each film. Reservations are required; please visit the Calendar section at brucemuseum.org to reserve your seat, or call 203-869-0376.
Tuesday, March 10, 6:30 - 8:30 pm. L.A. Ring, Denmark, and the Threshold of Modernity. Laurits Andersen Ring’s work recorded transformations in the cultural world of Denmark in the late 19th century. This presentation, by Patricia G. Berman, examines Ring’s prescience as both an eyewitness to and a participant in late nineteenth-century culture, and Copenhagen as part of a robust exchange among European art circles. Berman is the Theodora L. and Stanley H. Feldberg Professor of Art at Wellesley College, where she teaches modern and contemporary art, the history of photography, and propaganda studies. Free for Museum members and students with ID; non-members $15. Reservations required.
Wednesday, March 11, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm. Celebrating Women Artists Film Series: Arc of Light: A Portrait of Anna Campbell Bliss. This 2012 documentary traces Anna Campbell Bliss's evolution from ground-breaking architect to cutting-edge artist. Her work fuses architecture, mathematics, computer technology, painting, printmaking, and calligraphy. The film also examines the roots of Bliss's art in the Bauhaus school, which flourished in Germany in the 1920s. Viewers will learn how Bliss’s studies with Bauhaus exponents Walter Gropius and Gyorgy Kepes, as well as her links to Josef Albers, R. Buckminster Fuller, and other figures, shaped her creative development. (Run time 51 min.)
Thursday, March 12, 12:00 – 2:00 pm. Art of Design Luncheon and Diamonds with Graff. The Seventh Annual Art of Design luncheon will feature keynote speaker Marc Hruschka, Chief Executive Officer and President of Graff USA. Joining Marc in a conversation about the fascinating world of diamonds and the latest trends in the art and design of the lustrous jewels is Jill Newman. Newman is a Contributing Editor with Town & Country who has covered the international luxury business for more than 25 years, with a focus on fine jewelry, diamonds, and gemstones. This year’s Art of Design luncheon is Co-Chaired by Felicity Kostakis and Romona Norton. Honorary Guest is Bo Kim, VP General Manager, The Saks Shops Greenwich. Visit brucemuseum.org for more information and to make a reservation.
Wednesday, March 18, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm. Celebrating Women Artists Film Series: Zaha: An Architectural Legacy & Phaeno, Building as Landscape. Completed one year after Zaha Hadid’s death in 2016, Zaha: An Architectural Legacy explores the famed Iraqi-British architect’s career and legacy through five stages that signal significant progressions in her work. Featuring interviews with those who knew her, including longtime collaborator Patrik Schumacher, architects Eva Jiricna and Nigel Coates, urbanist Ricky Burdett, The Architects’ Journal editor-in-chief Christine Murray, and engineer Hanif Kara, the film gives thoughtful insight into the impact Zaha had on the architectural profession. This 2017 documentary was produced by Laura Mark and filmed by Jim Stephenson for The Architects’ Journal. (Run time 27 min.)
Phaeno, Building as Landscape, a 2007 Richard Copans documentary, is part of the series “Architectures—Achievements in Modern Architecture.” Completed in 2005, Zaha Hadid's Phaeno Science Center is a spaceship-like structure near Wolfsburg, Germany. As Hadid says: “the landscape is the plan.” Directed by Richard Copans; France, 2007. (Run Time 26 min.)
Sunday, March 22, 1:00 – 2:30 pm. Bruce Explorers. Owl Pellets. This drop-off program is for children ages 7 to 15. Owl pellets are masses of food that cannot be digested by the birds, which they then spit back up. During this workshop, participants will get to explore the contents found in pellets and piece together bones of animals found in them. The cost is $50; reservations are required. Visit brucemuseum.org or contact Megan Brown at mbrown@brucemuseum.org or 203-413-6740 for more information.
Wednesday, March 25, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm. Celebrating Women Artists Film Series: Kusama Infinity: The Life and Times of Yayoi Kusama. The incredible life journey of the top-selling female artist in the world, Yayoi Kusama, who overcame impossible odds to bring her radical artistic vision to the world. For decades, her work pushed boundaries that often alienated her from both her peers and those in power in the art world. Now, her Infinity Mirrored Room installations sell out globally. Kusama Infinity (2018) is directed, written, and produced by Heather Lenz, who spent more than a decade working to bring Kusama’s story to the screen. (Run time 76 min.)
Thursday, March 26, 2020 – 6:30 – 8:30 pm. Art, Science, and Alchemy: Royal Collecting in the European Curiosity Cabinet. In this presentation, art historian and scholar Dr. Inge Reist will highlight exceptional examples of the exotica – crocodiles, shells, and amber – and spectacular scientific instruments, alchemical paraphernalia, and works of art that so captivated the princes of Europe over more than two centuries. Dr. Reist is the Director Emerita of the Center for the History of Collecting, which she established at The Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library in 2007. The presentation is free for Museum members and students (with valid ID); $15 for non-members. Reception at 6:30 pm; the presentation begins at 7:00 pm, and will be followed by a question-and-answer session. Advance registration required.
Every Tuesday, 1:30 pm, and Friday, 12:30 pm. Exhibition Highlights Tour. Guided tours of the current exhibitions led by a Museum Docent.
Visit brucemuseum.org for more information about the current and upcoming exhibitions or details of other programs, including the weekend programs Art Adventures and Science Solvers, Bruce Beginnings, Learning to Look® Family Gallery Tours, Lifetime of Looking, and Design Time.