The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (The Academy) are pleased to co-present the first U.S. retrospective of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, developed in collaboration with the Kubrick Estate and the Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt. The exhibition provides access to the director’s extraordinary vision and working methods while illuminating the network of influences and conditions that came together to make his films universally regarded as modern masterpieces. The Los Angeles presentation is made possible by a generous gift from Steve Tisch.
Stanley Kubrick in the interior of the space ship “Discovery”, 2001: A Space Odyssey (2001: A Space Odyssey, GB/United States 1965-68) © Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Kubrick’s acclaimed repertoire of films, including Paths of Glory, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut, among others, highlight not only his signature directorial tenacity but also major technological innovations of the time, such as filming by candlelight in Barry Lyndon and utilizing the front projection effect in 2001. The exhibition also includes an alternate beginning to this seminal science fiction film.
Kubrick’s films will be represented through a thoughtful selection of archival material, annotated scripts, photography, costumes, cameras and equipment, set models, original promotional materials, and props. The interdisciplinary exhibition draws attention to Kubrick’s fixation with historical research and his visionary adaptations of influences from the fine arts, design, and architecture, and enables visitors to experience the cinematic journey of one of the great artists of the twentieth century. The exhibition also includes sections dedicated to projects that were never completed, as well as to the special effects (visual and auditory) developed by Kubrick and his team.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a film retrospective at LACMA’s Bing Theater beginning in November, as well as public programs and conversations with Kubrick’s collaborators and people he influenced, and additional exhibition-related film series planned for spring 2013.
As part of this partnership, and to kick off the film retrospective, on Wednesday, November 7, the Academy will present “An Academy Salute to Stanley Kubrick.” The evening will feature film clips and a conversation hosted by actor Malcolm McDowell. Special guests will include Kubrick’s colleagues and collaborators. The event will also launch the Academy’s Kubrick exhibition, which will be open to the public through February 2013. Featuring items from the Academy’s permanent collection, the exhibition will illuminate the work of Kubrick’s collaborators, as well as the many artists who influenced Kubrick’s work. The salute and exhibition will take place at the Academy’s Samuel Golden Theater and Grand Lobby in Beverly Hills, respectively.
Stanley Kubrick originated at Deutches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt, and has since traveled to Berlin, Melbourne, Ghent, Zurich, Rome, Paris, and Amsterdam. The exhibition presentation at LACMA will be dramatically different from the international venues, with exhibition design by film production designer Patti Podesta.
Stanley Kubrick was born in 1928 in New York City. In 1945, at the age of 16, Kubrick had his first photograph published in Look magazine. As a staff photographer at Look from 1946 to 1951, Kubrick took on a range of assignments, photographing both celebrity subjects and urban documentaries. He made is his first film short, Day of the Fight, in 1951; after directing two more shorts, Kubrick directed and produced his first feature-length film, Fear and Desire, in 1953. Since then, Kubrick followed with such films as Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut. A pioneer in special effects and technological advances, Kubrick’s films often included the use of new photographic lenses, long tracking sequences, and orchestral music. With thirteen Academy Award nominations, Kubrick won the Oscar for Best Effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1969. Kubrick died in Harpenden, England, on March 7, 1999, at the age of 70. www.lacma.org