In 1913, why did President Theodore Roosevelt call Cubism “repellent”? Find out at the Rochester, NY premiere of 217 Films’ “The Great Confusion: The 1913 Armory Show”
Rochester, New York (PRWEB) December 19, 2013 -- In 1913, The International Exhibition of Modern Art, known as the 1913 Armory Show, changed the face of art in America...for it was where many Americans had their first taste of a kind of art that did not look like anything they had ever seen. By entering through the doors of an armory between 25th and 26th Streets in New York City, they entered through the doors of the Modern Era.
From February 17 until March 15, 1913, Americans by the thousands pushed their way through the doors of the 69th Regiment Armory to experience Modern Art for the first time. What they saw annoyed and infuriated some...and captivated, delighted, and inspired many.
President Theodore Roosevelt, upon visiting the exhibition, called the most modern of these works “repellent”...and that was just the beginning of the controversy surrounding this historic show.
Connecticut-based independent filmmakers Michael Maglaras and Terri Templeton of 217 Films will screen their latest work “The Great Confusion: The 1913 Armory Show” in its Rochester premiere at the Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester on Sunday, January 12 at 2:00 PM. The filmmakers will be in attendance and introduce the screening.
Excerpts from the film can be viewed at this link: http://vimeo.com/66408225.
“The more I dug deeply into the history of the Armory Show,” said director Michael Maglaras, who also wrote the film and narrates it, “the more it became clear to me that, with the Armory Show, we had truly entered the American century: the century of our greatest achievements as a nation and the beginning of our preeminence on the world stage.”
What resulted from these four weeks of mass exposure to European artists such as Cezanne, Renoir, Van Gogh, and the upstart Marcel Duchamp with his “Nude Descending a Staircase” as well as such Americans as Marsden Hartley, John Marin, and Charles Sheeler, changed how Americans came to understand their own times.
“The Great Confusion: The 1913 Armory Show” features works by more than 60 American and European painters. The film probes deeply into the history of how the show was organized; examines the critical organizational efforts of American artists such as Arthur B. Davies, Walter Pach, and Walt Kuhn; and explores the impact that the show had on collectors of art as well as ordinary citizens.
WHAT: Rochester premiere of 217 Films’ “The Great Confusion: The 1913 Armory Show.” The filmmakers will be in attendance and introduce the screening.
WHEN: Sunday, January 12, 2014 at 2:00pm
WHERE: Memorial Art Gallery
University of Rochester
500 University Ave.
Rochester, New York
Directions: http://mag.rochester.edu/about
TEL: 585-276-896
COST: Free with gallery admission
On the Web:
217 Films: http://www.two17films.com
Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester: http://www.mag.rochester.edu
Additional excerpt from the film: http://vimeo.com/71219208
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Tami Kennedy, 217 Films, http://www.two17films.com, +1 (207) 838-0816, [email protected]
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