Memorial Day to Labor Day The HammerMuseum is pleased to offer free admission for the second year in a row. ALLexhibitions, collections, and programs will be free of charge between May30 and September 3, 2006. )> V> :zo -z 0 n . - ~' rn, f'I A Message from the Director The Hammer Museum opened a beautiful and evocative exhibition of the late Los Angeles photographer John Swope's photographs of post-war Japan earlier this spring, hailed by the Los Angeles Timesas an excellent exhibition with a beautiful catalogue. We are pleased to now debut the major national traveling exhibition, The Societe Anonyme: Modernismfor America, organized by Yale University Art Gallery. This extensive exhibition offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunityI o see one of the most influential collections of modern art assembled in the early 20th century. The founders ofthe Societe Anonyme-Katherine S. Dreier, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray-conceived of an unprecedented artists' collaborative that organized exhibitions and educational programs in an effort to build broader understanding for avant-garde art. Atthe HammerMuseum, wehave a particular affinity for their mission as it is so similar to our goal as a cultural center and arts institution for UCLA and the greater Los Angeles area. The exhibition-related programs capture the culture of the 1920s through the 1940s alongside many other events outlined in this calendar that feature the cutting edge of today. Billy Wilder Theater Among the manyexhibition and program highlights on the following pages,you'll The Museum has begun construction of the 288-seat, state­ notice an update on the construction of the Billy Wilder Theater taking place of-the-art Billy Wilder Theater designed by Michael Maltzan behind the beautifully designed construction fence by Jim Isermann, a 1d the Architecture. To be programmed jointly by the Hammer announcement of our fourth annual Galain the Garden honoring John Baldessari Museum and theUCLA Film & Television Archive, the theater and Joan Didion. will be the new home of the Archive's renowned public screenings as well as the Hammer Museum's public programs. The Hamme(s public programswill continue to take place in the newly reconfig­ The theater is scheduled to open in late 2006, the ured Gallery 6 until the Billy Wilder Theater is completed this fall. Thanks to a centennial generous gift from the Annenberg Foundation, Gallery 6 has been expanded, and anniversary of Billy Wilder's birth. we are creating an additional space for audience overflow on the gallery level. I would also Liketo thank Laura Donnelley-Morton, Bronya and AndrewGale-f, and ErikaGlazer fortheir generous support of the Hamme(s public programs. Please also note the return of FREE SUMMER at the Hammer Museum. Beginning Memorial Dayweekend, all exhibitions and programswill be free of charge. l hope that you'll be able to take advantage of this offer to join us often in the coming months. Top to bottom:A Letterfrom Japan: ThePhotographs of John Swopeopening reception. Grunwald Center director CynthiaBurlingham , Hammer associate Ann Philbin curator CarolynPet er who organized the exhibition, and Hammer director AnnPhilbin ; John Swope's Director children, Tope and Mark Swope;a visitor in the galleiy; Jeriy and GailOppenhe imer and Peggyand NormanLlo yd (photos: Stefanie Keenan). 2 3 HAMMER EXHIBITIONS GALLERY TALKS JenniferGross and Susan Greenberg Sunday, April 23, 2-4pm Exhibition walk-throughs led by the curators. Limitedto 10 people each, tours repeat as necessary. THE Soc1ETE ANoNYME: LECTURE MODERNISM FOR AMERICA Christian Scheidemann "BreedingDust: The Meaningof New April 23 - August20, 2006 Materialsin ContemporaryArt" The Societe Anonyme: Modernismfor America charts the development of modern Wednesday,May 10, 7pm art in the early 20th century. Foundedin NewYork in 1920 by Katherine S. Dreier, Christian Scheidemann is the senior conservator of Contem­ MarcelDuchamp, and ManRay to promote contemporaryart among Americanaudi­ porary Conservation Limited in NewYork and a member of ences, Societe Anonyme,Inc. was organized upon the philosophy that the story the AdvisoryCommittee for the International Networkfor the of modern art should be chronicled and told by artists rather than historians or Conservation of ContemporaryArt Research Group America. academics. Founded nearly a decade before the opening of The Museumof Modern Scheidemannhas workedclosely with artists MatthewBarney, Art, New York, the Societe Anonyme-whose name translates as Incorporated, Robert Gober, Paul McCarthy,and KikiSmith. Inc.-fulfilled its mission by organizing more than 80 exhibitions, hosting lectures and other educational programs, publishing more than 40 catalogues, and amass­ READINGS ing an exceptional collection of Europeanand Americanart dating primarilyfrom The Poetry of Gertrude Stein 1920 through 1940. Wednesday,May 17, 7pm The exhibition draws from Yale University'sextensive collection of artworks held Readingsof GertrudeStein's worksby CalBedient, Terry Castle, by the Societe Anonyme,w hich was donated in the 1940s by Katherine S. Dreier and Stephen Yenser. and Marcel Duchamp. The HammerMuseum's installation features approximately Cal Bedient is professor of English at UCLAand the author 240 works by more than 100 artists which include Constantin Brancusi, Marcel of several books of Literarycriticism and two books of poetry, Duchamp,Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, Roberto Matta, Joan Mir6, CandyNecklace and The Violenceof the Morning. Piet Mondrian,Pablo Picasso, ManRay, Kurt Schwitters, Joseph Stella, Vincent van Terry Castle is professor of English at Stanford University. Gogh, along with lesser-knownartists who made significant contributions to mod­ Her books and articles of criticism address 18th-century ernism. British fiction, WorldWar I, English art and culture of the 1920s and 1930s, and gay and Lesbianwriting. Stephen Yenser writes Literarycriticism and poetry, and is professor of Englishand director of creative writing at UCLA. He organizes the Museum'sContemporary Poetry Series. Co-sponsored by the UCLALesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Program. Top:Jean Arp. Bird-Man(Tete d'Homme;Tete-Oiseau), ca. 1920. Painted wood. YaleUni versity Art Gallery.Gift of KatherineS . Dreierto the CollectionSociete Anonyme. <>2006 Artists Rights Society {ARS),New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Bottom: KurtSchwitters. Carnival,1947 . Collage.Yale UniversityArt Gallery. Gift, Estate of KatherineS. Dreier.<> 2006 Artists Rights Society {ARS),New York/ VGBild-Kunst, Bonn. Far left: MarcelDuchamp. Rotoreliefs (Optical Disks) (Play Toys), 1935 (detail). Yale UniversityArt Gallery. Gift of CollectionSociete Anonyme.<> 2006 Artists Rights Society {ARS),New York/ADAGP, Paris. 4 5 SOCIETEANONYME PROGRAMS HAMMER EXHIBITIONS SCREENINGS Art of the Future Wednesday,May 31, 7pm CONCERT Inspired by Katherine S. Dreier's 1931 event, "An Evening The Twenties:The Paris Avant-Garde with the Art of the Future,"this program presents screenings Saturday,May 20, 6pm of early avant-garde films. An evening of solo and chamber compositions by LesSix and Manhatta,1920, dir. Paul Strand & Charles Sheeler, 11 min. friends, culminating in a screening of Entr'acte (1924), the ChessFever, 1925, dir. Vsevolod Pudovkin & Nikolai silent film directed by Rene Clair,written by Francis Picabia, Shpikovsky, 28 min. with Livemusic composed by Erik Satie; organized by Neal Anemic Cinema,1926, dir. Marcel Duchamp, 7 min. Stulberg, Visiting Directorof OrchestralStudies at UCLA. Emak-Bakia,1926, dir. Man Ray, 18 min. Co-sponsored by the UCLADepartment of Music. L'Etoilede Mer,1928, dir. Man Ray, 21 min. SkyscraperSymphony, 1929, dir. Robert Florey, 9 min. DISCUSSION An OpticalPoem, 1938, dir. Oskar Fischinger, 7 min. Incorporated,Inc.: A Museumof Modern Art BeforeThe Museumof ModernArt CONCERT Wednesday,May 24, 7pm Tonesin Shadow:The VienneseSociety for Discussionon the importance of the Societe Anonymeas the Private MusicalPerformance (1919-24) first "experimental museum" for contemporary art in the Saturday,July 15, 6pm United States, organized and moderated by George Baker, Solo and chamber worksfrom ArnoldSchoenberg's Verein fUr with MiwonKwon, Richard Meyer,and NancyJ. Troy. musikalischePrivat-Auffi.ihrungen, the Viennesesalon known George Baker is assistant professor of art history at UCLA, for its presentations of groundbreakingmodernist repertoire. A Letter from Japan an editor of Octobermagazine, a critic for Artforum,and is Composersinclude Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Alexander Scriabin, The Photographs of John Swope currently preparing the book TheArtwork Caught by the Tail: Claude Debussy,and KarolSzymanowski; organized by Neal FrancisPicabia and Dadain Paris. Stulberg, Visiting Directorof OrchestralStudies at UCL.A. Through June 4, 2006 Miwon Kwonis associate professor of contemporary art his­ Co-sponsored by the UCLADepartment of Music. tory at UCLAand the author of One Place After Another: This exhibition marks the first in-depth presentation of vintage prints and text Lecture Site-SpecificArt and LocationalIdentity. from the late Los Angeles photographer's 1945 journey as a Navy photographer Anne WilkesTucker Richard Meyer is associate professor of art history at the through post-war Japan. Shot during a three-and-a-half-week period, the images Thursday, May4, 7pm University of Southern California (USC); his book Outlaw vividlyconvey the impact of WorldWar II on the local Japanese population as well Curatorof photographyat The Museum Representation:Censorship