Harry Ranson Center - University of Texas
APRIL 2009
Focus on Photography: Peter FeldsteinLECTURE THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 7 P.M.
In a Focus on Photography event, photographer Peter Feldstein discusses his new book The Oxford Project, a 20-year project photographing and interviewing the residents of Oxford, Iowa, on Thursday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at the Harry Ransom Center. A book signing follows.
VIEW A LIVE WEBCAST of this event starting at approximately 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 16.
In 1984, photographer Peter Feldstein set out to photograph every single resident of his town, Oxford, Iowa (pop. 676). He converted an abandoned storefront on Main Street into a makeshift studio and posted flyers inviting people to stop by. At first they trickled in slowly, but in the end, nearly all of Oxford stood before Feldstein’s lens.
Twenty years later, Feldstein decided to do it again. He invited writer Stephen G. Bloom to join him, and together they went in search of the Oxford residents Feldstein originally shot in 1984. Some had moved. Most had stayed. Others had passed away. All were marked by the passage of time.
What emerges is a living portrait of Small Town, USA, told with the words and images of its residents—then and now—and textured by their own words. It tells the compelling story of one archetypal American community—its struggles, accomplishments, failures, and secrets—and how it has both changed and stayed the same over the course of the years.
Feldstein will do a reading from the book with a narrated slide presentation, followed by a question-and-answer discussion.
Seating is free, but limited.
Poetry on the Plaza: Marathon reading of Shake-speares SonnetsREADING WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, NOON
In a special Poetry on the Plaza event in honor of National Poetry Month, the Harry Ransom Center presents a marathon reading of Shake-speares Sonnets (1609) on Wednesday, April 22, at noon.
Shake-speares Sonnets turns 400 this year, and to celebrate, Shakespeare scholars, poets, and others will read from Shakes-speares Sonnets and The Lovers Complaint.
Birthday cake will be served at this free event to honor William Shakespeare’s birthday on April 23.
VIEW A LIVE WEBCAST of this event starting at approximately noon on Wednesday, April 22.
2009 Pforzheimer-Cranfill Lecture:
“Did Shakespeare Revise? And Why We Should Care”LECTURE CANCELLED
Rubáiyát Film Series: The Keeper: The Legend of Omar KhayyámFILM SERIES TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 7 P.M.
The Rubáiyát Film Series continues with Kayvan Mashayekh’s The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyám (2005), starring Vanessa Redgrave and Adam Echahly, on Tuesday, April 28, at 7 p.m.
Kamran is a 12-year-old boy who is consumed by the responsibility of keeping the story of his heritage alive for future generations. Upon hearing a story from his dying brother, he travels from the United States to England and finally to Iran in search of the story of his ancestor, Omar Khayyám. The film takes the audience from the modern day to the epic past where the relationship between Omar Khayyám, Hassan Sabbah (the original creator of the sect of Assassins), and their mutual love for a beautiful woman separate them from their eternal bond of friendships.
Seating is free, but limited.
VIEW TRAILER for this film on the Ransom Center’s YouTube channel
This program is in conjunction with The Persian Sensation: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in the West, which is on display through August 2. The year 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of Edward FitzGerald’s landmark translation of the poetry of the medieval Persian astronomer Omar Khayyám. These gemlike verses about mortality, fate, and doubt became an unprecedented popular phenomenon in England and America but have since fallen into obscurity. Featuring 200 items from the Ransom Center’s extensive collections, the exhibition narrates The Rubáiyát’s history through such items as Persian manuscripts, miniature editions, and illustrated parodies.
MAY 2009
In the Galleries: Frida Kahlo’s Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and HummingbirdOPENING TUESDAY, MAY 5, 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
The Ransom Center celebrates the homecoming of one of its most famous and frequently borrowed artworks, Frida Kahlo’s Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (1940). The painting will be on display on the first floor through December 31, 2009.
Poetry on the Plaza: Surrealism in Latin AmericaREADING WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, NOON
Poetry on the Plaza: Surrealism in Latin America
JUNE 2009
Orientalist Silents Film Series: The SheikFILM SERIES THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 7 P.M.
To kick off the Orientalist Silents Film Series, the Harry Ransom Center screens George Melford’s film The Sheik (1921), starring Rudolph Valentino, on Thursday, June 11, at 7 p.m.
Sheik Ahmed (Valentino) desperately desires fiesty British socialite Diana, so he abducts her and carries her off to his luxurious desert tent-palace. The free-spirited Diana recoils from his advances and yearns to be released. Only after being kidnapped by desert bandits does Diana realize she has grown to love Ahmed.
Seating is free, but limited.
VIEW TRAILER for this film on the Ransom Center’s YouTube channel
This program is in conjunction with The Persian Sensation: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in the West, which is on display through August 2. The year 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of Edward FitzGerald’s landmark translation of the poetry of the medieval Persian astronomer Omar Khayyám. These gemlike verses about mortality, fate, and doubt became an unprecedented popular phenomenon in England and America but have since fallen into obscurity. Featuring 200 items from the Ransom Center’s extensive collections, the exhibition narrates The Rubáiyát’s history through such items as Persian manuscripts, miniature editions, and illustrated parodies.
2009 Amon Carter Lecture:
“Frida Kahlo: Her Art and Life”LECTURE THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 7 P.M.
For the 2009 Amon Carter Lecture, Hayden Herrera, art historian and biographer of Frida Kahlo, presents “Frida Kahlo: Her Art and Life” on Thursday, June 18, at 7 p.m.
Herrera’s talk interweaves Frida Kahlo’s art and life, focusing on her childhood, the accident that turned her to painting, her tumultuous marriage to the muralist Diego Rivera, Rivera’s influence and other sources of inspiration for Kahlo’s art, Kahlo’s childlessness, her frequent surgeries, and her passionate love for her native Mexico.
Seating is free, but limited.
VIEW A LIVE WEBCAST of this event starting at approximately 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 18.
Herrera is a New York-based art historian and critic whose first book, Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo, was published in 1983 and in 2002 became the basis for a major motion picture. Her second full-length biography, Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2003, was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. She has also written artist’s biographies, including Mary Frank (1990), Matisse: A Portrait (1993), and Joan Snyder (2005). Herrera has curated a number of exhibitions, including a Frida Kahlo show that opened at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art in 1978 and traveled for a year in the United States. More recently she co-curated the Frida Kahlo centennial exhibition that opened at the Walker Art Center in 2007 and traveled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Currently she is working on a biography of the sculptor Isamu Noguchi.
Herrera’s talk is in conjunction with the homecoming of one of the Ransom Center’s most famous and frequently borrowed art works, Frida Kahlo’s Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (1940). Since 1990 the painting has been on almost continuous loan, featured in exhibitions at 28 museums in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, and Spain. The portrait is on display at the Ransom Center from May 5 through January 3, 2010.
Orientalist Silents Film Series: The Thief of BagdadFILM SERIES THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 7 P.M.
The Orientalist Silents Film Series continues as the Harry Ransom Center screens Raoul Walsh’s film The Thief of Bagdad (1924), starring Douglas Fairbanks, on Thursday, June 25, at 7 p.m.
A thief falls in love with the Caliph of Bagdad’s daughter. The Caliph will give her hand to the suitor who brings back the rarest treasure after seven moons, prompting the thief to set off on a magical journey while, unbeknownst to him, another suitor, the Prince of the Mongols, is not playing by the rules.
Seating is free, but limited.
VIEW TRAILER for this film on the Ransom Center’s YouTube channel
This program is in conjunction with The Persian Sensation: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in the West, which is on display through August 2. The year 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of Edward FitzGerald’s landmark translation of the poetry of the medieval Persian astronomer Omar Khayyám. These gemlike verses about mortality, fate, and doubt became an unprecedented popular phenomenon in England and America but have since fallen into obscurity. Featuring 200 items from the Ransom Center’s extensive collections, the exhibition narrates The Rubáiyát’s history through such items as Persian manuscripts, miniature editions, and illustrated parodies.
JULY 2009
Orientalist Silents Film Series: The Adventures of Prince AchmedFILM SERIES THURSDAY, JULY 23, 7 P.M.
The Orientalist Silents Film Series concludes as the Harry Ransom Center screens Lotte Reiniger’s film The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), one of the earliest animated features ever produced, on Thursday, July 23, at 7 p.m.
Based on stories from The Arabian Nights, The Adventures of Prince Achmed tells the story of a wicked sorcerer who tricks Prince Achmed into riding a magical flying horse. The heroic prince subdues the magical horse, which he uses to fly off on many adventures. While traveling, he falls in love with the beautiful Princess Peri Banu and must defeat an army of demons to win her heart. The entire film is animated using the silhouette technique, which employs movable cardboard and metal cutouts posed in front of illuminated sheets of glass.
Seating is free, but limited.
VIEW TRAILER for this film on the Ransom Center’s YouTube channel
This program is in conjunction with The Persian Sensation: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in the West, which is on display through August 2. The year 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of Edward FitzGerald’s landmark translation of the poetry of the medieval Persian astronomer Omar Khayyám. These gemlike verses about mortality, fate, and doubt became an unprecedented popular phenomenon in England and America but have since fallen into obscurity. Featuring 200 items from the Ransom Center’s extensive collections, the exhibition narrates The Rubáiyát’s history through such items as Persian manuscripts, miniature editions, and illustrated parodies.
GENERAL INFO
All events take place at the Ransom Center unless otherwise noted and are subject to change.
Please be aware that the Ransom Center’s Charles Nelson Prothro Theater has limited seating. Doors open 30 minutes in advance. Many programs are webcastlive.
All programs and exhibitions are free unless otherwise noted.
Please request ASL or ADA accommodation two weeks in advance by contacting 512-232-5170 ordsigler@mail.utexas.edu.
Event times are noted in Central Standard Time.
ONGOING EVENTS
Free docent-led tours of theexhibitions on Tuesdays at noon and Saturdays at 2 p.m.
Stay up to date with the Ransom Center’s latest news and events with eNews, the Center’s free monthly electronic newsletter.
Watch broadcast journalist Mike Wallace’s interviews from the television programThe Mike Wallace Interview. Wallace donated the show’s footage on 16mm kinescope to the Ransom Center in the early 1960s. Most episodes have not been seen since they aired.
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Мде …
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March 14th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Kylie Batt said:
Мне кажется, вы ошибаетесь…
m. at the Harry Ransom Center. A book signing […….
May 12th, 2010 at 6:14 am