December Programs at the Jewish Museum
Feature Novelists Anita Diamant and Dara Horn,
Pianist Daniel Gortler, and More

The Jewish Museum’s expanded slate of lectures, discussions, and events continues in December with popular novelists Anita Diamant and Dara Horn discussing their work and the importance of fiction; a performance by acclaimed pianist Daniel Gortler; and a screening of The Powder and the Glory, focusing on the rivalry between cosmetics magnates Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden.

Further program and ticket information is available by calling 212.423.3200 or online at TheJewishMuseum.org/calendar.

 

PROGRAM SCHEDULE –  DECEMBER 2014

 

Screening: The Powder & the Glory

The Saul and Harriet M. Rothkopf Media Program

Thursday, December 4, 6:30 pm

This 2009 documentary, narrated by Jane Alexander and based on Lindy Woodhead’s book, War Paint: Miss Elizabeth Arden and Madame Helena Rubinstein  -  Their Lives, Their Times, Their Rivalry, chronicles the story of two pioneering entrepreneurial women, Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, global rivals who created an industry, became cultural icons, and permanently changed the way we look at ourselves. When they first opened their shops a hundred years ago, cosmetics were worn mostly by prostitutes and actresses, and businesses were run mostly by men. They changed all that and transformed the world in the bargain. What they started from scratch is today the $150 billion global health and beauty industry. These women competed for more than 50 years in the same neighborhoods of cities everywhere – and never spoke or met, by design.

The film will be followed by a Q & A with directors Ann Carol Grossman and Arnie Reisman.  This program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition, Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power, on view at the Jewish Museum through March 22, 2015.

Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power is the first museum exhibition to explore the ideas, innovations, and enduring influence of the legendary cosmetics entrepreneur Helena Rubinstein (1872-1965). By the time of her death, Rubinstein had risen from humble origins in small-town Jewish Poland to become a global icon - the head of a cosmetics empire extending across four continents. She was the first modern self-made woman magnate, an avatar of female entrepreneurship, and a tastemaker in the worlds of art, fashion, and design.  The exhibition explores how Helena Rubinstein - as a businesswoman, arts patron, and one of the leading collectors of African and Oceanic art of her time - helped break down the status quo of taste by blurring boundaries between commerce, art, fashion, beauty, and design. Through works of art, photographs, and ephemera, Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power reveals how Rubinstein's unique style and pioneering approaches to business challenged conservative taste and heralded a modern notion of beauty, democratized and accessible to all.

This program has been funded by a generous donation endowment from the Saul and Harriet M. Rothkopf Family Foundation.

Tickets: $12 adults; $8 students and seniors; $5 Jewish Museum members

 

This Is How We Do It: Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power

Tuesday, December 9, 11:30 am

Rebecca Shaykin, Leon Levy Assistant Curator, talks about the process of rebuilding an art collection for the exhibition Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power.

Free with Museum admission - RSVP Recommended

 

Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction Contest Presents:

A Literary Evening with Anita Diamant

Thursday, December 11, 7 pm

Anita Diamant, author of The Boston Girl and The Red Tent, among other books, is joined by celebrated novelist Dara Horn, whose books include A Guide for the Perplexed and All Other Nights, for a discussion on the craft of writing and the enduring importance of fiction. In addition, the winners of the annual Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction Contest also read from their winning stories. A book signing will follow the discussion. 

Anita Diamant is the bestselling author of the novels Good Harbor, The Last Days of Dogtown, and Day After Night, and a collection of essays, Pitching My Tent. An award-winning journalist whose work appeared in The Boston Globe Magazine and Parenting, she is the author of six nonfiction guides to contemporary Jewish life. Her new novel, The Boston Girl, will be released in December 2014.  She lives in Massachusetts.

Dara Horn‘s novels include In the Image, winner of a 2003 National Jewish Book Award; The World to Come, winner of the 2006 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction; All Other Nights, selected as one of Booklist’s 25 Best Books of the Decade; and A Guide for the Perplexed, long-listed for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.  Horn currently holds the Gerald Weinstock Visiting Professorship in Jewish Studies at Harvard, where she teaches Yiddish and Hebrew literature.

Tickets: $15 adults; $12 students and seniors; $10 Jewish Museum members

 

Concert: Daniel Gortler

Thursday, December 18, 7:30 pm

Acclaimed Israeli pianist Daniel Gortler, who has delighted audiences and critics with his performances around the world and received praise for his technical mastery and musical ingenuity, will perform works by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Clara Wieck Schumann (1819-1896), and Robert Schumann (1810-1856). The program selections by Clara Schumann include seldom-performed compositions highlighting her relationships with the two other composers. A highly regarded Schumann interpreter, Daniel Gortler’s latest recording of Robert Schumann piano solo works was released as a double CD album on Romeo Records and has received enthusiastic critical reviews. Fanfare Magazine called the recording “imaginative and interesting” and said “he gets to the heart of the music by combining an alert, musically precise reading with a remarkable feeling for rubato, and …he definitely has something to say about them.”

The recital program will include:

Clara Schumann – 3 Romances, Op. 21

Dedicated to Johannes Brahms

Written in 1853 and 1855

- Andante

- Allegretto, Sher Zart zu Spielen

- Agitato

Robert Schumann – Davidsbüdlertänze, Op. 6

(Dances of the League of David)

Dedicated to Clara Wieck Schumann

18 pieces for piano composed in 1837

Clara Schumann – Romance Nr. 3, Op. 11, Moderato

Dedicated to Robert Schumann

Written in 1838-1839

Johannes Brahams – Variations and Fugue on a Theme by G.F. Handel, Op. 24

Dedicated to Clara Schumann and presented to her on her birthday

Written in 1861

Davidsbüdlertänze, Op. 6 is widely regarded as one of Robert Schumann’s greatest achievements and as one of the greatest piano works of the Romantic era. This and other early piano works by Schumann were substantially influenced by his relationship with Clara. The opening theme is based on Clara Schumann’s (then Wieck) Mazurka, Op.6, No. 5. 

Johannes Brahms’ Variations and Fugue on a Theme by G.F. Handel, Op. 24 is one of the summits of his entire keyboard output, showing him at the height of his powers.

Robert Schumann’s Davidsbüdlertänze, Op. 6 is the music used in Israeli artist Dani Gal’s short film, Wie Aus Der Ferne (As from Afar), on view at the Jewish Museum through February 1, 2015.

Tickets: $18 adults; $15 students and seniors; $12 Jewish Museum members

 

A Closer Look Gallery Talks

Mondays, December 8 and 15, 1:00pm

Educators and curators engage visitors in discussions about select works of art in the exhibition, Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power.

Free with Museum Admission

 

Support

Public programs are made possible by endowment support from the William Petschek Family, the Trustees of the Salo W. and Jeannette M. Baron Foundation, William Halo, Benjamin Zucker, the Marshall M. Weinberg Fund, with additional support from Marshall M. Weinberg, the Rita J. and Stanley H. Kaplan Foundation, the Saul and Harriet M. Rothkopf Family Foundation and Ellen Liman.  Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.