Program Series Accompanies <br/>Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power <br/>at The Jewish Museum

Opening still from The Powder & the Glory, Photos courtesy Elizabeth Arden Archives and Helena Rubinstein Foundation; montage by Matt Garneau.

Release Date: November 18, 2014

Program Series Accompanies
Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power
at The Jewish Museum

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New York, NY - In conjunction with the exhibition, Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power, on view from October 31,  2014 through March 22, 2015, The Jewish Museum is presenting a series of programs from December to March. Highlights include a concert with acclaimed cellist Maya Beiser; an author talk by Helena Rubinstein biographer Michèle Fitoussi; a discussion between MacArthur Fellow Deborah Willis and image activist Michaela Angela Davis; screenings of the films, The Powder & the Glory and Advanced Style, and behind-the-scenes gallery talks with the exhibition’s curators.

For further information regarding these programs, call 212.423.3200 or visit thejewishmuseum.org/BeautyIsPowerEvents.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

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. The film will be followed by a Q & A with directors Ann Carol Grossman and Arnie Reisman.

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

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

 

Author Talk: Michèle Fitoussi

Monday, January 26, 11:30am

Michèle Fitoussi’s new biography, Helena Rubinstein: The Woman Who Invented Beauty, tells the story of Helena Rubinstein and her popular beauty brand, from her initial success in Australia to the international empire she left at her death in 1965. Rubinstein was among the first to popularize cosmetics for the average woman, and marketed not just her results but also the rigorous scientific testing that went into each product. She was an avid follower of fashion and a collector of art, which she displayed at her many homes in America and Europe. 

Michèle Fitoussi is a writer, journalist and screenwriter based in Paris, where for the past twenty-five years as an editor at Elle Magazine.

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

 

Concert: Bang on a Can: Beauty is Power

Featuring Maya Beiser

Thursday, January 29, 7:30 pm

The New Yorker once referred to Maya Beiser as “the cello goddess” and the description stuck. The Israeli-American cellist is equal parts glamour, passion, and musical artistry of the highest level. She brings it all to everything she does – from her collaborations with Steve Reich, to her work with Brain Eno and Shirin Neshat, to her stage shows at BAM and other top venues around the world. Beiser captivates audiences with her virtuosity, eclectic repertoire, and relentless quest to redefine her instrument’s boundaries. The Boston Globe declared, “With virtuoso chops, rock star charisma, and an appetite for pushing her instrument to the edge of avant-garde adventurousness, Maya Beiser is the post-modern diva of the cello.” Raised in the Galilee Mountains in Israel, surrounded with the music and rituals of Jews, Muslims, and Christians, while studying classical cell repertoire, Maya Beiser has dedicated her work to reinventing solo cello performance in the mainstream classical area.

This concert continues the Jewish Museum and Bang on a Can's new partnership to produce a series of dynamic musical performances at the Museum from June 2014 to May 2015, inspired by the Jewish Museum's diverse array of exhibitions.

Tickets: $18 adults; $15 students and seniors; $12 Jewish Museum and Bang on a Can List members

 

This Is How We Do It

Thursday February 5, 6:30 pm

Curator Mason Klein, leads a gallery walkthrough focusing on the inspiration behind Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power, as it developed from idea to reality, as expressed through the work included in the exhibition.

Free with Pay-What-You-Wish Admission - RSVP Recommended

 

Dialogue and Discourse: Deborah Willis and Michaela Angela Davis

The Gertrude and David Fogelson Lecture

Thursday, February 12, 6:30 pm

A conversation between two prominent women who have each written extensively on perceptions of beauty, image, and power in contemporary media. Deborah Willis, Ph.D, is Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University (NYU). She was a 2005 Guggenheim Fellow and Fletcher Fellow, and a 2000 MacArthur Fellow, as well as the 1996 recipient of the Anonymous Was a Woman Foundation award. Michaela Angela Davis, author of Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present, is an image activist, writer, editorial director, CNN contributor, and in recipient of the 2009 Phenomenal Woman Award from the NAACP of New York.

Free with Pay-What-You-Wish Admission - RSVP Recommended

 

Screening: Advanced Style

Tuesday, March 3, 6:30 pm

The new documentary Advanced Style examines the lives of seven unique New Yorkers whose eclectic personal style and vital spirit have guided their approach to aging. Based on Ari Seth Cohen’s famed blog of the same name and directed by Lina Plioplyte, this film paints intimate and colorful portraits of independent, stylish women aged 62 to 95 who are challenging conventional ideas about beauty, aging, and Western’s culture’s increasing obsession with youth.

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

 

A Closer Look Gallery Talks

Monday afternoons at 1pm - November 3, 17; December 1, 8, 15; February 2, 9, 23; March 2, 9, 16

Weekly in-depth explorations of select works of art in Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power.

Free with Museum Admission

 

Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power is the first museum exhibition to explore the ideas, innovations, and 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 of female entrepreneurship and a leader in art, fashion, design, and philanthropy. As the head of a cosmetics empire that extended across four continents, she was, arguably, the first modern self-made woman magnate. Rubinstein was ahead of her time in her embrace of cultural and artistic diversity. She was not only an early patron of European and Latin American modern art, but also one of the earliest, leading collectors of African and Oceanic sculpture.  The exhibition will explore how Madame (as she was universally known) helped break down the status quo of taste by blurring boundaries between commerce, art, fashion, beauty, and design. Through 200 objects – 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.

 

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.

About the Jewish Museum

Located on Museum Mile at Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street, the Jewish Museum is one of the world's preeminent institutions devoted to exploring art and Jewish culture from ancient to contemporary, offering intellectually engaging and educational exhibitions and programs for people of all ages and backgrounds. The Museum was established in 1904, when Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated 26 ceremonial objects to The Jewish Theological Seminary as the core of a museum collection. Today, the Museum maintains a collection of over 30,000 works of art, artifacts, and broadcast media reflecting global Jewish identity, and presents a diverse schedule of internationally acclaimed temporary exhibitions.  

The Jewish Museum is located at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, New York City. Museum hours are Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, 11am to 5:45pm; Thursday, 11am to 8pm; and Friday, 11am to 4pm.  Museum admission is $15.00 for adults, $12.00 for senior citizens, $7.50 for students, free for visitors 18 and under and Jewish Museum members.  Admission is Pay What You Wish on Thursdays from 5pm to 8pm and free on Saturdays.  For information on the Jewish Museum, the public may call 212.423.3200 or visit the website at www.thejewishmuseum.org.

Press contacts

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The Jewish Museum

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