Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition

Previously inaccessible materials from Kubrick’s private estate provide an in-depth view of the legendary filmmaker’s life and work

June 30–October 30, 2016

“All you have to do is hear the name, or read it on a page, and a whole world opens up before your eyes. A vast, mysterious world, unlike any other in the history of cinema.”
— Martin Scorsese

(San Francisco, CA, May 1, 2016) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1965–68), and A Clockwork Orange (1971) are just a few of Stanley Kubrick’s films that are now considered to be among the most enduring and influential masterpieces in motion picture history. Eccentric in his choice of story, he often probed the extreme limits of the human condition, giving “the world a violent kick up the next rung of the evolutionary ladder,” as film critic David Denby once wrote. A meticulous craftsman, Kubrick exerted complete artistic control over his projects, overseeing filming, writing, editing, and music composition, and in doing so, both reconceived the genres in which he worked and advanced major technological innovations within the art form.

The exhibition, the first dedicated to Kubrick’s life and work, presents materials from the private estate of the film director, inaccessible until 2003 when the exhibition organizer Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt received permission to explore the extensive archives Kubrick had maintained at his home and workplace in London. Kubrick researched everything in detail, amassing boxes of plans, notes, correspondence, scripts, and more. Some of the approximately 800 objects on view, including annotated screenplays, production photography, lenses and cameras, set models, costumes, and props, are also on loan from international collections and private collections.

“The Contemporary Jewish Museum is the first Jewish museum to present this stunning exhibition dedicated to one of the most important directors of the twentieth century and we look forward to being part of the conversation about this seminal figure in the film industry,” says Lori Starr, Executive Director of The Contemporary Jewish Museum (The CJM). “The exhibition is a film fan’s dream come true and a chance for those less familiar with his work to delve into the vast achievements of a great multidisciplinary artist and technical innovator.”

Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition covers the breadth of Kubrick’s practice, beginning with his early documentary films and the little known photographic works that he created between 1945 and 1950 for the American LOOK magazine, and continuing with his groundbreaking directorial achievements of the 1950s through the 1990s. The visual, acoustic, and architectural composition of his work is explored in several individual gallery spaces dedicated to specific films.

Among the items on display are such iconic objects as the costumes for Starchild and the ape, both from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the little dresses of the sisters from The Shining (1980), the survival kit from Dr. Strangelove, and the ‘Born to kill’ helmet of Private Joker from Full Metal Jacket (1987). With models such as the war room from Dr. Strangelove, the maze from The Shining, and the centrifuge from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the exhibition illustrates the impeccable design of Kubrick’s film sets.

Kubrick’s films are famous for their special effects and innovative camera work. Among the cameras on display are his Bell & Howell Eyemo camera that he used to film Killer’s Kiss (1955), the Mitchell BNC camera, and the Zeiss f0.7 lens developed for NASA which was used for shooting candlelight scenes in Barry Lyndon (1975).

For the very first time, the public will learn about Kubrick’s projects Napoleon and Aryan Papers that were never realized. Materials such as research papers, costume designs, headshots of actors, and shooting scripts serve to document how far Kubrick had pushed the preparations for these films and how comprehensive and at the same meticulous his work style was.

A 30-minute audiovisual presentation explains Kubrick’s use of music in his films and a picture-show retraces his biography. Clips from the films and documentary footage will be shown as well.

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick was born in 1928 in the Bronx, New York. His parents were American Jews of Central European origin. His father gave him his first camera—a Graflex—for his thirteenth birthday. In 1945, at the age of sixteen, Kubrick had his first photograph published in LOOK magazine. As a staff photographer at LOOK from 1946 to 1951, Kubrick took on a range of assignments, photographing both celebrity subjects and urban life.

Kubrick made his first forays into filmmaking in the 1950s. He made his first film short, Day of the Fight, in 1951; after directing two more shorts, Kubrick directed and produced his first feature-length film, Fear and Desire, in 1953 independently of a studio, which was unusual for the time. Since then, Kubrick followed with such films as Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut. A pioneer in special effects and technological advances, Kubrick’s films often included the use of new photographic lenses, long tracking sequences, and orchestral music. With thirteen Academy Award nominations, Kubrick won the Oscar for Best Effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1969. Kubrick died in Harpenden, England, on March 7, 1999, at the age of seventy just after the premiere of his final film Eyes Wide Shut.

Catalog

The accompanying catalog includes essays from authors in the fields of film and theater studies, art history, photography, architecture, design, and music. Also included are interviews, pictures, and documents from the estate. It will be available for purchase in The CJM Store and online for $45.

Organization and Funding

Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition s an exhibition by the Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, Christiane Kubrick, Jan Harlan, and The Stanley Kubrick Archive at University of the Arts London, with the support of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Sony-Columbia Pictures Industries Inc., Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios Inc., Universal Studios Inc., and SK Film Archives LLC.

The CJM’s presentation is made possible by major sponsorship from Osterweis Capital Management. Patron sponsorship is provided by Gaia Fund, Maribelle and Stephen Leavitt, Nellie and Max Levchin, Dorothy R. Saxe, and Wendy and Richard Yanowitch. Supporting sponsorship is provided by an anonymous donor, Morton and Amy Friedkin, Rosanne and Al Levitt, Siesel Maibach, Shana Nelson Middler and David Middler, Shelli Semler and Kyle Bach. Additional support is provided by Alvin H. Baum, Jr., Sally-Ann and Erwin Epstein, Joelle Steefel, Ruth and Alan Stein, and Wetherby Asset Management.

Major support for The Contemporary Jewish Museum’s exhibitions and Jewish Peoplehood Programs comes from the Koret Foundation.

RELATED PROGRAMMING

Talk
The Life and Legend of Stanley Kubrick
Thursday, June 30 │ 6:30–8pm
Free with Museum admission
A discussion about the personal and professional life of the legendary director, Stanley Kubrick, with Jan Harlan, Kubrick’s executive producer from Barry Lyndon onwards; Tim Heptner, curator at Deutsches Filmmuseum; Katharina Kubrick, the filmmaker’s stepdaughter; and Hans-Peter Reichmann, head of collections and senior curator at Deutsches Filmmuseum. The talk will be moderated by Anastasia James, Associate Curator, The CJM.

Gallery Chat
Jan Harlan on filmmaking and Stanley Kubrick
Friday, Jul 1 │ 12:30–1pm
Free with Museum admission
Jan Harlan acted as Kubrick’s executive producer on major films including The Shining, and Eyes Wide Shut. He shares anecdotes and insights into several of Kubrick’s films.

Free First Tuesday Screening
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
Tuesday, Jul 5 │ 1–3:20pm
Free with Free First Tuesdays
A fascinating plunge into the films and career of Stanley Kubrick explored through pictures, clips from his films, his old home movies, and comments from actors, colleagues, and family; directed by Jan Harlan; narrated by Tom Cruise (2001, 141min).

Talk
Jewish Perspectives on Kubrick
Thursday, Jul 14 │ 6:30–8pm
$10 general (includes Museum admission)
Three of the foremost scholars on Kubrick examine his films through a Jewish lens, with Nathan Abrams (The New Jew in Film: Exploring Jews and Jewishness in Contemporary Cinema), Dr. Geoffrey Cocks (The Wolf at the Door: Stanley Kubrick, History and the Holocaust), and Dr. Marat Grinberg (Woody on Rye: Jewishness in the Films and Plays of Woody Allen). Moderated by Gravity Goldberg, Associate Director of Public Programs at The CJM.

Gallery Chat
Nathan Abrams and Midrash on 2001: A Space Odyssey
Friday, Jul 15 │ 12:30–1pm
Free with Museum admission
Dr. Nathan Abrams explores Jewish interpretations of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Abrams is an expert on Jewish cinema, having written The New Jew in Film: Exploring Jews and Jewishness in Contemporary Cinema (Rutgers UP, 2012) and edited Hidden in Plain Sight: Jews and Jewishness in British Film, Television, and Popular Culture (Northwestern UP, 2016). He has been teaching the films of Stanley Kubrick since 2007 and his book exploring the Jewishness of Stanley Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick: New York Jewish Intellectual, is forthcoming from Rutgers UP.

Gallery Chat
Mark de Paola on Kubrick’s cameras and lenses
Friday, Jul 29 │ 12:30–1pm
Free with Museum admission
Filmmaker and motion picture camera enthusiast, Mark de Paola reveals the secrets of Kubrick’s magical relationship with cameras and lenses.

Free First Tuesday Screening
Color Me Kubrick
Tuesday, Aug 2 │ 1–2:30pm
Free with Free First Tuesdays
John Malkovich stars in a docudrama about a man who posed as director Stanley Kubrick during the production of Kubrick’s last film, Eyes Wide Shut (2005, 85min).

Talk
Stanley Kubrick, Futurist
Thursday, Aug 11 │ 6:30–8pm
$10 general (includes Museum admission)
A discussion of the visionary filmmaking of Stanley Kubrick and his prescient observations about man and technology, with Fernando Castrillón, PsyD, Dr. Rodney Hill (co-author of The Encyclopedia of Stanley Kubrick and contributor to The Stanley Kubrick Archives), and Chris Noessel (author of Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction).

Gallery Chat
Rodney Hill on A Clockwork Orange
Friday, Aug 12 │ 12:30–1pm
Free with Museum admission
Starting with the Milkbar set pieces, Dr. Rodney Hill, co-author of The Encyclopedia of Stanley Kubrick and contributor to The Stanley Kubrick Archives, discusses the spectacle of violence in Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.

Free First Tuesday Screening
Room 237
Tuesday, Sep 6 │ 1–2:40pm
Free with Free First Tuesdays
Film theorists, mathematicians, cultural critics, and historians delve into several unique theories about the underlining “true” message of Kubrick’s The Shining, including Holocaust narrative (2012, 102min).

Gallery Chat
Geeta Dayal on Electronic Sound in Kubrick Films
Friday, Sep 9 │12:30–1pm
Free with Museum admission
Electronic music journalist and critic Geeta Dayal explores Kubrick's visionary use of sound and Wendy Carlos’ pioneering synthesizer music for The Shining and A Clockwork Orange. Dayal has contributed hundreds of articles and reviews to major publications, including Slate, Wired, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Frieze, and many more.

Special Event
Night at the Jewseum: Rejuvenate
Thursday, Sep 22 │ 6–9pm
$5 general (includes Museum admission; advance tickets recommended)
Nurture yourself with an evening devoted to the art of rejuvenation and Kubrick-inspired futurism! Participate in Character Day and catch Making of A Mensch. Engage in a breathing workshop, bio-hacking updates, virtual reality, crafts and more. Enjoy fresh juice cocktails and futuristic noshes, as well as live music and DJs.

Gallery Chat
Jamie Metzl on Futurism and Kubrick
Friday, October 14 │ 12:30–1pm
Free with Museum admission
Social scientist, futurist and sci-fi novelist, Jamie Metzl discusses Kubrick.

Gallery Chat
Rabbi Aubrey Glazer on the Kabalistic poetry of Kubrick
Friday, October 28 │ 12:30 –1pm
Free with Museum admission
Rabbi Aubrey Glazer of Beth Shalom explores Kubrick through a Jewish perspective.

About The Contemporary Jewish Museum

With the opening of its new building on June 8, 2008, The Contemporary Jewish Museum ushered in a new chapter in its twenty-plus year history of engaging audiences and artists in exploring contemporary perspectives on Jewish culture, history, art, and ideas. The facility, designed by internationally renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, is a lively center where people of all ages and backgrounds can gather to experience art, share diverse perspectives, and engage in hands-on activities. Inspired by the Hebrew phrase “L’Chaim” (To Life), the building is a physical embodiment of The CJM’s mission to bring together tradition and innovation in an exploration of the Jewish experience in the twenty-first century.

Major support for The Contemporary Jewish Museum’s exhibitions and Jewish Peoplehood Programs comes from the Koret Foundation. The Museum also thanks the Jim Joseph Foundation for its major support of innovative strategies for educating and engaging audiences in Jewish learning. Additional major support is provided by an Anonymous donor; Alyse and Nathan Mason Brill; Gaia Fund; the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund; Walter and Elise Haas Fund; the Hellman Family; the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties; Maribelle and Stephen Leavitt; the Bernard Osher Jewish Philanthropies Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund; Osterweis Capital Management; Dorothy R. Saxe; Target; and Wendy and Richard Yanowitch.

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