Related Events
PORTALS AND PASSAGES: WATERCOLOR PAINTING WORKSHOP
March 18 & April 22, 1–4 pm
Family Room, Clark Center lower level
This workshop begins with a visit to Portals: The Visionary Architecture of Paul Goesch with a Clark educator. Then, local artist Julia Morgan leads participants through a series of playful exercises exploring the ways paint can move, blend, overlap, mix, swirl, saturate, transform, and direct the eye. Each participant creates their own visual passage(s) or portal(s) within an abstract landscape. Designed for both beginners and experienced artists.
$20 includes all materials and instruction for one workshop session (the same workshop is offered on each date). Registration is required, and capacity is limited to ten participants per session. Participants must be 16 years of age or older. Register at clarkart.edu/events.
FIRST SUNDAY FREE: PORTALS
April 2 | Special Activities 1–4 pm
Clark Campus
Visit the exhibition Portals: The Visionary Architecture of Paul Goesch and transport yourself through a portal of imagination and creativity. Build your own "fantasy architecture" (one that's big enough to play in) using giant sheets of cardboard. Then, experiment with color while designing a suncatcher and be ushered into the fantastical with award-winning storyteller Rona Leventhal's Kaleidoscope of Stories at 2 pm in the auditorium.
Free admission all day; special activities in the Clark Center lower level and galleries from 1–4 pm.
Family programs are generously supported by Allen & Company.
PRINT ROOM POP-UP: PORTALS
April 2, 11 am
Manton Study Center for Works on Paper
In conjunction with First Sunday programming, enjoy a special display of works on paper in the Manton Study Center inspired by Paul Goesch’s visionary architectural designs. See how artists from Dürer to Turner used lighting effects and enchanting decoration to enliven doors, arches, and other passageways, and illustrate their own imaginative portals.
Free.
OPENING LECTURE: PORTALS—THE VISIONARY ARCHITECTURE OF PAUL GOESCH
April 8, 2 pm
Auditorium
Exhibition curator Robert Wiesenberger introduces Paul Goesch, the subject of the Clark’s spring exhibition in the Eugene V. Thaw Gallery for Works on Paper. Goesch (1885–1940) produced one of the most inventive, peculiar, and poignant bodies of work to emerge from Weimar Germany. An artist and architect, he made both fanciful figurative drawings and visionary architectural designs. On the occasion of the first solo presentation of his work in North America, and first monograph in English, this talk will present Goesch’s practice and explore the resonances of his work in the histories of art, architecture, and psychology.
Free.
This program is made possible by The Linda Genereux and Timur Galen Family Fund.
VISIONARY ARCHITECTURE ON FILM
March 23, April 13, April 20, May 4, and May 18, 6 pm
Auditorium
Presented in connection with the Clark’s exhibition Portals: The Visionary Architecture of Paul Goesch, this film series explores themes related to Goesch’s life and work in early twentieth-century Germany.
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
March 23
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920; 51 minutes) may be the quintessential film of German Expressionism. A hypnotist uses a sleep-walking man to commit murder—and the absurdity of the plot is rivaled only by the film’s bizarre and elaborate set designs. Beyond its visual delights, Dr. Caligari critiques both the absurdity of bureaucracy and the interwar German government.
THE GOLEM—HOW HE CAME INTO THE WORLD
April 13
Set in medieval Prague, The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920; 1 hour, 26 minutes) tells the story of the Jewish folkloric figure made of clay who comes to life to prevent the Jews’ expulsion from the city. The astonishing, quasi-medieval sets for that city are the work of Expressionist architect Hans Poelzig and resonate closely with Paul Goesch’s drawings in the Clark’s exhibition. Live musical accompaniment is provided by percussionist Matthew Gold and cellist Paul de Jong.
METROPOLIS
April 20
In a futuristic city marked by extreme inequality, the wealthy live lavishly in skyscrapers while workers toil underground, operating machines that keep society running. One of the first science fiction films, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927; 1 hour, 54 minutes) both reflected and accelerated the emergence of Art Deco design in the U.S. and Europe. With its themes of mechanization, societal stratification, and fascism, the film tours the issues that animated interwar Germany.
THINGS TO COME
May 4
H.G. Wells wrote Things to Come (1936; 2 hours) in response to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927). The film spans 1936–2036 as the citizens of Everytown, England envision the future of their city and debate the role technology should play. It is set in a subterranean cave, the antithesis to the skyscraper of Metropolis, and includes abstract sequences designed by Bauhaus artist Lászlo Moholy-Nagy.
BLADE RUNNER
May 18
Once the wealthy have left for other planets, Los Angeles becomes a home to the outcasts who remain on Earth. In Blade Runner (1982; 1 hour, 50 minutes), the city as we know it is only barely recognizable amidst dense high rises and pouring acid rain. Architecture plays many roles in this futuristic noir film, starring Harrison Ford; some buildings are villainous while others offer a glimmer of hope.
All films are free.
This series is organized by Ella Comberg, MA ’24 in the Williams Graduate Program in the History of Art.
“OUTSIDER ART” IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT: KAIRA M. CABAÑAS AND RAPHAEL KOENIG IN CONVERSATION
June 4, 2 pm
Auditorium
How do the categories of “outsider art,” patient art, and art brut relate to one another, and our understanding of the creative process? Scholars Kaira M. Cabañas and Raphael Koenig host a conversation about art and mental health in a global context, in conjunction with the exhibition Portals: The Visionary Architecture of Paul Goesch. Cabañas serves as the associate dean of academic programs and publications for the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the University of Florida, and Raphael Koenig is the visiting assistant professor in comparative literature at the University of Toulouse II and co-author of the Portals publication.
Free.
DRAWING CLOSER: FANTASTICAL FAÇADES
June 9, 10:30 am
Manton Study Center for Works on Paper
The Manton Study Center for Works on Paper invites artists of all experiences and skill levels to work closely after thematic selections of works on paper from the Clark’s collection. Inspired by the visionary portal designs of Paul Goesch, June’s theme will be “Fantastical Façades,” featuring prints, drawings, and photographs focusing on the decorative architecture of real and imagined spaces. Enjoy an open session to participate in the tradition of copying earlier artworks or choose to practice fundamentals and explore ideas. Basic materials are provided. Artists bringing their own supplies should note that only graphite pencils are allowed in the Study Center and museum galleries. Limited to 15 participants.
Free. Basic materials will be provided. Only graphite pencils are allowed in the Study Center and museum galleries. Advance registration is required, and capacity is limited.