Muscles, Curves, Giggles and Fur
Sunnyvale Community Theater
On Friday October 23, 2009, The Institute will open its ninth season of art lectures by Professor William Fredlund at the Sunnyvale Community Center Theater located at 550 East Remington Drive just off of El Camino in Sunnyvale. During our 2009-2010 season we will discuss four great themes in art: men, women, children and animals. Each evening opens at 6:30 P.M. with an audience-participation reception with wine provided by the Institute. The lecture begins at 7:30 P.M.
Friday, October 23, 2009, "Muscles: the Male Body in European Art" From the earliest days of the European artistic tradition, the male figure - clothed and unclothed - was the most popular subject for painters and sculptors. In October, we will go back to the Greek origins of European art, and see how three thousand years of artistic innovation has altered that original vision.
Friday, January 22, 2010, "Curves: the Female Body in European Art" The interest of artists in the female form has waxed and waned depending on the time and location. In seventeenth-century America, nude women disappeared from painting. In sixteenth-century Venice they were the most popular subject. Think of Titian or Veronese. In January, we will examine the whole story of women in art from Athens to Renoir.
Friday, March 26, 2010, "Giggles: Children in European Art" Children were not an important part of European painting until modern times (with one notable exception). In March, we will enjoy the moment of discovery of children as a new subject in painting and admire the greatest works that include children along with the whole family or those that concentrate exclusively on one adorable munchkin.
Friday, May 21, 2010, "Fur: Animals in European Art" When the Greeks built the Acropolis and decorated the Parthenon with some of the greatest sculpture of all time, one of the most impressive figures was the head of a horse. Animals have been one of the favorite themes of European painting and sculpture and in May we will enjoy the story of dogs and horses and cows and other animals in European art.
Enrollment
To enroll, contact the Institute Monday-Friday, 10-6.
Institute for the Study of Western Civilization
10060 Bubb Road, Cupertino, CA 95014
Institute Phone: (408) 864-4060
Schedule of Classes, Fall Quarter, 2009
Monday Night, 7:00 PM
History of France
Lecturer: William Fredlund
Tuesday Night, 7:00 PM
History of England
Lecturer: William Fredlund
Wednesday Night, 7:00 PM
History of France
Lecturer: William Fredlund
Thursday Night, 7:00 PM
Nature and Culture
Lecturer: William Fredlund and Bruce Thompson
Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, (various times)
French and Italian language instruction at the Institute
Sunday, September 30, 2007, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM
A showing of Nahda Balaa's work
On Sunday, September 30, 2007, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM the Institute will host a reception and presentation of new paintings by Nahda Balaa. Many students of the Institute know Nahda and her work and are looking forward to this event. Nahda has travelled extensively, seeking to be inspired by colors and light of different parts of the world. Her French, Italian and Californian scenes are visual poetry, a symphony of colors, and a testimony to her mastery of both watercolor and painting on silk. Her work has received great acclaim in the US and internationally in southern France (Cannes, 1989), in Florence, Italy (1998) and at the Index 97, Dubai, U.A.E. (1997). Nahda’s latest watercolor scenes were inspired in Europe and painted on silk using an ancient Japanese process. Her Parisian and Italian vistas are exhilarating in their contents of walkways, doors, windows and water fountains, and warmed by an astute choice of colors and shades. Come by the Insitute on Sunday to greet Nahda and to see her new paintings. We will have wine and goodies and a great Sunday afternoon party, so we hope you can join us. Even if you are on your way to another event, drop in for a few minutes to meet Nahda and see her paintings this Sunday afternoon. |
February 11th - April 27th
Group Art Show - Students and Friends of The Institute
This month the Institute will be opening an art show featuring students and friends of the Institute. Mediums include drawings, paintings, photography, monoprints. Join us on February 11th from 4 - 7 pm to meet the artists while enjoying wine and finger food. At left: "Sidewalk Cafe in Mexico" painting by Kathy Costanza. |
July/August 2009 Film Series
Italian and French Classics ~ Old and New
Italian and French Classics
Seven exciting old and new Italian and French films ~ a fifty-year journey through the classics!
July 11: Variety Lights (Luci del varietŕ) (Fellini, 1951)
Federico Fellini co-directed this film from his own story about a romance between an ambitious young dancer and the aging manager of a variety theater in Rome. The dancer, Liliana – played with luscious innocence by Carla del Poggio – talks her way into Signor Checco's troupe by showing him her legs. The others, including Checco's girlfriend (Giulietta Masina) protest, but Checco takes Liliana into the troupe.
July 18: Il Generale della Roverre (Rossellini, 1959)
In a magnetic performance, Vittorio De Sica is Bardone, an opportunistic rascal in wartime Genoa, conning and cheating his fellow Italians, exploiting their tragedies by promising to help find their missing loved ones in exchange for money. This is one of the greatest films ever about wartime Italy.
July 25: Salvatore Giuliano (Rosi, 1962)
At the age of twenty-seven, Giuliano (Frank Wolff) was then both Italy's most wanted criminal and most celebrated hero of his day. In this groundbreaking work of investigative filmmaking, director Francesco Rosi harnesses the facts and myths surrounding the true story of Giuliano's death.
August 1: Jean de Florette (Berri, 1987)
The film takes place in rural Provence, where two local farmers scheme to trick a newcomer out of his newly inherited property. The movie starred three of France's most prominent actors – Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, and Yves Montand (in one of his last roles before his death).
August 8: Manon of the Spring (Berri, 1987)
Less a sequel than a seamless continuation of its predecessor film, Jean de Florette, Manon of the Spring brings with it a more epic scope as it depicts the growth to womanhood of the daughter (Emmanuelle Béart) of the farmer in the first film.
August 15: The Dinner Game (Veber, 1999)
The premise is as entertaining as you could hope for: every Wednesday, a bunch of smart young Parisians hold a dinner, to which each of them must invite a complete idiot.
August 22: The Valet (Veber, 2006)
When a billionaire (Daniel Auteuil of Cache and The Eighth Day) gets photographed next to his supermodel mistress (Alice Taglioni), he tries to persuade his wife (Kristin Scott Thomas of The English Patient) that the supermodel must be with the other man in the picture--a parking valet (Gad Elmaleh) who just happens to be walking by.
Spend your summer Saturday evenings at the Institute's movie series:
Italian and French Classics ~ Old and New!
Choose any three for $50 or come to all seven for only $100. Or you can buy a "Ten Pics Tix" set for $150 that can be used for any 10 films, any time (no expiration date).
Doors open 6PM. Film at 7PM.
Call the office to register: (408) 864-4060, M-F 10AM- 6PM.
April May 2009 Film Series
The Lovers
The Lovers
Six great love stories, six different views of love-- different eras, different languages, different locations.
Each film offers not only a great love story but also unforgettable performances by seven great film actresses: Danielle Darrieux (The Earrings of Madame D...), Lauren Bacall and Dorothy Malone (Written on the Wind), Jeanne Moreau (The Lovers), Lauren Hutton (American Gigolo), Frances McDormand (Laurel Canyon), and Penelope Cruz (Volver).
April 18: The Earrings of Madame D... (1953)
French master Max Ophuls's most cherished work, The Earrings of Madame De... is an emotionally profound, cinematographically adventurous tale of false opulence and tragic romance.
April 25: Written on the Wind (1956)
European transplant director Douglas Sirk puts the opera back into soap opera in this exquisitely baroque melodrama, the epitome of Technicolor gloss. Rock Hudson and Lauren Bacall play stalwart examples of altruism, clean living, and good old American ambition, but Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone steal the film as white trash millionaire siblings stewing in self-pity.
May 2: The Lovers (1958)
After the lush Hollywood color of Written on the Wind, we turn to this cutting edge French, New Wave, location-filmed love story starring the spectacular Jeanne Moreau in her breakthrough role. Louis Malle unveiled the natural beauty of Moreau in his breakthrough film, Elevator to the Gallows. With his follow-up, the scandalous smash The Lovers (Les amants), he made her a star once and for all. Thanks to its frank sexuality, The Lovers caused quite a stir, being censored and attacked for obscenity around the world. If by now its shock has worn off, its glistening sensuality and seductive storytelling haven't aged a day.
May 9: American Gigolo (1980)
Our fourth film takes us away from the sexy world of Paris to the sexy world of Beverly Hills, as depicted by writer/director Paul Schrader. Richard Gere plays a high-priced prostitute, an immaculately dressed stud for hire who services the bored women of Beverly Hills without ever allowing himself to be touched emotionally. His affair with a politician's wife (Lauren Hutton) changes all that. Lauren Hutton gives the greatest performance of her film career as the woman who helps him find love.
May 16: Laurel Canyon (2002)
After roaming the French countryside and the plains of Texas we turn to the world of this fifth film (written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko), which takes us into one of the most fabulous and intriguing neighborhoods of LA: Laurel Canyon. Here we are drawn into the complexities of the life of record producer Jane (Frances McDormand) and her son Sam (Christian Bale). For those of us who admire Frances McDormand (Burn After Reading, Friends with Money, Something's Gotta Give, Almost Famous, Fargo, Raising Arizona, and many more), we may see this film performance as her richest, most complete character ever. Christian Bale is great too as her son--almost too close in looks and age to be the son, but that is exactly the point of the casting. Their scenes together are spectacular... very Freudian mother-son sexy which makes it all dangerous and exciting and brilliant.
May 23: Volver (2007)
From two-time Academy Award winner Pedro Almodovar (2003 Best Original Screenplay for Talk to Her; 2000 Best Foreign Language Film for All About My Mother) comes Volver, a comedic and compassionate tribute to women and their resilience in the face of life's most outrageous tribulations. A luminous Penelope Cruz leads an ensemble of gifted actresses. We will be showing the film in a brand new Blu-Ray version that is spectacularly beautiful.
Spend spring your Saturday evenings at the Institute's movie series: The Lovers!
Choose any three for $50 or come to all six for only $75. Or you can buy a "Ten Pix Tix" set for $150 that can be used for any 10 films, any time (no expiration date).
Doors open 6PM. Film at 7PM.
Call the office to register: (408) 864-4060, M-F 10AM- 6PM.
May 2008 Film Series
Italian Classics: Old and New
In May, the History of Film series will present four great Italian films that will take us on a journey through fifty years of Italian film excellence.
Saturday May 10, 2008: My Voyage To Italy
Academy Award nominee Martin Scorsese takes the viewer on a fascinating journey highlighting the classics of Italian cinema from the neo-realism of post-war Italy through its transition into opulent period drama and surrealist fantasy. Illuminated by insightful movie clips and his own impassioned commentary -- Scorsese's deeply personal observations offer not only an absorbing lesson in the history of Italian film, but also trace its direct connection to the best in contemporary filmmaking as well.
Saturday May 17, 2008: Umberto D
One of the enduring masterpieces of Italian neorealism, the heartbreaking story of an aged Roman named Umberto (played by Carlo Battisti, non-professional actor and retired college professor) who struggles to survive in a city plagued by disregard for the post-World War II plight of the elderly.
Saturday May 24, 2008: Il Conformista
From Bernardo Bertolucci comes this stunning masterwork which explores the rise of fascism in Italy. A wealthy young follower of Mussolini is called on to kill a former college professor forcing him to examine why he has allowed his life to be consumed by this virulent political movement.
Saturday May 31, 2008: Respiro
In this Cannes award-winner based on a Sicilian fable, a beautiful young mother living on a small island excites the disapproval of her fellow villagers with her carefree behavior.
Doors open at 6 pm for wine and hors d 'oeuvres
Film begins at 7 pm
Call the office at 408-864-4060 to reserve your seat now.
Movie Series: $60
April 2008 Film Series
Audrey Hepburn
In April, the History of Film series will offer us four wonderful evenings with one of the most delightful film actresses of all time: Audrey Hepburn.
Sat April 5: Roman Holiday
Audrey Hepburn's screen debut turned out to be one of the most extraordinary career openers of all time. Her first time out she won the Academy Award. In addition to Hepburn's perfect performance there is also Gregory Peck and Rome. Directed by William Wyler, 1953.
Sat April 12: Sabrina
This was Hepburn's second film following immediately on the heels of the success of Roman Holiday. Here she has the help of William Holden and Humphrey Bogart and the direction of the master, Billy Wilder. It is a wonderful film.
Sat April 19: Breakfast at Tiffany's
By 1961 Audrey Hepburn was one of greatest movie stars in the world. Director Blake Edwards asked her to play Holly Golightly in Truman Capote's successful novel. Henry Mancini wrote one of the greatest movie songs ever: "Moon River." The cast has to be one of the most experienced ever assembled: George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, John McGiver (at Tiffanys), and Mickey Rooney as Yunioshi.
Sat April 26: Charade
Charade is one of the half-dozen greatest romantic comedies of all time. On April 26 you are going to see a gorgeous new print from Criterion which looks better than anything you have seen in years. And then there is Audrey with Cary Grant.
Can you think of anything better?
Doors open at 6 pm, film begins at 7 pm.
Movie Series: $60.00 Call 408-864-4060 to enroll
January 2008 Film Series
Ingmar Bergman (1918 - 2007)
Ingmar Bergman has been praised again and again as one of the greatest film directors of all time. His death this past summer at the age of 89, called our attention to his extraordinary achievement, and therefore the Institute invites you to see for the first time or see again four of his finest early films. All four films will be presented in new, beautifully restored Criterion editions.
Sat Jan 12, 2008: Sawdust and Tinsel
This is a charming early film that Bergman made before he became famous. It tells the tale of a traveling circus owner and his mistress as they face life and love, fulfillment and loss. The movie touches as all his movies do on the power of theater, the power of illusion. Here is a magnificent performance of one of Bergman's favorite actresses: Harriet Andersson.
Sat Jan 19, 2008: Smiles of a Summer Night
This is a wild wonderful comedy. Distinguished lawyer Frederik Egerman takes his young wife to see a play that stars his former lover. From the moment of her entrance onto the stage, the gorgeous Desiree leads us all into a delightful romantic romp and makes Frederik's life complicated. This movie won the grand prize at the 1956 Cannes Film festival and Bergman was now on his way.
Sat Jan 26, 2008: The Seventh Seal
In the third week of our Bergman festival we change the tone to a more serious movie. The Seventh Seal, released in 1957, was a shock to viewers expecting another comedy. This is Bergman's allegory of man's search for meaning. It examines the great themes that all great authors have written about: life, death, meaning, mystery. We will show a spectacular restored version from Criterion.
Sat Feb 2, 2008: Wild Strawberries.
The appearance of this film in 1957 was an incredible international phenomenon. Critics in every country hailed Bergman as one of the greatest directors alive, and his name was now mentioned with those of Jan Luc Godard, Truffaut and Fellini as among the masters of the European cinema. Wild Strawberries tells the tale of Prof. Isak Borg as he journeys to receive a great award, and his own internal journey into his past through flashbacks, fantasies, and dreams.
Movie Series: $60.00 Call 408-864-4060 to enroll
August 2007 Film Series
Italian Classics, Old and New
August 4: Nights of Cabiria (1957) Director: Federico Fellini.
A year after his international triumph of La Strada, Federico Fellini cast his wife Giulettta Masina in the role of the Roman prostitute with a heart of gold. She travels through the seedy parts of the eternal city always in search of true love. Cabiria like La Strada was a phenomenal success garnering prizes at Cannes and an Oscar as Best Foreign Film.
August 11: Stealing Beauty (1996) Director: Bernardo Bertolucci.
Think of a spectacularly beautiful ridge running through the Chianti country with vineyards and olives in the distance and views all the way to Siena; think of a red-tiled Tuscan villa with shimmering blue pool full of tanned handsome people; think of a gorgeous young American (Liv Tyler) arriving to search for secrets of her family past. This is Stealing Beauty. It is one of Bertolucci's greatest films and oddly it was totally missed by both public and critics in 1996.
August 18: Facing Windows (2004) Director: Ferzan Ozpetec.
Facing Windows was probably the best foreign film of 2004 that almost nobody in the USA saw. It stars the gorgeous, soulful Giovanna Mezzogiorno as a young Italian wife with a humdrum, boring life whose days are suddenly made exciting and complicated due to the arrival of two fascinating men in her world: one young, one old.
August 25: Remember Me, My Love (2003) Director: Gabriele Muccino.
As in his brilliant Last Kiss, here Muccino looks at Italian families again: husbands and wives, marriages gone sour, sons and daughters struggling with their own lives and loves. Muccino knows this world so well and creates a rich tapestry of the complex modern Italian domestic scene. Laura Morante is stunning as the wife and Monica Bellucci equally compelling as the mistress. Fabrizio Bentivoglio is Carlo, the man in the middle.
July 2007 Film Series
French Classics, Old and New
July 7: Diabolique (1955) Director Henri-Georges Clouzot.
This is one of the most brilliant of all French mysteries that will remind you of Hitchcock, and indeed Clouzot beat out the legendary English director for the rights to this chilling tale. Based on the Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac novel Celle Qui n'Etait Plus, Henri-Georges Clouzot's 1955 Diabolique is among the most influential films of all time.
July 14: Breathless (1961) Director: Jean Luc-Godard.
Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg play two young lovers on the run from the law. This is the film that heralded the French New Wave movement. Fast, lean and exciting, this 1961 film directed by Jean-Luc Godard broke new ground with its unorthodox use of editing and hand-held photography. Belmondo and Seberg are sharp, young, fun and caught up in an entertaining but dangerous journey.
July 21: Murmur of the Heart (1971) Director Louis Malle
is one of the greatest of French film directors of all time and Murmur of the Heart is one of his greatest films. It is a beautiful coming-of-age tale where young Laurent Chevalier grows up fast: he gets drunk, he smokes, he has sex, he is smothered by his mother, he is ignored by his father, a priest makes a pass at him. And that's just the beginning.
July 28: A Very Long Engagement (2004) Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Returning to the screen after the success of the very popular Amelie, here in A Very Long Engagement we see Audrey Tautou directed again by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The film, set at the end of World War I, tells the story of a young woman's relentless, moving and sometimes comic search for her fiance, who has disappeared.
May 2007 Film Series
Italian Films, Old and New
May 5th: La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1961)
Undoubtedly one of the greatest films of all time, depicting the sweet life that is post-war "boom" Italy, filtered through the painful and fascinating life of a reporter (Marcello Mastroiani in his best role ever) enjoying life in Rome in the '60s.
May 12th: Sedotta e Abbandonata (Pietro Germi, 1964)
The graceful, biting, deadpan humor of Italian director Pietro Germi has no parallel; in this blackest of black comedies, a young girl named Agnese (Stefania Sandrelli) is seduced by her sister's fiance.
May 19th: Ciao Professor! (Lina Wertmuller, 1994)
Based on actual third grade children's essays from a school outside of Naples, the script sings and dances in words that only children could have spoken. The Professor (Paolo Villaggio) comes to the squalor of Southern Italy with all of the ideals of a dedicated teacher working within the poverty and crime stricken city of Corsano.
May 26th: L'Ultimo Bacio (Gabriele Muccino, 2001)
The Last Kiss is about love: young love, older love, love found, love lost, love betrayed, love idealized. The fast, brilliant editing is quintessential of the new MTV era: lightening fast cuts, implied dialogue, no dialogue, an apparent "reality TV" aura, and very very sexy.
March 2007 Film Series
Complicated Women: Great Ladies of the Screen
On four Saturday nights in March the Institute will show four classic movies starring four of the greatest female stars of the 1930's and 1940's: Greta Garbo, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis and Lauren Bacall.
Saturday March 3: "Queen Christina" (1933) one of the greatest movie stars of all time, Greta Garbo, appearing with her real-life love John Gilbert in this amazing story of Christina, Queen of Sweden.
Saturday March 10: "It Happened One Night" (1934) with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable is almost everyone's choice as the most perfect romantic comedy of the 1930's. Colbert is witty and funny and beautiful; Gable is handsome and tough and smart. Together they are a perfect harmony.
Saturday March 17: "Dark Victory" Critic Pauline Kael called this shamelessly enjoyable, vintage Bette Davis weepie a "kitsch classic." It is certainly one of the best Bette Davis movies of all time.
Saturday March 24: "The Big Sleep" with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made screen history together more than once, but they were never better than in this 1946 adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel, directed by Howard Hawks.
Door opens at 6:00 for refreshments, movie starts at 7:00pm.
Cost for the series is $60
To enroll, call the Institute at 408-864-4060
January 2007 Film Series
Spanish Films
On January 6th, The Institute will kick off the New Year with an exciting film series. Every Saturday evening in January, we will be showing one of four spectacular Spanish films. Beforehand we will enjoy appetizers, and afterwards an informal discussion about the film.
January 6th: Viridiana (1962)
Directed by Luis Buńuel
After 22 years living in exile in Mexico and the United States, Luis Buńuel returned to his native Spain in 1961 with dictator Franco's permission, in order to make one of his most brilliant films. Viridiana (Silvia Pinal) is a young woman about to become a nun, who leaves her convent to visit the decaying estate of her uncle, Don Jaime (Fernando Rey), an eccentric widower who's immediately taken with Viridiana's close resemblance to his dead wife.
January 13th: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Directed by Victor Erice
"Victor Erice's hauntingly beautiful The Spirit of the Beehive features one of the most unforgettable child performances in the history of cinema. Hailed as the greatest Spanish film of the 1970s, Erice's visually elegant 'poem of awakening' takes place in a small Castilian village in the early 1940s, as echoes of the Spanish Civil War can still be heard throughout the countryside. It is here, in this richly rural atmosphere, that six-year-old Ana (played by six-year-old Ana Torrent) is introduced to alternate world of myth and imagination when she attends a town-hall showing of James Whale's Frankenstein, an experience that forever alters young Ana's perception of the world around her."(Amazon.com)
January 20th: Jamon Jamon (1992)
Directed by Bigas Luna
"The setting is rural Spain, the director is Bigas Luna, and the plot feels like Sigmund Freud rewritten by Julia Child. José (Jordi Molla) falls for Silvia (Penélope Cruz) on the grounds of taste-various parts of her anatomy remind him of ham and tortillas. His suspiciously adoring mother, Conchita (Stefania Sandrelli), disapproves of this nutritious romance, and hires a stud named Raul (Javier Bardem) to steal Silvia away from her son."(New Yorker)
January 27th: The Sea Inside (2004)
Directed by Alejandro Amenábar
"Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of 2004, The Sea Inside is a life-affirming film about a man who wishes to die. That may seem like a massive contradiction, but in the hands of director Alejandro Amenábar (Open Your Eyes, The Others) and actor Javier Bardem (Before Night Falls), this fact-based Spanish drama concerns the final days of Ramón Sampedro, the quadriplegic poet who waged a controversial campaign for his right to die." (Amazon.com)
Door opens at 6:00 for refreshments, and the movies will start at 7:00pm. A brief history of the film’s creation and the people associated with it will be given before the film begins. After the film, there will be an opportunity for comments, questions, and discussion. To enroll, call the Institute at 408-864-4060.
The Institute for the Study of Western Civilization hosts various cultural and educational events during the year in the Institute building at 10060 Bubb Road, Cupertino, California, 95014. During the coming year we hope to offer several art exhibits featuring the work of local painters as well as a reading of a Shakespeare play and a concert of Renaissance music.
