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Paris at Midnight: Jazz and Surrealism in the 1920s

  • John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - Terrace Theater 2700 F Street Northwest Washington, DC, 20566 United States (map)

Paris in the 1920s was a place of great artistic conflict and excitement. While some like Igor Stravinsky and Pablo Picasso embraced Neo-Classicism and a "return to order" in the aftermath of the Great War, others launched bold new experiments. Under the leadership of André Breton, Surrealism sought to shock the bourgeoisie, while a mania for African and African American art and culture, from jazz to art to dance, galvanized the city, personified above all by Josephine Baker. Join PCE for a screening of the classic Surrealist film Entr’acte (René Clair, 1924) with the original score by Erik Satie performed live. The program also includes film footage of Baker dancing and a tribute to jazz great Sidney Bechet. It culminates with Maurice Ravel's partly-jazz-inspired Piano Concerto in G featuring soloist Drew Petersen. Presented in collaboration with Harry Cooper, senior curator and head of modern art at the National Gallery of Art.

Earlier Event: November 9
Chamber Jazz Recital Part 1
Later Event: November 9
The California Honeydrops