The Secret Lives of Artists

Barnett Newman’s paintings might seem like the intellectual epitome of modern abstraction, but he actively sought to engage with the world through his art. And decades earlier, in 1933, he ran for mayor of New York City. MoMA Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture Ann Temkin, author Amy Newman, and host Naeem Douglas examine the connection between the campaign and the canvas, speaking about the artist’s persistent moral vision of improving the lives of fellow citizens.

Executive producers: Prudence Peiffer, Alex Halberstadt, Naeem Douglas
Writing and research: Prudence Peiffer, Alex Halberstadt, Naeem Douglas, with additional research by Caroline Nieto.
Engineered and mixed by Zubin Hensler
Original score by Pablo Altar

What happens when an artist spends decades outside the art world, creating work in near obscurity and not because of a lack of talent? For years, Minnie Evans worked as a ticket taker at a garden in Wilmington, North Carolina, while also secretly making drawings and paintings that came to her in spiritual visions. Evans’ great-grandson Wayne Evans, MoMA associate curator Alexandra Adams, and host Naeem Douglas explore the self-taught artist’s journey from obscurity to the world’s largest museums.

Contains an excerpt from The Angel That Stands By Me (1983), directed by Allie Light and Irving Saraf.

Executive producers: Prudence Peiffer, Alex Halberstadt, Naeem Douglas
Writing and research: Prudence Peiffer, Alex Halberstadt, Naeem Douglas, with additional research by Caroline Nieto.
Engineered and mixed by Zubin Hensler
Original score by Pablo Altar

Model, muse, artist, photojournalist, inventor, mother, chef. Lee Miller had many lives in the 20th century. We are only just now grasping her impact as a photographer in Surrealist Paris in the 1930s and as a photojournalist documenting the toll of war. Miller’s son, Antony Penrose, narrates the discovery of thousands of negatives in the attic, which led to a new understanding of the scope of her work, along with MoMA assistant curator Caitlin Ryan and host Naeem Douglas.

Executive producers: Prudence Peiffer, Alex Halberstadt, Naeem Douglas
Writing and research: Prudence Peiffer, Alex Halberstadt, Naeem Douglas, with additional research by Caroline Nieto.
Engineered and mixed by Zubin Hensler
Original score by Pablo Altar

John Cage is best known as a revolutionary composer who expanded the definition of music to include sound, silence, and chance. But while he was working on his art, Cage couldn’t stop thinking about mushrooms. MoMA assistant curator Alison Burstein, Cage scholars and fellow foragers Howard Risati and Ray Kass, and host Naeem Douglas discuss Cage’s groundbreaking compositions and his obsession with enigmatic fungi, which even led to his appearance on a game show.

Contains excerpts from “I’ve Got a Secret” (1960), Écoute (1992), directed by Miroslav Sebestik and Anna Grange, and John Cage: I Have Nothing to Say, and I Am Saying It (1990), directed by Alan Miller.

Executive producers: Prudence Peiffer, Alex Halberstadt, Naeem Douglas
Writing and research: Prudence Peiffer, Alex Halberstadt, Naeem Douglas, with additional research by Caroline Nieto.
Engineered and mixed by Zubin Hensler
Original score by Pablo Altar

Marcel Duchamp rewrote the rules of modern art, but also happened to be obsessed with one of the most rule-bound games ever invented: chess. MoMA Chief Curator Ann Temkin, Duchamp scholar Francis Naumann, and host Naeem Douglas retrace Duchamp’s journey from a provocative young artist to a devoted chess player and ask whether the strategy he brought to the board also appears in the choices that defined his career.

Contains an excerpt from A Conversation with Marcel Duchamp (1956), directed by Robert D. Graff.

Executive producers: Prudence Peiffer, Alex Halberstadt, Naeem Douglas
Writing and research: Prudence Peiffer, Alex Halberstadt, Naeem Douglas, with additional research by Caroline Nieto
Engineered and mixed by Zubin Hensler
Original score by Pablo Altar