Film Screening // Marcia Marcus: Art in the Family

Marcia Marcus: Art in the Family is a documentary film about Marcia Marcus (1928–2025), who worked figuratively at the height of the 1950s Abstract Expressionist era.

Running 67 minutes, the film explores Marcus’s art and social life, her pioneering role in performance art, pop art and the use of photos. Topics include artistic practice and ambition, the female gaze, male nudes, the 10th Street Galleries and the New York art world, the Provincetown art scene, and the emergence of Performance Art and Happenings. 

The documentary was created by Kate Prendergast— Marcus’s daughter.  It has been praised for addressing the broader marginalization of women artists, with viewers noting its valuable context and testimonials on that subject.

The title refers to one of Marcus’s most significant works: Art and the Family, created in 1966, is Marcus’s largest painting, and it spotlights the context of a woman artist. It features an elegant family portrait on one side, backdropped by a collage of magazine images and clipped words, while on the other side her children’s exuberant family portrait push up against that backdrop — representing a kind of competition between family, artmaking, and the noise of the surrounding world. 

The film has received warm reception from artists and critics alike, praised for being inspirational with rich insight into the era, Marcus’s life and humor, and its importance as a record of a pioneering female artist.

Screening held at the Mary Heaton Vorse House (466 Commercial St., Provincetown), admission TBA.