Keyes Art and Sag Harbor Cinema present “Lolita.”
To begin the evening, Keyes Art at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor will present “Bert Stern Loves Sag Harbor,” a photography exhibition of Sue Lyon in her Lolita character with the backdrop of Sag Harbor as provocatively captured by the master photographer. The opening reception will be held on Friday, September 24, from 5 to 7 PM. Following the opening will be a screening of Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel “Lolita” at 7:15 PM.
Kubrick and Stern created the first visual of Nabokov’s “Lolita.” The novel tells the story of a middle-aged university professor who moves from Europe to America in 1947, where he becomes obsessed with a young girl, Dolores Haze (played by thirteen year old Sue Lyon). Adapting the novel in the restrictive conditions of film censorship in the early 1960s, Kubrick modified several features of a script Nabokov wrote himself, including Lolita’s age and how explicit the graphic nature of their relationship becomes.
Kubrick asked Stern to photograph Lyon when he realized he needed promotional shots of her for the film and, in so doing, expanding the mythos of the “Lolita look” at Sag Harbor’s American Hotel and Baron’s Cove with props, including the iconic heart-shaped sunglasses, that he purchased at the local five and dime.
The exhibit at Keyes Art will run through October 8.