The Ashmolean Museum’s Sarah Holland introduces Oxford’s celebration of US culture

Take a journey through the Jazz Age to explore the art, music, film and literature born out of the Roaring 20s, the Depression-hit 30s and the booming years of the Second World War.

The American Cool Arts Festival at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum celebrates its current exhibition of art from the 20s and 30s, America’s Cool Modernism. Running over the next three weeks, it includes a line-up of talks, performances and film-screenings.

It kicks off on Tuesday with A Streetcar Named Desire at Oxford Playhouse. Tennessee William’s classic 1948 depiction of the simmering tensions and frustrations of the Deep South sees Blanche DuBois travelling from Mississippi to New Orleans’ French Quarter to live with her sister, Stella, and brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski.

Blackwell’s Bookshop, in Broad Street, pairs works of art with contemporary literature, and hosts panel discussions on art and literature in the 20s and 30s, and the state of the US today, with Prof Sarah Churchwell and award-winning playwright and critic Bonnie Greer.

The Curzon Cinema, in the Westgate, will show Dawson City – Frozen Time, and Sarah Gabriel takes us on a musical tour of the brilliant mind and lacerating wit of Dorothy Parker with readings from her letters, poems and essays at Oxford Playhouse in Dorothy Parker Takes A Trip. Musician and broadcaster Neil Brand celebrates the age of silent film in The Silent Pianist Speaks.

The festival concludes with a Live Friday event at The Ashmolean on May 25. Expect speakeasy bars, a hoedown, live band performances, flapper girls and silent film screenings with live music.

  • The American Cool Arts Festival takes place at various Oxford venues from May 8 to 25.
  • For more details, go to ashmolean.org