Exhibitions
Backdrop: An Invisible Art

Past Exhibitions

Backdrop: An Invisible Art

September 30, 2021–September 17, 2023

About the Exhibition

In a fitting tribute to the outsized impact that movies can have on our lives, the double height Hurd Gallery features the exhibition Backdrop: An Invisible Art, which spotlights a monumental backdrop—the iconic Mt. Rushmore backing from Hitchcock’s North by Northwest—considering both its artistry and its contested imagery. 

Cary Grant, James Mason, and Eva Marie Saint, production still, NORTH BY NORTHWEST (USA, 1959). Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Production and Biography Photographs, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Backdrop: An Invisible Art, Hurd Gallery, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Photo by Joshua White, JWPictures/©Academy Museum Foundation
Mt. Rushmore backdrop from North by Northwest (1959), gift of the Coakley Family and JC Backings Corporation, Courtesy Academy Museum Foundation
Cary Grant, James Mason, and Eva Marie Saint in NORTH BY NORTHWEST (USA, 1959), courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Production and Biography Photographs, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences