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Mark Stevens & Annalyn Swan: de Kooning: An American Master
Join our Twitter book club this summer. See Pages above.
Sharon Waxman: Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World
Lindsay Pollock: The Girl With the Gallery: Edith Gregor Halpert And the Making of the Modern Art Market
LOVE this book! It reveals so much about the early American art market. Halpert was a true pioneer.
Just found this movie mentioned on Twitter: Who Does She Think She Is? (thanks @acrawley)
It seems to be about women artists and the conflicts they have as women, spouses, creatives, mothers, and functioning members of society.
The trailer shows--not surprisingly, but still very discouragingly--that people can't even name a single female artist when asked.
Monday's Art Marketing Action newsletter focuses on a self-guided curriculum so you continue to grow as an artist. As a preview, I want to share with you some of my favorite documentaries about art.
These are just documentaries! And they're just off the top of my head. There are so many good ones out there. Go to the Getty Web site and plug in your favorite artist or art subject and you'll find lots more. Then see if you can borrow films from your local library or Netflix.
The PBS series art: 21. A pioneering series on artists making art today. Don't miss a single episode.
“How to Draw a Bunny” about the mysterious art, life, death of Ray Johnson
This is probably my favorite documentary to date. And one of my subscribers--a long time ago--recommended it. I wish I could give him credit here.
“My Architect” (life of Louis Kahn, through his son’s eyes)
“Sketches of Frank Gehry” -- the Sydney Pollack documentary about the famed architect
“Rothko’s Rooms” -- about Mark Rothko and often available on OvationTV
“Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision”
A number of films about Christo and Jean-Claude that I rented through Netlix. All of them show the amazing, unconventional process that these artists go through to make their vision a reality.
A documentary on Morris Louis that I saw in his traveling retrospective. But I have no title or resource for it. It's just terrific and I'd love to see it again.
“Painters Painting”--An amazing 2-part film featuring key figures in American art of the 50s and 60s.
“Helvetica”--Yep, a whole film about the font. Just very fun to hear all of these designers talking about typefaces and visual communication.
Check the blog on Tuesday for the list of books promised in the newsletter.
How about you? What are your favorite documentaries about art? (General films is a different topic.)
While I was in Alabama, I watched "The Object of Beauty," a 1991 movie starring Andie MacDowell and John Malkovich.
While it was frustrating to watch such a stupid, selfish couple make mistake after mistake without taking responsibility, the message in the movie made it worthwhile. Let's just say this: art speaks and art can touch someone when they least expect it.
From the delightful new Disney movie, Ratatouille:
Not everyone
can become a great artist,
but a great artist
can come from anywhere.
If you've never taken art history classes, you're in luck. There's tons of art history online. And now, more and more video.
I'm slightly troubled by artists who don't take the time to study art history. It's a tradition you should be proud to be a part of and want to know more about.
You can even learn a lot by listening to today's foremost artists.
I received this link to a videocast from LX.TV, a nifty video blog. It's an interview with Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Enjoy!
The current issue of Sunshine Artist magazine has an article by Cameron Meier that names the top ten “non-documentary films that have art and artists as their subject matter.” [My amateur-critic comments in brackets.]
10. Surviving Picasso (1996)
[I almost walked out of this film when I saw it in the theater. I thought it was terrible.]
9. Lust for Life (1956)
8. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
7. Basquiat (1996)
6. Frida (2002)
5. Pollock (2000)
4. Girl With a Pearl Earring (2003)
[Was anyone else bored to tears by this movie?]
3. The DaVinci Code (2005)
2. As Good as It Gets (1997)
[Yeah, Kinnear played an artist, but this movie doesn’t belong on a top ten list about art--even though it’s a favorite of mine.]
1. Vincent and Theo (1990)
[I’m embarrassed I’ve never seen it. I’m putting it in my Netflix queue tout de suite.]
These movies could easily replace some of the weaker films on this list:
Camille Claudel
Artemesia [Gentileschi]
Impromptu [Chopin, Georges Sand, Delacroix]
Although I haven’t seen them in a while, I enjoyed both:
Wolf at the Door [Gauguin]
The Moderns [all kinds of early 20th-century stars in Paris--love the soundtrack]
A subscriber also recommended these three movies, which I only recently found on Netflix:
Barfly
An Unmarried Woman
My Brilliant Career
Comments? What's missing?
I had the pleasure of watching The Red Violin on Saturday night. Through Netflix, we’ve had it in our home for about three months--just waiting for the perfect time to watch, I suppose.
It’s a beautiful movie and I highly recommend it to all artists.
The underlying theme: One beautifully crafted, much-loved musical instrument (created with the most tender affection) unites diverse people over three centuries and thousands of miles.
Isn’t that what great art does?
Saw Miranda July's movie Me and You and Everyone We Know, which has been the recipient of numerous awards. Very interesting and thought-provoking. Slightly sad, yet happy. Really made me think. People who are suspicious of gallery dealers and museum curators and think of them only as serious figures who wear black and don't smile, will appreciate July's rendition of the stereotype.
Visit the Web site even if you don't see the film. Terrific, haunting soundtrack! You can also visit the filmmaker's blog.
I first came across July, a conceptual and performance artist (and now feature filmmaker), at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. She--or, rather, her followers--were exhibiting Learning to Love You More . It's part of a Web site created in 2002 along with Harrell Fletcher as “an ever-changing series of exhibitions, screenings and radio broadcasts presented all over the world.” Visitors are given assignments, which they can choose to accept or bypass. Completed assignments are then posted online and, in some cases, exhibited at various venues. BMoCA signed on to exhibit assignments #16, “Make a paper replica of your bed,” and #29, “Video five seconds going down Boulder Creek, or the next best thing.” (I love that: "the next best thing"!)
After visiting the website and reading about the projects, I wanted to know more than the names of the people who followed the assignments. Part of the intrigue of the Internet is connecting with all kinds of people in all kinds of places that you would never otherwise meet: shrinking the world, if you will. The artists are to blame for this omission, but I think the project would be much stronger if the focus extended beyond the assignments themselves to the implications of a virtual zeitgeist.
What does it mean that people all over the world are creating the same thing at the same time? What does it mean when we follow directions of others? Does it mean we can no longer think for ourselves? Or, as the Learning to Love You More site suggests on the “hello” page, does “the prescriptive nature of these assignments [liberate] you from creativity and [allow you to] focus on what you are feeling and experiencing”? I want to know. I am still unclear whether I am witnessing a successful art event, communication mechanism, therapy project, or combination of all three.
