artists in their own words
September 2, 2013 5:39 PM   Subscribe

Painters on Painting - 1972 documentary on the New York Art Scene 1940-1970, directed by Emile de Antonio. It spans American art movements from abstract expressionism to pop art via conversations with artists in their studios. Including Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Helen Frankenthaler, Frank Stella, Hans Hofmann, Robert Motherwell and others. (via Bibliokept) posted by madamjujujive (8 comments total) 37 users marked this as a favorite
 
Aaah, thank you for this madamjujujive, it's a treasure trove.
posted by VikingSword at 5:42 PM on September 2, 2013


I love Emile de Antonio! Great post.
posted by box at 5:53 PM on September 2, 2013


Fantastic! Thanks, madamjujujive!
posted by homunculus at 6:11 PM on September 2, 2013


Oh jeez I remember seeing Painters on Painting in 1975, in the Colloquium class that was required of all freshmen in my art school. They showed it every year, it was like an initiation ritual.
posted by charlie don't surf at 8:36 PM on September 2, 2013


I also saw this while in art school. I wonder if they still show it to the kids.

I ended up buying it when my local dvd store went out of business and watch it a couple times a year. Something very oddly comforting about Painters Painting, perhaps the seriousness and the matter of factness of the enterprise.

Great post by the way.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 11:03 PM on September 2, 2013


I just watched this two weeks ago. So good. I'm excited to go through all the links!
posted by dame at 11:32 PM on September 2, 2013


I also watched it right after Manhattan, and Stella is so Woody Allen–ish. I presume it is the accent & manner of a particular New York niche (in time, though not ethnicity I imagine) and I was so surprised. Allen has always seemed unique to me, probably through my own ignorance.
posted by dame at 11:34 PM on September 2, 2013


dame, I thought that too about Frank Stella, ha. I really enjoyed him - his segment might have been the one I liked the most. He was very cogent in speaking about his work and articulating his thought and decision process, it really gave me a much better insight.

In fact, that's what I liked most about this entire film - on the whole, abstract expressionism is an area of art that I don't think I've fully appreciated, but hearing artists speak about their work in their own words gave me some different perspectives and set me off on a new investigation (thus the other links.)
posted by madamjujujive at 5:57 AM on September 3, 2013


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