Painters Painting DVD
From the Arthouse Films website description: “Originally released in 1973 but never before available on DVD, PAINTERS PAINTING is the definitive documentary on the New York School of painters, from 1940-1970. Director Emile de Antonio (Point of Order and Millhouse) interviews artists in their studios about their art from the period of Abstract Expressionism, through Hard Edge and Color Field painting to Pop Art. Among the featured painters are Robert Rauschenberg, William de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Helen Frankenthaler, Frank Stella, Barnett Newman, Hans Hoffman, Jules Olitski, Philip Pavia, Larry Poons, Robert Motherwell, and Kenneth Noland.”
What I found interesting in the original film is what is missing - there are glimpses of ‘other’ artists. In the scene of protest by artists towards the new director of museum there is a pan, and there you can see their faces. The small excerpt of Helen Frankenthaler, as well, away from the brush stroke and the importance of that in the scheme of things here. For me, the film provides a look inside the studios of the chosen few, and allows them time to speak for themselves, why? Why those few, and the role and relationship between, collectors, commercial gallery agents, and artists, of what was considered viable art?
A terrific glimpse.
