The Hollywood History of Art

Ever since the dawn of the sound era, Hollywood has made a series of elaborate feature films about the lives of the great visual artists: including (among many others) Charles Laughton as Rembrandt; George Sanders as Gauguin; Jose Ferrer as Toulouse-Lautrec; Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh; Charlton Heston as Michelangelo-and, more recently on a smaller scale, Jeffrey Wright as Jean-Michel Basquiat; Derek Jacobi as Francis Bacon; Ed Harris as Jackson Pollock; Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo (at last a female artist!); and many others, pitched at more niche audiences. These films have represented the lives of artists in ways that 'chime' with public expectations and public attitudes-with stories that take audiences on a journey from garret to gallery to glamour to gutter to grave. So, although they are often dismissed out of hand by art historians and curators, the films can tell us a great deal about how art and artists have entered the cultural bloodstream of modern Western societies. What can they reveal about the changing public image of the visual artist? What assumptions did Hollywood screenwriters and filmmakers make about awareness of the history of art in society at large? And what assumptions did they reflect/ promote about the artists' private lives-as well as their gender and ethnicity? What was the background to the making of these films? And what impact have they had on the real art world - its exhibitions, auctions, collections, and artists? There has never before been a full-length book devoted to the fascinating story of THE HOLLYWOOD HISTORY OF ART, in all its glory. This generously illustrated volume will fill this surprising gap. It is based on many years of archive research, as well as on interviews with participants and the author's long experience of teaching art history. It will appeal to museum and gallery-goers, readers interested in the history of art and of film, film buffs, collectors, viewers of TV miniseries and films about artists-and of course those with fond memories of Jose Ferrer wandering the streets of Montmartre on his knees, Kirk Douglas gritting his teeth and being attacked by crows, Charlton Heston swallowing a mouthful of paint as he frescoes the ceiling of a 70mm Sistine Chapel, Ed Harris in a T-shirt dripping brushfuls of paint onto a huge canvas and Salma Hayek being transported at speed in a four-poster bed to a contemporary art gallery in Mexico City...

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