Documentaries About All Things Art
Having recently watched several documentaries about the art world like Guest of Cindy Sherman (2008); Alice Neel (2007); and Agnes Martin: With My Back to the World (2002), The Cinema Guy is reminded of some other documentaries about artists and the art world in general. There have been an abundance of these films made in the past five years, and so the following list is dominated by newer films, although there are a few classics listed as well.
The Mystery of Picasso(1956) Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Picasso paints twenty pictures (all of which are destroyed at the completion of shooting).
Crumb(1994) Directed by Terry Zwigoff. Classic documentary about the eccentric San Francisco comic book artist, Robert Crumb, the man responsible for Fritz the Cat.
How To Draw a Bunny (2002) Directed by John W. Walter. Ray Johnson, a pop artist who was a contemporary of Warhol, Johns, and Lichtenstein, is the focus of this highly entertaining profile. Johnson lived his life in the mode of a performance artist, respected by his peers, but never receiving the same level of acclaim and monetary success.
Stolen(2005) Directed by Rebecca Dreyfus. In 1990 the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston Massachusetts was robbed of millions of dollars of paintings by thieves posing as Boston Police officers. The paintings included Vermeer’s “The Concert”. To date, none of the works have been recovered.
The Gates(2005) Directed by Albert Maylses; Antonio Ferrara. After a 26 year effort by installation artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the 23 mile long art installation “The Gates” was built along paths in Central Park in New York City. It was unveiled in February of 2005.
Tales of The Rat Fink (2006) Directed by Ron Mann. Detailing the life and career of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, car designer and cartoonist.
Who the $&!#%&! is Jackson Pollock? (2006) Directed by Harry Moses. In the early 90s a painting was purchased for $5 at a yard sale by female truck driver Teri Horton from Texas, who claims to this day that it is an original Jackson Pollock. Horton allegedly turned down millions for the painting after the film was made.
Who Gets to Call it Art?(2006) Directed by Peter Rosen. A look at curator Henry Gedzahler, who is associated with the 1960s New York pop scene.
Black White and Grey: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mappelthorpe (2007) Directed by James Crump. The relationship between curator and photography collector Sam Wagstaff and photographer Robert Mappelthorpe, and their friendship with musician Patti Smith, is examined.
My Kid Could Paint That(2007) Directed by Amir Bar-Lev. Controversy surrounding the legitimacy of four year old Birmingham, New York artist Maria Olmstead.
The Cool School(2007) Directed by Morgan Neville. A look at a group of groundbreaking artists in Los Angeles in the late 50s and 60s that included Edward Ruscha. The Ferus Gallery, opened in 1957, served as a launching pad for a number of these modern artists.
The Art of Failure: Chuck Connelly is Not For Sale(2008) Directed by Jeffrey Stimmel. New York artist Chuck Connelly enjoyed success in the 1980s, and was the inspiration for the Nick Nolte character in Martin’s Scorcese’s section of New York Stories. Connelly fell out of fashion and is now on the outer edges of the art world.