HERB & DOROTHY 50 X 50

Herb & Dorothy Vogel were seemingly a very ordinary New York couple.  He was a Postal Inspector, and she was a Librarian and they married in 1962, the year after they met and they lived frugally surrounded by cats in a tiny one bed apartment in Manhattan. What makes them extraordinary is since they met they began collecting art, focusing on the newly emerging genre of conceptual works because they not only developed a passion for them, but also because they were affordable.

They had a very simple philosophy, they lived off Dorothy's salary, and spent all of Herb's on art .... and only bought what they could afford and would fit into their apartment. Over the years the collection grew to be over 5000 pieces from artists that went on to be major stars like Sol LeWitt, Richard Tuttle, Carl Andre, Roy Lichtenstein, Cindy Sherman etc etc etc and others that never quite made the big time. They developed close personal relationships with many of the artists, several who still wax lyrically on the significance of the Vogels support at the very early stages of their career.

By 1992 when their tiny rent-controlled apartment was overwhelmed with all of their art (much of it unframed and piled high under their bed) they donated it all to National Gallery of Art in Washington. But even they were incapable of handling such an enormous bequest and when it was obvious that the vast bulk of it would end up in storage, Ruth Fine the Curator came up with an ingenious plan. She and the Vogels would carefully select 50 pieces that would be donated to one chosen museum in each of the 50 States.  This would mean that the work would remain in public ownership and be seen by people all over the country that may otherwise not be exposed to such cutting edge pieces.

This second documentary by Megumi Saski on the Vogels (she also made 'Herb & Dorothy' in 2008) follows the whole process as the work is selected, delivered and hung at the various museums.  There is such sheer delight on all of the Curators faces as they describe how much this unprecedented donation means to their institution and community. It is matched by the Vogel's own relief and happiness that their collection will not only live on but will now be enjoyed by so many people.

Both Vogels are frail as they trail around the country (in fact Herb wheelchair bound, died in 2012) but their resolute spirit is un-diminished as is their commitment to the art and the artists. Herb had initially been reluctant to 'break the collection up' as some of the artists were too, but seeing the crowds flock to look at the art-in-situ convinced all the doubters that this very democratic method of dispersal was really the perfect way to proceed.

The Vogel's lifetime devotion of collecting this art is unparalleled as is their generosity.  Not because this utterly charming selfless couple gave away a Collection worth $25 million, but because their real legacy is their infectious enthusiasm for something they loved so much that they wanted to share it with us all.... and they have.

Unmissable.

You can view the entire 50 X 50 Collection online http://vogel5050.org/

★★★★★★★★★

DESIGN IS ONE : LELLA & MASSIMO VIGNELLI

Even though I have spent most of my life in the design industry I was still totally unaware of the existence of husband and wife design duo Lella & Massimo Vignelli until I came across Kathy Brew and Roberto Guerra's new documentary.  Yet whilst like so many people I may not be familiar with their names, all of us have been impacted some time or another by their vast output of creativity that has influenced all our daily lives.

This strikingly handsome and extremely likable grey-haired couple now in their late 70's/early 80's have spent the last half century working together as a partnership creating logos, furniture, interiors, dinnerware, books, jewellery and even clothes.  With their exacting tastes and unbending comittment to minimalism they soon adopted the maxim for their lives as 'if you cannot find it, then design it.'  And that is exactly what they did.

Some of their most famous work includes the signage and the map for the New York Subway Systems, corporate logos for American Airlines, Bloomingdales, Ford etc etc.,furniture for Knoll, dinnerwear for Heller, books for architect Richard Meier, showrooms for Poltrona Frau etc etc ..... the seemingly in-exhaustible list of Clients and Projects is way beyond impressive.  Their multi-disciplinary studio has been responsible for re-shaping the identities and products of so many of the world's leading design-led companies.

Looking at the two of them discussing their 24 hour a day partnership it's hard not to compare them with that more famous design husband and wife Ray and Charles Eames.  Although to be fair to Massimo even though he obviously hogs most of the limelight, he is much more generous in acknowledging Lella's equal role (which Charles never ever did with Ray). Massimo claims that when it came to creating a design 'I am the pencil, and Lella is the criticism' which is not totally true.  In fact more other than not he is the dreamer and she the realist who insures that the design works and their business flourishes. And some of the projects such as interiors are just all her (she qualified as an architect).

The Vignelli's are Italian after all (and still with heavy accents even after all those decades living in New York) and there were some flashes of those moments when with fiery tempers they didn't quite see eye to eye  ..... and in fact the film would have been a tad more human it had included more of these.

I may have never heard of the Vignellis but many creative geniuses had, and as well as Meier, there was the likes of designer Milton Glaser, MOMA curator Paola Antonelli, architectural Professor Barry Bergdoll singing their praises.  Their comments, and the seemingly unedited interviews with the Vignellis started to get a little repetitive by the end of the 86 minutes.  The irony being that this movie of two ultra-minimalists ended up being a tad too cluttered and starting to lose its direction.

Massimo and Lella have now donated their vast design archives to the Rochester Institute of Technology outside in New York where it is housed in a building they designed themselves, to insure that their designs, and principles will influence future generations.

'Design' and 'designer's' are two of the most maligned and misused words in the English language over the past three decades , so here is a great chance to see and hear two of the real masters of the form, who add a whole new dimension to both terms.

★★★★★★★

MUSEUM HOURS

There is very little plot in this intriguing wee movie from writer/director Jem Cohen although it is billed as a drama. Essentially it is this. Anne, a middle-aged Canadian woman, rushes off to Vienna after she gets a call that a distant cousin of hers who has no other family is in a coma.  In between her daily visits to the hospital to kill time she takes to visiting the grand Kunsthistorisches Art Museum and befriends Johann one of the guards there.  The two form an easy non-sexual friendship after he offers his services as a translator and local guide. 

We learn very little about the pair beyond the fact that Anne has very little money as she only works occasionally, but nothing else is revealed about her obviously lonely life. Johann we discover went from being a Road Manager for a Rock Group, to teaching woodwork in a school, to ending up in his quietest job to date ostensibly guarding the art but in reality just observing the visitors.

The movie, like the Museum itself, centers around the famous Bruegel room which has the largest collection of his work in the world.  As we listen to the conversations between Anne and Johann, and to the words of an Expert Guide, the movie evolves into an Art History Lecture of sorts.  As they talk, Cohen's cameras dart from one minute detail to another examining the often overlooked facets of Bruegels multi-layered pieces. It is quite an eyeful ..... and a visual treat .... but at the same time it leaves you up in the air wondering if you are indeed watching an Open University Lesson or an episode of the Discovery Channel on TV.

I still cannot decide what to make of this docu-drama and hybrid American/Austrian movie. It was shot in the winter, when Vienna looked very cold and bleak and most uninviting. And as for the cast .... Anne was played by Mary Margaret O'Hara a Canadian singer/songwriter and occasional actress, Johann was played by Bobby Summer a non-professional actor BUT the Museum that the movie was based in and around was very much the real McCoy.  It, and the art, took their starring roles very seriously.  

This is one for dedicated cinephiles and/or art history buffs .....currently showing in selected US theaters, but you may want to wait for it on DVD as it is a tad too long and you will want to have your remote in your hand!

★★★★★★

BERT STERN : ORIGINAL MADMAN

Say the name Bert Stern to anyone and they will immediately think of the legendary set of photographs he took of Marilyn Monroe in her last sitting just before her death. Behind closed doors without anyone else present he captured her beauty raw and natural in stunning iconic images which still takes one's breath away even now. But Mr Stern, we learn from this new documentary, also had an inexhaustible ground-breaking body of work spanning several decades where he photographed everything from Smirnoff vodka bottles to Camel cigarettes with the same visionary eye and passion he used with Ms Monroe. He also combined his professional loves with his personal ones that got him into several scrapes including one with a Blonde and an 8" knife that she wanted to stab him with. The title of 'original mad man' is meant to convey that he was the first real star in a fledgling advertising industry in the 1950's, but the filmmaker would also have us construe it to be a comment on his erratic personal behaviour too.

The sections of the movie about his work are enthralling, and it is easy to appreciate what a sheer genius he was with his singular perception and consummate devotion to getting exactly the right shot, resulting in radical conceptual images and some iconic images. It touched on the early days when he worked at the now defunct 'Flair Magazine' with another budding photographer called Stanley Kubrick, and of his time at 'Vogue' under the great Diane Vreeland where he ended up being given 10 pages to photograph carte blanche whatever he wanted.

There was also the time in his life when a nasty divorce wiped him out financially and left him broke and but he ingeniously struck on the notion of photographing every single prescription drug for 'The Pill Book' the handbook for all Doctors and Pharmacists that sold sold some 17 million copies and made him enough money to buy another big house.

Stern, a very reluctant subject in front of a camera, was less of his bumptious self when he eventually talked about the sessions that made him such a star. His recollection of how he got Marilyn to pose like that for him was both touching and fascinating, and he seemed genuinely shocked at how well it all turned out.  For him anyway. 

Two other stories stick out too. One is where he relates how he came up with the concept of the infamous movie poster for 'Lolita' where he defied the Producers and made Sue Lyon look even younger.  The second tale is where he confesses that one of his worst professional mistakes was trying to re-create the Marilyn photographs recently using the ubiquitous Lindsay Lohan. The less said about that debacle, the better.

As intriguing and as complicated as all his many personal relationships with women were, there was too much of that part of his life in the movie and at the expense of showing more of his work. The fact that we were presented with rather convoluted and poorly edited stories about his wife and several of his girlfriends .... and even his lack of compassion for one of his daughters ... made the picture too muddied to follow in parts.

A lot of the confusion can be explained by the fact that this rather odd unbalanced movie was shot and directed by 83 year-old Stern's current amour Shannah Laumeister who is his junior by some 40 years. They had met when Laumeister was just 13 years old and she modeled for him a few years later and then became his Muse. She was far  too close to her subject to be objective enough, and a little too keen to keep reminding us of her role in the great man's life.

All said and done though, even though this is not the definitive movie on Bert Stern that the man deserves, it does at least give us more than a glimpse of a genius whose work revolutionized an industry and is the creator of some stunning photographic images that  we will never forget.

Now if only someone could explain to me exactly who those annoying Twins are with whom he has dinner with almost every night .... ....

★★★★★★★★

JOURNAL DE FRANCE

If most of us rummaged through our partner's storage room to check out what old photos and videos you could dust off, I dare say the novelty would wear thin very quickly.  However if you are the sound engineer Claudine Nougaret and your husband is the legendary veteran French cameraman Raymond Depardon then the years of archives would have some real treasures, many previously unseen.

In 2006 Depardon ziz-zagged across the country in  his wee van with a large-format plate camera taking snapshots of small-town life and rural France that was rapidly disappearing.  He uncovered barbershops, dilapidated corner tabac stores and sad looking local bars where time had stood still for at least 40 years.  The results were shown in an Exhibition entitled 'La France' in 2010.

It led to the misleading title for this movie that had an extraordinary wealth of glorious diverse material Nougaret had uncovered and edited that showed that as well as his beloved France, Depardon was not just an intrepid traveller but had been in some hot spots around the world just as history was being written.  Starting with the riots in Argentina, to capturing French mercenaries at work in Biafra, and the Soviet invasion of Prague, and following the rebels in Chad, and the sickening Coronation of Bokassa in C.A.R., the list seemed endless. His phenomenal reportage captured not just the events as they unfurled but how deeply they affected the local population.

Back home in France in the 70's he documented the rise of Giscard D'Estaing, one of France's most slimiest Presidents.  D'Estaing managed to shop it being shown at the time, and watching the small clip in this movie, you can understand why.

The concept of a montage of a lifetime's worth of photograph and newsreel footage may not obviously seem like a recipe for the compelling and entertaining movie that it turned out to be.  Full credit to Ms Nourgaret for some superb editing, and honing her own remarkable talent as a sound engineer as the soundtrack was stunning.

If I have one complaint at all, it was as I quickly got so engrossed in very vignette I was a tad annoyed that I never knew how the scene ended.  There was a particularly wonderful (very light) one that Depardon filmed in a Parisian Court House of a stand off between a bossy and irritated female Judge and a defiant plaintiff that put such a big grin on my face.

It was a surprising discovery and a sheer joy.  If it doesn't make it to an Art House near you,  it will be available on Netflix soonish.


★★★★★★★★

FOR YOU NAKED

Lars Ivar Lerin is reputed to be Sweden's finest water-color artist whose work is much sort after.  He is also a recovering alcoholic and drug addicted gay man who is desperate to find a life partner some days.  Other days he is not sure about this, and most other things too.

This rather charming documentary made by his goddaughter Sara Boros starts with Lars at Stockholm airport awaiting the arrival of a man from Brazil that he has been chatting to online for some months now.  This will be their very first meeting.  Lars is the wrong side of middle aged and the ravages of his addictions have left a toll on his looks.  Manoel 'Junior' Marques is probably some 30 years young, much shorter, and quite handsome and is a dancer.  This is the first time he has ever left home, and to add to their chances of succeeding, this unlikely pair of men cannot speak a word of each other's language.

Lars whisks him away to his remote farmhouse and poor Junior is subjected to a meet and greet party in the village hall.  He looks totally bewildered, but surprisingly calm.  For the few weeks he is there he makes great strides at trying to pick up the language and also doing his level best to make Lars feel comfortable about their potential budding relationship.  The latter is tough as no matter how nice Junior is, Lars is constantly over-thinking things.  It's clear to us (but sadly not to him) he is far more focused on ruminating on 'the relationship' than about Junior himself.

By the time it comes for Junior to go back to Brazil, the feelings are mixed.  Lars is resigned that this should be the end of it all now, but Junior is optimistic and planning to return as soon as he can get a Visa. The moment he has gone Lars starts to miss him, and so changes his mind and encourages Junior to hurry back as soon as he can.

The second visit starts off much better as in the intervening time, Junior has been taking lessons in Swedish.  He still looks like a fish out of water especially when he sees snow for the first time in his life, but he has irrepressible good spirits and makes every effort to fit in with this alien culture.  Its his energy and his humor that propels the relationship along and by the end of their first year together, they are throwing a party for all their friends to announce their engagement.

Not long after that, Lars has another change of heart and goes into one of his manic depressions and asks Junior to move out.  As the older man rants and gets himself tied up in knots, the younger one accepts the inevitably and starts to establish a new life ..... he was always sure of two things ..... that he wouldn't go back to Brazil, and that Lars was his true soulmate.  Junior's patience pays off and he simply bides his time living in the city until the couple get back together again, something that I would never have predicted happening.

I was convinced that Junior must have had another agenda as to tolerate his lover's constant doubts and self-examinations.  He never seemed fazed by anything, and went along with all the upheavals and 'dramas' without ever getting distraught.  He appeared to care little for Lar's wealth, and was more than happy working and fending for himself during the seperation.  Lars once asked him how he got to that point ..... something I was desperate to know too ..... he replied that when they first met his first reaction was that he liked what he saw, and decided to simply open his heart completely and see what would happen.  A somewhat naive approach, but by the end of the 72 minutes I was totally convinced that he was speaking the truth.

How this warm-blooded happy wee man fell in love with such an angst ridden cold fish takes a lot of believing, but it was fascinating to watch.   Sadly for you it may be some time before you can .... this wee movie was a big hit in Sweden and is still yet to travel.  I'll keep you updated if it is due to surface on a screen near you.

★★★★★★★★

CUTIE AND THE BOXER

Ushio Shinohara was a leading light in the avant garde art scene in post war Japan who in 1969 headed out to New York in 1969 to seek his (international) fame and fortune.  He quickly established himself in the burgeoning artist colony in Sotho for both his art and his limitless capacity to drink.  Three years later, 19 year old Noriko left Japan to come to New York to study, and was instantly smitten with Ushio and his work.  So much so, to her the chagrin of her wealthy family back in Tokyo, she abandoned her studies and married this eccentric middle-aged alcoholic artist, and within a year she gave birth to their son Alex. 

This totally mesmerizing documentary from first time director Zachary Heinzerling chronicles the 40-year-old chaotic and roller coaster marriage of these two artists, in which we witness recent developments as finally this relationship becomes a little less lopsided. Ushio was unquestionably both an artistic genius, but also a chauvinistic bully who through a combination of his binge drinking and his domineering overbearing manner ensured that Noriko spent the first half of their marriage suppressing any of her own artistic ambitions in order to raise their son and keep food on the table.

The film opens with Ushio’s 80^th Birthday and on the eve of a One Man Show he has coming up in a prestigious Soho Gallery.  The couple are once again completely broke, but it is Noriko who has to worry about how they are going to pay the rent of their Brooklyn Studio, whilst Ushio just immerses himself in preparing pieces for the exhibition.  His art is two fold.  He makes elaborate and somewhat unwieldy sculptures of motorbikes out of a variety of scrap materials, and he also does these incredibly wonderful large-scale paintings by punching a canvass using boxing gloves to which he attaches pads full of paint.

The Show is not a success as nothing sells, but soon after that he is approached to do another show at different gallery, and when owner comes by to check out Ushio’s latest work, Noriko insists on showing hers to him too.  She has recently started painting again and has created a whole series/story of graphic pieces, which are based on her life with Ushio and entitled ‘Cutie and The Boxer’.  The Gallerist loves the work, and offers Noriko half of the Show to exhibit it

Suddenly the dynamics of the relationship start to shift, and even though Noriko has always been a generous supporter of her husband’s work (and often acts his dog body much abused assistant) he cannot return the compliment on his wife’s work. The most remarkable thing about the ‘Cutie’ series although it chronicles aspects of her difficult and challenging past with Ushio and is about asserting female power, it is actually filled with genuine and love and affection. It’s a reflection on how this remarkable woman describes her relationship with Ushio, as despite all the sacrifices she was forced to make and all of the disappointments he made her endure, and all of his annoying ways, she still loves him unequivocably.

It’s a joyous wee film about a couple of enchanting unique people who have somehow, after a turbulent four decades, and a son who seems to have taken over from his now sober father, come through and with such joy.  By the end of the journey we get to celebrate the emergence of Noriko as both an artist and a person in her own right as she starts to (unintentionally) steal both the Show and her hearts too.

P.S. There is a glorious funny scene in the movie when Ushio’s Dealer had brought a Guggenheim Curator to the studio with the idea of buying a piece of work for the Museum.  It’s a very comic reminder of what pretentious claptrap some people somehow feel the need to espouse about work they obviously think they should like.  After all the bullshit, they never bought a piece.

P.P.S. I had the pleasure of seeing this movie at Sundance where it had its premiere (it went on to be nominated for an Oscar).  What I missed however was another later screening which a Q&A with Ushiro and Noriko followed.  Evidently the biggest laugh came when Ushiro was made to acknowledge that just this once at least, Noriko was the real star.

Available from Amazon

★★★★★★★★★★

GREGORY CREWDSON : BRIEF ENCOUNTERS

Brooklyn native ex-punk rocker turned photographer Gregory Crewdson is something of an enigma.  Over a period of some six years he produced a whole body of work called 'Beneath The Roses' which were large scale photographs of meticulously designed scenarios that he had set up as full-blown movie sets. In this fascinating documentary by filmmaker Ben Shapiro ('Paul Goodman Changed My Life') we follow the progress of many of these pieces from conception to realisation, and its all rather intriguing to say the least.

Crewdson works are an extension of himself as a person i.e. completely surreal, and as his large team  go about their tasks he acts less like an artist, and more like a producer and ringmaster as he painstakingly micro-manages very detail of the set-up to the finished 'art'.  He is accompanied by a Production Designer and Director of Photography and a substantial-sized crew that probably exceeds the budget of most Indie Movies, and all for his one photograph. His nit-picking obsessiveness about everything can either be excused as his right as the 'artist' or, as I was beginning to suspect, dismissed as just another trait of the total self indulgence of this whole project.

He chooses a few of the small industrial towns in Massachusetts that are dying and in decay as his backdrops and 'live' sets.  He is there so often scouting for locations and befriending the locals that as bewildered as they are by the total disruption and his shenanigans, they all appear to welcome him  warmly.

Some of the work is profoundly beautiful but all of it is rather sad... Crewdson loves to shoot his photographs at dusk and the combination of these declining towns and rather forlorn models in the fading light... creates an eerie misery.  Some reminded me of Edward Hopper, but others were very definitely influenced by the work of movie maker David Lynch especially as Crewdson professed his love of 'Blue Velvet'.  Some pieces have far less impact than others and looking at these closely I realised that I was in fact much more interested in the man and the process rather than the actual finished product.

Sometimes Crewsdon had brand new sets built in Sound Stages and I couldn't escape the nagging question (which the film never even touched upon) that who was bank-rolling this very expensive and costly operation? New York's Gagossian Gallery would have to sell an awful lot of art, and at very high prices  for him to even break even. I learned later that he has a 'day job' as at Yale but I'm sure that they don't pay their Professors that much money.

Whatever you think of the art, its creation at least is a totally fascinating and unique story that has been very well told in this beguiling new film.

Available at Amazon

★★★★★★★★

LOST BOHEMIA

During 'BILL CUNNINGHAM:NEW YORK' we were treated to a glimpse of the amazing studio in Carnegie Hall that was his home for some 40 old years and also we got to meet a few of the eclectic band of artists and performers that were his neighbors there. This new movie, also featuring Bill, is about all of the residents of this unique NY building as they are being unceremoniously and callously evicted from the homes that they have lived in for decades, and all in the name of ‘progress’.

When industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie had this luxurious Concert Hall built in the 1880’s he topped the building off with a whole swath of studios and apartments specifically for artists to live and work, and he established a Charter that would guarantee their right to remain there.  In the 1960’s the then owner sold the Hall to the City of New York who leased it to the non-profit Carnegie Hall Corporation and it was also added to the National Landmarks Register.  In the 1980’s the Corporation commissioned the 60-story Carnegie Hall Tower right next door, which included much needed additional backstage space and offices.  But evidently not enough and in 2004 they started to evict all the long-standing residents is that their studios could be used ‘for educational purposes’.

The final residents include the remarkable celebrity photographer Editta Sherman, then aged 96, whose phenomenal body of work was matched by her enormous sense of style.  Looking decades younger than her age, her vitality and energy light up the screen and it is impossible not to be totally mesmerized by her. Her neighbors range from acting teachers, to vocal coaches, singers, ballet dancers (one, a sprightly 85 year old ran an illegal studio on a stairwell), and even  an organist who had a full size concert organ actually in her apartment.

As the Residents lost their fights to remain, the City of New York, technically their Landlords sat tight, whilst the Corporations heavy phalanx of Lawyers effectively petitioned the Courts to literally re-interpret Andrew Carnegie’s original Charter.

The film could have used a steadier hand editing it, but that aside, this overwhelmingly sad story that witnesses such thoughtless and almost criminal destruction, makes  a compelling view.  I had a sneak preview as the theatrical release of this movie is not until the Fall, so keep an eye out for it.

P.S. A small thought.  In their 2008 Accounts the (non- profit) Corporation’s Chief Executive earned almost $1 million, and the man in charge of all the props etc earned almost $500000!

★★★★★★★★