FILMOGRAPHY

The information in this Filmography is derived from the Art on Screen database produced by the Program for Art on Film, a joint venture of the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1984 to 1994. Art on Screen is currently searchable online and available through the Getty Research Institute. The films documented in this database were produced through 1998.

The opinions offered are those of the Program for Art on Film and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.

For more information on Art on Screen, please visit: http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/article_databases/art_on_screen/

 

ADVENTURE OF MODERN ART, THE: POP ART: THE TEST OF THE OBJECT
(AVENTURE DE L’ART MODERNE, L’: L’EPREUVE DE L’OBJET)

Series Title: Adventure of Modern Art, The; No. 10
52 min. col. 16mm; video 1980 France English (French language version also avail.)
Dir. Carlos Vilardebo
Prod. Agency: FR3; Société Nouvelle Pathé Cinéma
Source (US): The Roland Collection
Intl. Source: Anthony Roland Films (GB)
Intl. Source: France 3 (FR)
Collage of interviews and modern works of art, interspersed with rock music, photographs, archival footage and newsreels to document how the cult of the object has transformed the art world. Examples include the Pop art movement in the United States (Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein, Tom Wesselmann, Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol) and in Great Britain (Richard Hamilton, David Hockney, Peter Blake, Allen Jones), and the New Realists in France (Yves Klein, Jean Tinguely, Cesar, Christo, Arman, Martial Raysse). With the participation of American dealer Leo Castelli. The Adventure of Modern Art series, No. 10 of 13.
Aud./Grade Level: G

 

AMERICAN ART IN THE SIXTIES

57 min. col. 16mm; video 1973 United States English
Dir. Michael Blackwood Prod. Michael Blackwood
Prod. Agency: Blackwood Productions Inc.
Source (US): Michael Blackwood Productions Inc.
Source (US): Rental—see Educational Film & Video Locator
Uses interviews with artists and other key figures to portray the energy and activity of the 1960s in American art. The response to Abstract Expressionism took various forms, including Pop art, Minimalism and Performance art. Includes the work of Carl Andre, Ron Davis, Dan Flavin, Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, Edward Kienholz, Robert Irwin, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Morris Louis,
Robert Morris, Kenneth Noland, Claes Oldenburg, Jules Olitski, Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers, Ed Ruscha, George Segal, Frank Stella, Andy Warhol and Jack Youngerman. Also includes commentary by composer John Cage, art dealer Leo Castelli and art critic Clement Greenberg.
Aud./Grade Level: G; H; C; A

 

ANDY WARHOL AND ROY LICHTENSTEIN

Series Title: USA: Artists
30 min. b&w 16mm 1966 United States English
Dir. Lane Slate
Prod. Agency: NET
Source (US): Indiana University Audio Visual Center
Source (US): Rental—see Educational Film & Video Locator
Intl. Source: British Film Institute (GB)
Andy Warhol (1928–87) and Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97) discuss Pop art and their use of common objects as models. Lichtenstein is shown at work on a painting, a sculpture and a creation using a special iridescent plastic background that changes character as the position of the viewer changes. Warhol explains how his first Pop artwork came about and describes his endeavors in film and floating sculpture. Shows Warhol working on a silk-screen print, creating a floating sculpture and relaxing with friends.
USA: Artists series.
Aud./Grade Level: G; J; H; C

 

ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM, THE

19 min. col. video 1993 United States English
Dir. Robert Passaro Prod. Robert Passaro; James A. Fisher
Prod. Agency: Carnegie Institute; Dia Center for the Arts; Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Source (US): Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art
Describes how the Dia Art Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation, both in New York City, and the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pooled their collections of art, films and archival material to create the largest single-artist museum in the world, the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Artists and friends talk about the life and work of American artist Andy Warhol (1928–87): Phillip Johnston, director of the Carnegie Museum of Art; Tom Armstrong, director of the Andy Warhol Museum; Mark Francis, curator at the Andy Warhol Museum; Vincent Fremont, art sales agent and consultant at the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Charles Wright, executive director of the Dia Center for the Arts; Fred Hughes, chairman emeritus and co-founder of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; artists Roy Lichtenstein, Yoko Ono, Jamie Wyeth and Philip Pearlstein; art historian Henry Geldzahler; art curator David Whitney; art dealers Leo Castelli and Ivan Karp; John Warhola, Warhol’s brother; and friends Jane Holzer, Kenneth Jay Lane, Brigid Berlin, Dominick Dunne, James Curley and Sean Lennon. Describes the new Andy Warhol Museum, located in an industrial warehouse built in 1911 in Pittsburgh. Shows various works by Warhol. Includes aerial views of Pittsburgh.

Comments: Produced to promote the museum’s spring 1994 opening. Adequately orients the viewer to the space and locale of the new museum, and to its mission of propagating the art-historical significance of Warhol and his work. Limited by the somewhat bland and superficial level of a public relations piece, however. Somehow all of the interviewees, whether Lichtenstein or Armstrong, seem to say the same thing. They never really offer any intimate knowledge of Warhol as a person and an artist or any highly sensitized reaction to his work, making the artist seem even more like a commodity. Production quality high. (Staff)
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

ART CARS

2 min. col. video 1986 United States English
Dir. Christian Jara Prod. Martin Rhatigan
Prod. Agency: Christian Jara Associates in association with Zacks & Perrier, Inc.
During the years 1978 to 1986, American artists Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein were each commissioned to “paint” a BMW racing car. The result of their efforts is a multisource videowall display consisting of fifteen laser disc programs running on separate TV monitors synchronously.
Aud./Grade Level: G

 

ART DREAM, THE

4 min. col. video 1988 United States Nonverbal
Dir. David Haxton
Prod. Agency: William Paterson College
Source (US): William Paterson College
Uses computer animation to produce three-dimensional re-creations of paintings by twentieth-century artists, simulating movement within the works. Shown are Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and Three Musicians by Pablo Picasso, Red Studio by Henri Matisse, The Soothsayer’s Recompense and The Disquieting Muses by Giorgio de Chirico, The Harlequin’s Carnival by Joan Miró, Broadway Boogie-Woogie by Piet Mondrian, and Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow by Roy Lichtenstein. Also simulated is a sculpture room by Swiss painter, sculptor and printmaker Alberto Giacometti (1901–66).
Comments: Interesting and well crafted. (Staff)
Aud./Grade Level: G

 

ART IN AN AGE OF MASS CULTURE

31 min. col. 16mm; video 1991 United States English (German language version also avail.)
Dir. Michael Blackwood Prod. Michael Blackwood
Exec. Prod.: Beaute Pinkerneil
Prod. Agency: Michael Blackwood Productions Inc.
Source (US): Michael Blackwood Productions Inc.
Exhibition curators Kirk Varnedoe and Adam Gopnik and critic Sasha Newman walk through the 1991 exhibition High & Low: High Art and Popular Culture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. They relate how the works were selected to show the relationship between modernism and mass culture and point out the influence of advertising, comics, caricature and graffiti. Includes interviews with some of the artists included in the show: Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer, Elizabeth Murray, Peter Halley and Robert Yarber. Critic Arthur C. Danto comments on the ideas presented in the exhibition.
Evaluation: Serves as a visual catalogue for the High & Low exhibition, with an advantageous view of the installation. Evaluates some of the issues surrounding the show and increases our understanding of why pieces were selected. Like an apologia or post-mortem, it raises some questions about how the curators defined and limited their topic and about the success of the exhibition in meeting its goals. Evaluators found the comments of the artists more satisfying to see and hear than the discourse of the curators. Very slick production, but could have been more innovative since so much of pop culture is based in the video image. Acceptable, even intriguing, if disappointing at times. Technical quality good to very good. Content fair to good. Programming potential mostly good (range of opinion from fair to very good).
Comments: Badly written. Falls into the trap of using too much art jargon and ironically parallels the theoretical and contextual spewing of Varnedoe and Gopnik. The authority of these two curators is marred by their awkwardness in front of the camera. In a few cases when Varnedoe is speaking, the camera wanders around the exhibition rather than staying fixed on the work being discussed. The curators and critics make the same points, so the narration and commentary are redundant. Do we really need another film on a badly conceived show? (Staff)
Aud./Grade Level: G
Special Audience(s): Artists
Reviews: Art on Screen Close-Ups, Spring 92; Video Rating Guide for Libraries, Fall 92

 

ART SCENE, U.S.A

17 min. col. 16mm 1966 United States English
Dir. Ed Emshwiller
Prod. Agency: United States Information Agency
Source (US): National Audiovisual Center (Foreign distribution)
Source (US): Rental—see Educational Film & Video Locator
Intl. Source: Central Film Library (GB) (Rental)
A survey, using a minimum of narration, of present-day painters, sculptors and dancers of the United States who are representative of the vitality, experimentation and creativity of a society which promotes the arts. Includes artists: Andrew Wyeth, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Edward Kienholz, Robert Motherwell, Alexander Calder, Marisol, Jackson Pollock and Ben Shahn; and the dance companies of Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham and Alwin Nikolais.
Aud./Grade Level: G; H

 

ART TODAY: VOL. 1, NO. 1

Series Title: ART today
52 min. col. video 1990 United States English
Prod. Agency: Arts Video News Service, Inc.
Source (US): Arts Video News Service, Inc.
One in a continuing series of video magazines reporting on contemporary art in the galleries and museums of New York City. Covered in this issue are: Ashley Bickerton at the Sonnabend Gallery; Joan Mitchell at the Robert Miller Gallery, Sandro Chia at Sperone Westwater, David Reed at the Max Protech Gallery, Mario Merz at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Jennifer Bolande at Metro Pictures, Rainer Fetting at 500 Greenwich Street, a visit to William Wegman’s studio, Jonathan Lasker at the Massimo Audiello Gallery, Chris Burden at Kent Fine Art, R. M. Fischer at Jay Gorney Modern Art, Nancy Shaver at the Curt Marcus Gallery, and Roy Lichtenstein at the Mary Boone Gallery and the Leo Castelli Gallery. Commentary is by critics and art historians, including Jerry Saltz, Klaus Kertess, Emily Braun, Arthur Danto, Donald Kuspit, Jack Bankowsky, Stephen Westfall, Douglas Blau and Robert Rosenblum. ART today series, Vol. 1, No. 1.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A
Reviews: Village Voice, 24 Oct 89

 

CHALLENGE, THE: A TRIBUTE TO MODERN ART

104 min. col. 35mm; 16mm 1975 United States English
Dir. Herbert Kline Prod. Herbert Kline; Julius Evans
Prod. Agency: Worldview Productions, Inc.; New Line Cinema
Intl. Source: Glenbuck Films (GB)
American filmmaker Orson Welles and French art critic Pierre Schneider guide viewers on a survey of twentieth-century art. Part One discusses Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Surrealism, Dada, abstract art and Abstract Expressionism (i.e., Action Painting). The following artists are seen on camera: Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Giorgio de Chirico, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, Hans Richter, Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky, Pierre Soulages, Zao Wou-Ki, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Robert Motherwell. Part Two discusses Kinetic art, Op art, Pop art and Conceptual art. The following artists are seen on camera: Fernand Léger, Alberto Giacometti, André Masson, Jacques Lipchitz, Henry Moore, Anthony Caro, Louise Nevelson, Giacomo Manzù, Isamu Noguchi, Yaacov Agam, Bridget Riley, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Romare Bearden, Marcel Duchamp, Roy Lichtenstein, Pierre Wolfram, George Segal, Yoko Ono, John Lennon, Joseph Beuys and Claes Oldenburg. Works of numerous other artists are also shown and discussed briefly. Critics or commentators who appear on camera include Robert Hughes, Peggy Guggenheim, John Russell, Suzi Gablik, Richard Johnson, Henri Langlois and David Thompson. Filmed in Paris, Rome, Munich, New York, Venice, Carrara, Washington, D.C., and other cities.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A
Awards: Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Feature, 1975

 

CLAES OLDENBURG

52 min. col. video 1997 Great Britain English
Dir. Gerald Fox Prod. Gerald Fox
Prod. Agency: RM Arts; London Weekend Television
Source (US): Home Vision
Intl. Source: RM Arts (GB)
Claes Oldenburg (b. 1929) was born in Sweden and grew up in the United States. He came to prominence in the 1960s with over-scaled sculptures inspired by food and other domestic items. One of the foremost exponents of the Pop art movement, he has collaborated since 1977 with his wife Coosje van Bruggen on a number of large-scale projects. Filmed on location at the artists’ studio and at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, the artists discuss their work. Artists Jim Dine and Roy Lichtenstein, and other art experts, are also interviewed.
Aud./Grade Level: G

 

DRAWINGS OF ROY LICHTENSTEIN, THE: 1961–1986

20 min. col. video 1987 United States English
Dir. Edgar B. Howard; Seth Schneidman Prod. Edgar B. Howard
Prod. Agency: Checkerboard Foundation, Inc., in association with the Museum of Modern Art
Source (US): Checkerboard Foundation, Inc.
Source (US): Museum of Modern Art Circ. Film Library
American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97) discusses the importance of drawing to his creative process. Filmed in Lichtenstein’s studio and during the exhibition The Drawings of Roy Lichtenstein: 1961–1986 held in 1987 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Aud./Grade Level: G
Available from the Checkerboard Film Foundation.

 

END OF THE ART WORLD

35 min. col. & b&w 16mm; video 1971 United States English
Dir. Alexis Rafael Krasilovsky Prod. Alexis Rafael Krasilovsky
Source (US): Rafael Film
Source (US): Canyon Cinema
Source (US): Facets Multimedia (Video)
Intl. Source: Arts Council of Great Britain Film Library (GB)
Presents the contemporary art scene in a style reflecting the artists whose aesthetics it explores. Includes works by Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, Michael Snow, Walter De Maria, Nancy Spero, Roy Lichtenstein and Philip Glass. Shows Rauschenberg working in his studio. Interviews Lichtenstein and artists Jo Baer and Joseph Kosuth, and Henry Geldzahler, curator of twentieth-century art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Title refers to the bomb that is placed in Geldzahler’s office that destroys the “art world.”
Comments: Very dated in its style. Poor technical qualities. The out-of-focus and montage effects are more annoying than innovative. Manages to convey the playfulness of the art of the sixties and early seventies. Presents contradictory views on the “art world” that are never fully resolved. (Staff)
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A
Special Audience(s): Art students
Reviews: Artforum; Millennium; Los Angeles Times

 

HIGH AND LOW: MODERN ART AND POPULAR CULTURE

28 min. col. video 1990 United States English
Dir. Jeffrey Owen Jones Prod. Jeffrey Owen Jones
Prod. Agency: Manhattan Media Enterprises, Inc.
Source (US): Manhattan Media Enterprises, Inc.
Describes the interrelationship between fine art and images from popular culture, including advertising, graffiti, caricature and comics. Describes how artists appropriated images from printing typefaces, mail order catalogs and newspapers, or incorporated the objects themselves into their works. Explains that the influence of popular culture on “high” art occurs in many periods, from the Cubist work of Pablo Picasso and Georges
Braque, who used newspaper clippings in their paintings and collages, to the comic-book images of Roy Lichtenstein. Shows works by Alexander Rodchenko, Kurt Schwitters, Fernand Léger, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, Raoul Hausmann and Joan Miró. Also presents work by Pop artists Richard Hamilton, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Looks at the graffiti-inspired art of Cy Twombly and Jean Dubuffet. Examines how cartoons by animator Winsor McCay and comic-book artists Robert Crumb and George Herriman influenced Ed Ruscha, Philip Guston, Elizabeth Murray and Jeff Koons. Concludes with the work of Jenny Holzer. Produced in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, in 1990. Narrated by curator Kirk Varnedoe.
Evaluation: Informed, professional, articulate, interesting and valuable, given that it is essentially a filmed lecture. Serves as a record of and guide to the exhibition. For some evaluators, a nice adjunct that may give a better sense of the thinking behind the exhibition than the exhibition itself. In reasonably clear terms, outlines the thesis for the exhibition. Mostly accessible, substantially relates who, when, why and how. Addresses how popular culture got into art but not if and why it becomes art once appropriated: does not distinguish “high” from “low.” Somewhat exclusionary—for example, section on graffiti ignores artists like Keith Haring (1958–90) and Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–88). Overworked script, too many adjectives; Varnedoe an uneasy narrator in front of rear projections and transparencies of the art. If not overly complicated for the unschooled, perhaps oversimplified for the knowledgeable. Technical quality fair. Content fair to good. Programming potential fair to very good (balanced range of opinion).
Comments: Effectively outlines the context and constructs of the exhibition. (Staff)
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

KUNST 66: HINWEISE, ANSICHTEN UND TENDENZEN

56 min. col. unknown 1966 Federal Republic of Germany German
Dir. Gerd Winkler
Prod. Agency: Hessischer Rundfunk
Intl. Source: Hessischer Rundfunk (GER)
Surveys 1966 trends in pictorial art, showing the work of German artists Günter Haese, Horst Antes, Günther Uecker and Werner Schreib; Swiss painter Karl Gerstner; American painter, sculptor and printmaker Roy Lichtenstein; Ludwig Gosewitz, Alfred Schmela and Ay-O. Includes commentary by artists and gallery owners.
Aud./Grade Level: C; A

 

LEARNING TO SEE AND UNDERSTAND: DEVELOPING VISUAL LITERACY

42 min. col.? video 19?? United States English
Prod. Agency: Center for Humanities
Source (US): Center for Humanities
Source (US): Guidance Associates (Video sales)
Heightens visual awareness and understanding by presenting various forms of expression such as the decorative arts, posters, cartoons, movie stills and advertising. Shows paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Francesco Goya, Albert Bierstadt, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Andrew Wyeth, Ellsworth Kelly, Josef Albers, Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist. Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, writer Kurt Vonnegut, anthropologist Ruth Benedict and media critic Marshall McLuhan talk about visual literacy.
Aud./Grade Level: J; H; C; A
Reviews: Previews

 

LEO CASTELLI

Series Title: Video Vasari
20 min. b&w video 1976 United States English
Prod. Agency: Albright-Knox Art Gallery
A program in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s series of video documents on art. Interviews American art dealer Leo Castelli (1907–99), who has represented such avant-garde artists as Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and Jasper Johns. Frank Stella reflects on his dealings with Castelli. Video Vasari series.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

LEO CASTELLI: CONVERSATIONS ON 30 YEARS AS A NEW YORK ART DEALER

29 min. col. video 1987 United States English
Dir. Ann Hindry; Nancy Jones
Prod. Agency: Art New York
Celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of Leo Castelli (1907–99) as an art dealer. Presents his opening-night gala and goes behind the scenes of shows for painters Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein. Castelli discusses his first meetings with artists Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, James Rosenquist and Claes Oldenburg and the impact of Minimalism and Conceptualism in the late 1960s. Shows the work of Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Richard Serra, Bruce Nauman and others.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

LICHTENSTEIN IN LONDON

20 min. col. 16mm; video 1968 Great Britain English
Dir. Bruce Beresford
Prod. Agency: British Film Institute for the Arts Council of Great Britain
Source (US): The Roland Collection
Source (US): Kent State University Audio Visual Services (16mm)
Intl. Source: Anthony Roland Films (GB)
Intl. Source: Arts Council of Great Britain (GB)
Records the impact of American artist Roy Lichtenstein’s (1923–97) work on the public and their reactions to it in the context of a retrospective exhibition at the Tate Gallery, London, which attracted unprecedented attention and proved one of the most popular ever held there. Shows the early paintings based on magazine ads and comic strip cartoons, such as Stove (1962) and Whaam! (1963), groups of girls’ heads and landscapes, where the representation of the printed image is further refined, and later pastiches of the “modern” art and architecture of the 1930s, including one or two sculptures. Commentary juxtaposes remarks by the public approving, questioning or even rejecting the work, with extracts from previously recorded interviews with the artist made by the critics Alan Solomon for WNET, New York, and David Sylvester for the BBC. (Arts Council of Great Britain)
Aud./Grade Level: G; H; C; A

 

MAGIC V

3 min. col. 16mm 1966 United States Nonverbal?
Prod. Winston Kulok
Presents the opening of a show of works by American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97) at the Leo Castelli Gallery, New York City, seen as transformations between art objects and observers.
Aud./Grade Level: G

 

MASTERWORKS

(HUNDERT MEISTERWERKE—AUS DEN GROSSEN MUSEEN DER WELT)
Series Title: Masterworks from Great Museums
145 programs, 10 min. ea. col. 35mm; 16mm; video 1988 France;
Federal Republic of Germany; Austria English (French and German language versions also avail.)
Dir. Reiner Moritz
Prod. Agency: RM Arts; Westdeutscher Rundfunk; ORF
Intl. Source: RM Associates (GB) (Broadcast)
Intl. Source: RM Arts (GER)
Series of 145 ten-minute programs, each one focusing on a painting, appraising its character and content. Examines works in some of the world’s finest art collections, galleries and museums, including the Louvre and Centre Pompidou, Paris; National Gallery, West Berlin; Tate Gallery, London; Neue Pinakothek and Lenbachhaus, Munich; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Prado Museum, Madrid; Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne; Berlin-Dahlem Art Gallery; Kunstmuseum, Basel; Kunsthaus, Zurich; Art Institute of Chicago; The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Busch–Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; Museum Moderner Kunst and Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels; Skagens Museum, Skagens, Denmark; Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo; Gulbenkian Foundation Centre for Modern Art, Lisbon; Ateneumin Taidemuseo, Helsinki; and the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Examines the following works in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York City: Farewells (1911) by Umberto Boccioni, Dutch Interior (1928) by Joan Miró, The Meeting (1953) by Richard Lindner, Christina’s World (1948) by Andrew Wyeth, and Flag (1955) by Jasper Johns. Also views works there by Grant Wood, Edward Hopper, Mary Cassatt, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Examines the following works in the collection of the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh: Reverend Robert Walker Skating by Henry Raeburn, Madonna and Child by Giulio Romano, Interior of Saint Bavo, Haarlem by Pieter Saenredan, William Bethune and Family by David Wilkie and The Storm by William McTaggart. Examines the following works in the collection of the National Gallery, West Berlin: Cut with the Kitchen Knife by Hannah Höch, Flanders by Otto Dix, The Flute Concert by Adolph von Menzel, Medieval City on the Banks of a River by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and The Poor Poets by Carl Spitzweg. At the Prado Museum, Madrid, examines Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez. At the Kunstmuseum, Basel, analyzes The Burning Giraffe by Salvador Dalí. At the Louvre, Paris, explores The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault. At the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, discusses works by twentieth-century painters Yves Tanguy, Jean Dubuffet and Sonia Delaunay-Terk. At the Hermitage Museum and the Russian State Museum, Leningrad, features works by Marc Chagall, Paul Gauguin, Rembrandt, Caravaggio and Russian artists Ilya Repin, Lyubov Popova, Mikhail Nesterov and Mikhail Vrubel. At various Scandinavian galleries and museums examines works by Andrea Mantegna, Pieter Bruegel, Francisco Goya, Peter Paul Rubens, Hans Holbein, Paolo Veronese, Edvard Munch, Emil Nolde, George Grosz, Otto Dix, Kazimir Malevich, Joan Miró and Man Ray. Hosted by art historian Edwin Mullins. Masterworks from Great Museums series.

Evaluation: MASTERWORKS: NATIONAL GALLERY OF SCOTLAND: HENRY RAEBURN: REV. ROBERT WALKER SKATING
The visual approach of this series is to focus the camera on the individual painting in question, with some cutaways to other works by the artist, and—in this instance at least—minimal camera movement. Voice-over narration provides history, background and analysis of the painting. The script provides a succinct discussion of Raeburn’s career and style, Edinburgh patrons, the role of the portraitist in his period, and even the Raeburn room at the National Gallery of Scotland. A little visual analysis supports the speculative identification of this painting as a Raeburn. (But is an unattributed painting the proper focus to discuss Raeburn?) Good art-historical information, but static filmmaking. For most evaluators, a nice, if limited, approach; a minority found it elementary, insubstantial and dull. Series format, economically spending ten minutes per painting, is basically good. Technical quality, content and programming potential all judged good.

MASTERWORKS: NATIONAL GALLERY, BERLIN: HANNA HÖCH: CUT WITH THE KITCHEN KNIFE
Ambitious stab at explaining the artist, her society and the Dada movement, of which she was part–all in just ten minutes. Essentially accurate, fairly effective with interesting subject matter, though it cannot provide enough exploration of the historical references to Weimar Germany or Dada for the uninformed viewer. Höch’s detailed photomontage is difficult to film in a way true to the work; it requires a careful, slow reading to discover its juxtapositions and disjunctions. Details are often dark and hard to see; framing and loose camera don’t integrate the fascinating bits of information back into the whole work. Reading it as a cast of characters deprives the full image of some of its angry power. Too “nice” a film, without real feeling for how “shocking” Hoch’s political and social life was, but does heighten the viewer’s interest. Technical quality fair to good. Content fair to very good (even range of opinion). Programming potential good.

MASTERWORKS: MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK: UMBERTO BOCCIONI, JOAN MIRÓ
Script very ambitious; dense, wordy, overloaded with information. Narrator is sententious and oracular, pompous, overbearing. The format offers a chance for careful exposition of a single painting but we get a relentless barrage of words and so much information that it’s difficult to follow. Too much interpretation with inadequate formal analysis. And whose is the anonymous voice of authority? Cries out for a human presence. Never allows us to just look. Doesn’t show paintings well enough to identify scale or details described. Makes verbal comparisons but doesn’t show compared works side by side, and the cutting back and forth is not effective. May help novices get a grasp on how to look at paintings, but a slide lecture of the same works would be more serviceable for education. Of two segments evaluated, Miró much better than Boccioni. Technical quality, content and programming potential all judged fair.
Aud./Grade Level: G
Reviews: Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr 87; Video Insider, 15 Sept 86;
Chicago Sun Times, 19 Aug 86; Billboard, 19 July 86; Daily Mail;
Daily Telegraph; Financial Times

 

MEDIEN UND DAS BILD, DIE: ANDY WARHOL’S KUNST

Series Title: Westkunst: Zeitgenossische Kunst seit 1939; Part 6
44 min. col. video 1981 Federal Republic of Germany German
Prod. Agency: Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Intl. Source: WDR International (GER)
Series that provides a historical context for works of art in the exhibition Westkunst: Zeitgenossische Kunst seit 1939 held in Cologne, West Germany. Part 6 presents the work of American artist Andy Warhol (1928–87) in various media, including painting, photography, film, music and television. American art critic Henry Geldzahler, a longtime friend of Warhol, comments on the artist’s work. Compares Warhol’s use of different media with that of American artists Roy Lichtenstein and Claes Oldenburg. Shows Warhol at work and excerpts from his films Empire, Sleep, Kitchen and Henry Geldzahler. Westkunst: Zeitgenossische Kunst seit 1939 series, Part 6 of 9.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

MUSEUM HAT IMMER STAUB, EIN: STEDELIJK-MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM

Series Title: Museen der Welt
45 min. col. & b&w 16mm 1984 Federal Republic of Germany
German
Long version (Short version, 25 min. also avail.)
Dir. Viktoria von Flemming
Prod. Agency: Westdeutscher Rundfunk; Van der Meulen-Film
Intl. Source: WDR International (GER)
Intl. Source: Norddeutscher Rundfunk (GER)
Presents the Stedelijk-Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and analyzes the function and value of museums. Discusses the museum’s concentration on contemporary art and explores its collections, including the American collection, the Dubuffet room, the Chagall room, the Pop art room, the Baselitz room and the Matisse room. Shows works by Ellsworth Kelly, Barnett Newman, Lucebert, Karel Appel, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Georg Baselitz, Julian Schnabel, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Max Beckmann, Marc Chagall, Kasimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky. Includes interviews with museum administrators.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

NEW ARTS

16 min. col. 16mm 1971 United States English
Dir. Howard Chesley; Eric Saarinen Prod. Eric Saarinen; Howard Chesley
Source (US): Pyramid Film & Video
Source (US): Rental—see Educational Film & Video Locator
Shows the work of eight American artists that was exhibited at Expo ’70 in Japan. These works, which combine art and technology, are discussed by their creators: Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Boyd Mefferd, Tony Smith, Robert Whitman, Newton Harrison and Rockne Krebs.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

NEW HERITAGE, A: CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN PAINTING

Series Title: Video Vasari
39 min. b&w video 1976 United States English
Prod. Agency: Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Source (US): Video Data Bank
A program in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s series of video documents on art. Uses excerpts of interviews to present the views of American artists on painting since World War II. Lee Krasner and Robert Motherwell describe the early years of Abstract Expressionism; dealer Leo Castelli, Roy Lichtenstein and Frank Stella discuss the 1960s; Richard Estes talks about Superrealism. Video Vasari series.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

NEW YORK SCHOOL ARTISTS: THE CHALLENGE OF SCALE

28 min. col. 16mm 1982 United States English
Dir. Barbara Rose Prod. Courtney Sale
Prod. Agency: Barbara Rose Productions
Source (US): Barbara Rose Productions
Documents artists of the New York School of the 1940s–’50s and recent artists who have been influenced by that movement. Includes interviews with American artists James Rosenquist, George Segal, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. Based on the 1978 exhibition of large-scale painting and sculpture New York: The State of the Art in Albany. Narrated by art critics Barbara Rose and Thomas B. Hess.
Aud./Grade Level: G

 

PABLO PICASSO ZUM 100. GEBURTSTAG: KÜNSTLER UND KRITIKER SEHEN
DAS WERK, PARTS I & II

2 parts, 44 min. ea. col.? video 1981? Federal Republic of Germany German
Prod. Agency: Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Intl. Source: WDR International (GER)
Presents the life and work of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). Part I deals with the period from 1891 to 1920. Shows his earliest works and works from his Blue Period, Cubist works and collages. Also shows works from two major exhibitions in Paris and New York. Part II covers the period from 1920 up to Picasso’s death. Shows works from his Neoclassical period. Examines the painting Guernica in detail. Describes the influence of Picasso’s private life on his work and themes. The two parts include comments by Dominique Bozo, Clement Greenberg and Robert Rosenblum; artists David Hockney, Gerhard Richter, Roy Lichtenstein, Elaine de Kooning, Joseph Beuys, Claude Viallet, Pierre Buraglio, Dominique Thiolat and George Segal; Picasso biographer Roland Penrose; his former companion Françoise Gilot; and his children Maria and Claude.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

PABLO PICASSO: THE LEGACY OF A GENIUS

45 min. col. 16mm; video 1981 United States English
Short classroom version (Long version, 90 min., also avail.)
Dir. Michael Blackwood Prod. Michael Blackwood
Prod. Agency: Blackwood Productions Inc.
Source (US): Michael Blackwood Productions Inc.
Intl. Source: Arts Council of Great Britain (GB)
Commemorates the centennial of the birth of Spanish painter, printmaker and sculptor Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) by looking at his work and assessing its effect on the art of the twentieth century. Art historian Robert Rosenblum outlines the major developments in Picasso’s art. Offers a detailed look at key paintings, such as Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), which heralded Cubism, and Guernica (1937), a rare example of an
overtly political theme. There are comments by critic Clement Greenberg; Picasso’s biographer Roland Penrose; Picasso’s former companion Françoise Gilot; Picasso’s son Claude; Dominique Bozo of the Picasso Museum; William Rubin of the Museum of Modern Art; and numerous artists, including Anthony Caro, George Segal, Elaine de Kooning, Henry Moore, David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein. Highlights Picasso’s major achievements in Cubism, “constructed” sculpture and pioneering work in collage.
Aud./Grade Level: G
Reviews: Sightlines, Spring 82

 

PABLO PICASSO: THE LEGACY OF A GENIUS

90 min. col. 16mm; video 1981 United States English
Long version (Short version, 45 min., also avail.)
Dir. Michael Blackwood Prod. Michael Blackwood
Prod. Agency: Blackwood Productions Inc.
Source (US): Michael Blackwood Productions Inc.
Intl. Source: Arts Council of Great Britain (GB)
Commemorates the centennial of the birth of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) by looking at his work and assessing its effect on the art of the twentieth century. Art historian Robert Rosenblum outlines the major developments in Picasso’s art. Offers a detailed look at key paintings, such as Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), which heralded Cubism, and Guernica (1937), a rare example of an overtly political theme. There are comments by critic Clement Greenberg; Picasso’s biographer Roland Penrose; Picasso’s former companion Françoise Gilot; Picasso’s son Claude; Dominique Bozo of the Picasso Museum; William Rubin of the Museum of Modern Art; and numerous artists, including Anthony Caro, George Segal, Elaine de Kooning, Henry Moore, David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein. Highlights Picasso’s major achievements in Cubism, “constructed” sculpture and pioneering work in collage.
Aud./Grade Level: G
Reviews: Sightlines, Spring 82

 

POP

Series Title: Art History: A Century of Modern Art; No. 10
15 min. col. video 1989 United States English
Dir. Carol Cornsilk Prod. Donna Easter; Carol Cornsilk
Prod. Agency: WDCN-TV
Source (US): Agency for Instructional Technology
Discusses American Pop artists Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, Wayne Thiebaud, Claes Oldenburg and Robert Indiana, whose tragicomic works satirized the superficiality of American pleasures and pastimes of the 1960s. Concludes with a recognition quiz. Art History: A Century of Modern Art series, No. 10 of 10.
Aud./Grade Level: J; H
Reviews: Booklist, Aug 89

 

POP & NEO-POP

Series Title: ART/new york; No. 9
28 min. col. video 1981 United States English
Dir. Paul Tschinkel; Marc H. Miller
Prod. Agency: Inner-Tube Video
Source (US): Inner-Tube Video
A series on contemporary art that visits New York City galleries and museums and interviews artists and dealers. This segment presents work by American artists Andy Warhol (1928–87) at the Ronald Feldman Gallery, Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97) at the Whitney Museum of Art and Jack Goldstein (1945–2003) at Metro Pictures. Includes interviews with Lichtenstein and Goldstein.
ART/new york series, No. 9.
Aud./Grade Level: G
Reviews: Choice, Jan 83; Booklist, Apr 81

 

POP AND OP ART

25 min. col. video 19?? United States English
Source (US): Clearvue/EAV Inc.
Defines Pop art as art that presents a familiar image out of context and Op art as art that relies on the optical impact of color or the illusion of depth. Presents works of representative artists. Part 1 shows works by American artists Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist, Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, Tom Wesselmann, George Segal, Claes Oldenburg, Jim Dine, Andy Warhol and others. Part 2 presents European Pop art and the emergence of Op art with the works of French artists Martial Raysse, Yves Klein and Victor Vasarely; Bulgarian-born American conceptual artist Christo; French-born American artist Arman; Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto; Swedish painter Öyvind Fahlström; Swiss sculptor Daniel Spoerri; British painter Bridget Riley; Venezuelan artist Jesús Rafael Soto; American artist Richard Anuszkiewicz; German painter Josef Albers; and others.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A
Reviews: Arts & Activities; Booklist

 

POP ART

Series Title: Magic Gallery, The
30 min. col. video 1990 United States English
Prod. Bruce N. MacLean
Prod. Agency: Educational Video, Inc.
Jacqueline Copeland introduces Pop art to elementary schoolchildren and defines it as an art of today and one based on mass media, that is, American images and everyday life. Examines works by four American Pop artists and introduces various art concepts and techniques. Coke Bottles by Andy Warhol (1928–87) exemplifies his theories of uniformity and repetition of images. Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97) in Whaam! and Girl at Piano was influenced by comic strips. The favorite subjects of Jasper Johns (b. 1930) are flags, illustrated with his Three Flags, numbers, the alphabet and targets. Claes Oldenburg (b. 1929) finds beauty in ordinary objects, as in his sculpture Clothes Pin. The children are then asked to create their own versions of Pop art, to make a picture using stamps as a repetitive element, and to create a collage from comic strips. The Magic Gallery series.
Aud./Grade Level: E; J
Reviews: Video Rating Guide for Libraries, Summer 90; School Library Journal, Aug 90; Wilson Library Bulletin, June 90; Video Librarian, Vol 5, No 2, April 90

 

REACHING OUT: KEN TYLER, MASTER PRINTER

28 min. col. 16mm 1967p 1976r United States English
Dir. Lee Tirce; Sid Avery
Prod. Agency: Avery/Tirce Productions
Source (US): Avery/Tirce Productions
Source (US): Univ. of California Extension Ctr.
Source (US): Rental—see Educational Film & Video Locator
Shows American master printer Kenneth Tyler (b. 1931) working with prominent artists: discussing attitudes and artistic philosophies, demonstrating techniques and displaying the final products of their collaborations. Painters Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97) and David Hockney (b. 1937) and author Michael Crichton discuss the scope of Tyler’s career. Includes works by a dozen major artists with whom Tyler has collaborated.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

ROY LICHTENSTEIN

Series Title: Seven Artists
25 min. col. 16mm 1979 Great Britain English
Dir. Geoffrey Haydon
Exec. Prod.: Julia Cave; Barrie Gavin
Prod. Agency: BBC-TV
Intl. Source: BBC Enterprises (GB)
Intl. Source: Arts Council of Great Britain (GB)
Visits the New York loft where American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97) worked during the 1960s and re-creates that era. Then visits his new studio on Long Island during the creation of Amerind Composition. Lichtenstein’s remarks are the only commentary. Seven Artists series, one of seven.
Aud./Grade Level: G

 

ROY LICHTENSTEIN

52 min. col. 16mm; video 1976 United States English
Long version (Short version, 34 min., also rel.)
Dir. Michael Blackwood Prod. Michael Blackwood
Prod. Agency: Blackwood Productions Inc.
Source (US): Michael Blackwood Productions Inc.
Shows American painter and printmaker Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97) and his assistant working on one of the four major paintings of his theme, The Artist’s Studio, from a giant drawing through to the finished piece. Ends with the opening of the 1977 Pop Plus exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art downtown branch in New York City, where Lichtenstein is joined by other pioneers in the Pop art movement, including Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers and James Rosenquist.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A
Awards: CINE Golden Eagle, 1976

 

ROY LICHTENSTEIN

Series Title: Video Vasari
30 min. b&w video 1976 United States English
Prod. Agency: Albright-Knox Art Gallery
A program in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s series of video documents on art. Profiles Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97), a leader in the American Pop art movement. Lichtenstein reflects on American art and culture as well as his own art. He talks about the concept of “style,” commenting on the works of such diverse artists as Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Theo van Doesburg.
Video Vasari series.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

ROY LICHTENSTEIN

Series Title: South Bank Show, The
55 min. col. 16mm; video 1990 Great Britain English
Dir. Chris Hunt
Prod. Agency: Iambic Productions for RM Arts; London Weekend Television; RM Arts
Source (US): Home Vision
Source (US): Crystal Productions (Video sales)
Source (US): Facets Multimedia (Video)
Source (US): Viewfinders, Inc. (Video sales)
Intl. Source: RM Associates (GB) (Broadcast)
Interviews American painter, sculptor and printmaker Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97), who discusses his current work, Pop art and the history of Western art. Visits the artist in his New York City studio and shows him at work on a new painting. Examines his career and seeks insight from colleagues, including gallery owner Leo Castelli, Guggenheim Museum assistant director Diane Waldman, and editor Ingrid Sischy. The South Bank Show series.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A
Reviews: Library Journal, July 94; Booklist, 15 Jan 94

 

ROY LICHTENSTEIN “REFLECTIONS/REFLECTIONS”

33 min. col. video 1994 United States English
Prod. Hermine Freed
Prod. Agency: Hermine Freed Video Productions
Source (US): Hermine Freed
Shows American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923_97) working on a mural for an office conference room in which one wall “reflects” the other. Interviews the artist, who discusses his career, ideas and techniques.
Aud./Grade Level: G; H; C; A

 

ROY LICHTENSTEIN: REFLECTIONS

30 min. col. video 1993 United States English and Italian with English subtitles
Dir. Edgar B. Howard; Seth Schneidman Prod. Edgar B. Howard
Prod. Agency: Checkerboard Foundation, Inc.
Source (US): Museum of Modern Art Circ. Film Library
Source (US): Checkerboard Foundation, Inc.
Source (US): Crystal Productions
Profiles American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97), an influential Pop artist well known for his large-scale murals, Reflections series and, more recently, Interiors series. Discusses Lichtenstein’s oeuvre, artistic process and inspirational sources. With commentary by Diane Waldman of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Kirk Varnedoe of the Museum of Modern Art, and Robert Rosenblum of the Institute of Fine Arts in New York City. Includes an interview with the artist’s dealer, Leo Castelli, conducted by actress Isabella Rossellini at his gallery. Filmed in Lichtenstein’s studios in New York City and on location in Los Angeles and Rome.

Evaluation: Beautifully produced, if typical, “artist-on-camera” profile. Gives a sense of Lichtenstein’s history and his present work, of his techniques and significance; captures his playful, unassuming personality and lifestyle. Clearly shows the art and his method: it’s good to see the artist working on his small drawings, his projected blowups, his drawings on large canvas and application of paint. Close to an ode, with no critical discussion despite the presence of curators and experts. Good-looking, with light touch, this is perhaps a perfect marriage of style and subject. Some evaluators, however, found it annoyingly lightweight, meandering and sometimes extraneous. Technical quality very good. Content and programming potential both good.
Aud./Grade Level: G
Reviews: SchoolArts, May 94
Available from the Checkerboard Film Foundation.

 

ROY LICHTENSTEIN: STILL LIFE PAINTINGS

20 min. b&w video 1972 United States English
Prod. Hermine Freed
Source (US): Video Data Bank
Source (US): Hermine Freed
Shows American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97) at work on various projects in Southampton, New York, including a collage sketch and a partial restoration. He discusses his current choice of the still life motif and earlier motifs, his method of working and his attitude toward painting.
Aud./Grade Level: G

 

ROY LICHTENSTEIN: THE ART OF THE GRAPHIC IMAGE

25 min. col. video 1994 United States English
Dir. Frank Cantor
Prod. Agency: Cantomedia; Katonah; Tyler Graphics
Source (US): National Gallery of Art
Looks at the printmaking career of American painter and printmaker Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97) over the past twenty years. Shows examples from his Bull Heads series, which was influenced by the bull-head imagery of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso; the Reflections series, which employs comic-book imagery; and the recent Nudes series. Interviews the artist in his studio and in two printmaking workshops, the Gemini G.E.L. in California and Tyler Graphics in Mount Kisco, New York, and views his collaboration with master printer Kenneth Tyler (b. 1931) in the creation of a print.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

ROY LICHTENSTEIN: TOKYO BRUSHSTROKES

30 min. col. video 1995 United States English
Dir. Mark Trottenberg Prod. Edgar B. Howard
Prod. Agency: Checkerboard Foundation, Inc.
Source (US): Checkerboard Foundation, Inc.
Presents the Shinjuku I-land Public Art Project by American painter, sculptor and printmaker Roy Lichtenstein (1923_97). These monumental sculptures for a large-scale urban development in Tokyo, Japan, employ Lichtenstein’s use of the brushstroke as art. Follows the project’s creative and collaborative progression from brushstroke image through commission, design and model building, to fabrications at the Tallix Foundry and installation at the site. Also provides glimpses of Lichtenstein’s other sculptures, including Brushstrokes in Flight (1984), Coup de Pinceau (1987), Brushstroke (1987) and Barcelona Head (1992). Includes commentary by art historian Alexandra Munroe.
Comments: Engaging glimpse into one facet of the work of a major contemporary artist. Doesn’t go very deeply into any aspect of the work but does touch briefly on the creative inspiration, the fabrication and positioning of the piece, questions of Japanese aesthetics and Lichtenstein’s vision vis-à-vis local responses to the finished piece. Useful for the insight it provides into the artist’s work, especially in conjunction with other films on other aspects of Lichtenstein’s work. (Staff)
Aud./Grade Level: G
Reviews: Art on Screen Close-Ups, Fall/Winter 95
Available from the Checkerboard Film Foundation.

 

ROY LICHTENSTEIN: UN POINT, C’EST TOUT

52 min. col. 16mm 1994 France French and English with French subtitles
Dir. Andre S. Labarthe Prod. Vincent Roget
Prod. Agency: Les Films du Bief; La Sept
Intl. Source: Les Films du Bief (FR)
Profiles American painter, sculptor and printmaker Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97) in two segments. The first part was filmed in 1972 in Lichtenstein’s small studio in Long Island, New York; the second part was filmed in 1988 in his huge studio on the ground floor of a former warehouse in Manhattan. Traces his sources of inspiration: cartoons, advertising and European masters, with an emphasis on satire and self-reference. Asserts Lichtenstein’s status at the top of the Pop art movement, and interprets his work as a celebration of daily life.

Comments: Pretentious and (perhaps deliberately) irritating film. Interviews are punctuated with extremely loud hammering noises (1972) and phones ringing (1988). Meanwhile the artist and critic Annette Michelson continue their conversations about Lichtenstein’s work, ignoring the background noises. While the interview does focus on painting, rather than the biography of the artist, ultimately the film tends to distance the viewer rather than draw us into the artist’s work. (Staff)
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

SAFF TECH ARTS

Series Title: CBS Sunday Morning
8 min. col. video 1993 United States English
Prod. Agency: CBS News
Source (US): CBI (International)
Features Saff Tech Arts, a print and sculpture studio in Oxford, Maryland, where limited-edition works by such American artists as Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97), Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) and Nancy Graves (1940–95) are produced. CBS Sunday Morning series.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

SHOCK OF THE NEW: CULTURE AS NATURE

Series Title: Shock of the New; No. 7
52 min. col. 16mm; video 1979 Great Britain; Federal Republic of Germany; United States English
Dir. David Richardson Prod. Lorna Pegram
Prod. Agency: BBC-TV in association with Time-Life Television and RM Productions
Source (US): Ambrose Video Publishing
Source (US): Univ. of California Extension Ctr.
Source (US): Pennsylvania State University Audio Visual Services
Source (US): Rental—see Educational Film & Video Locator
Intl. Source: Arts Council of Great Britain (GB)
Looking at Pop art, art historian Robert Hughes sees the movement as an act of survival in the age of the mass media, but also as an evasion of the artists’ responsibility to direct taste, judgment and moral choice. The mass media brought images stripped of complexity and at the same time produced a culture of congestion and glut. Pop art developed as an attempt to compete with this barrage of commercial messages. Hughes examines its birth in the United States with American painters Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) and Jasper Johns (b. 1930), who took familiar symbols and artifacts—refuse from garbage cans, targets, the national flag—and transformed them into ambiguous art objects. British painter Richard Hamilton (1922–2011) talks about the collage and the exact repetition of the process of consumer advertising undertaken for his piece The Critic Laughs (1968). The uncritical glance of the television viewer is recreated in the work of American artist Andy Warhol (1928–87). Repetition and sameness are the essence of his series of perfectly standardized objects, but Hughes argues that the idea is only temporarily interesting—boredom is built in. Looking at works by Americans James Rosenquist (b. 1933) and Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97), Hughes observes that Pop art needs the museum more than ever; in the “real” world of Las Vegas, their work would be swamped by the sheer excess of neon consumerism. American sculptor Claes Oldenburg (b. 1929) creates ironic sculptures of familiar objects made dysfunctional by a change of scale or material. His works represent a more positive element in the Pop art approach, that of commenting on aspects of society. Hughes considers that the value of Pop art lies in an openness to modern culture but that it suffers from a tendency to reproduce the instant recognition of the mass media message. His view is that Pop art, caught up in a competition with the commercial world, has failed to be truly critical of it. Rauschenberg appears on-camera in a filmed interview. Shock of the New series, No. 7 of 8. (Arts Council of Great Britain)
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A
Reviews: Newsday, 1 Feb 81; New York Magazine, 9 Feb 81

 

SUPERSTAR

87 min. col. & b&w 35mm; video 1990 United States English
Dir. Chuck Workman Prod. Chuck Workman
Exec. Prod.: Marilyn Lewis; Peter English Nelson
Prod. Agency: Marilyn Lewis Entertainment Ltd.
Source (US): Aries Film Releasing
Source (US): New Yorker Films
Source (US): Baker & Taylor Video (Video sales)
Source (US): Facets Multimedia (Video)
Source (US): Viewfinders, Inc. (Video sales)
Profiles American painter, printmaker and filmmaker Andy Warhol (1928–87) through an interweaving of archival footage of the artist, extensive interviews with his acquaintances, and coverage of his art and film works. Traces Warhol’s life: his youth in a blue-collar section of Pittsburgh, through his beginnings as a commercial artist in the 1950s, success as a Pop artist and filmmaker in the 1960s, and travels on the party circuit in the 1970s and 1980s. Interviews members of his family, including his brother Paul Warhola; associates from the Factory, including Viva, Ultra Violet and Sylvia Miles; art dealer Irving Blum; actors Dennis Hopper and Shelley Winters; artists David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein; poet Allen Ginsberg; writers Tom Wolfe and Fran Lebowitz; and art critics John Coplans, Hilton Kramer and Henry Geldzahler. Examines Warhol’s legacy and his status as a media celebrity.
Evaluation: Good blend of form and content, a compilation of historical footage and music of the period edited so well that, while overblown and lengthy, it presents the sensibility and aura of Warhol. Technically slick and, much like the artist, with a good sense of humor about itself. Serves as introduction and tribute to Warhol and his circle, giving a good sense of his work and status in the art world, and of a particular era in American culture. Offers an impressive range of interviews with his network of collaborators, other artists, dealers and critics. Captures the apparent offhandedness and studied frivolity that Warhol affected, but chooses to relive the Warhol era rather than scrutinize it critically.
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A
Reviews: Library Journal, 15 Oct 91; Village Voice, 26 Feb 91; New York Times, 22 Feb 91; Variety, 14 Mar 90; New York Times, 8 Oct 89
Awards: CINE Golden Eagle, 1993

 

TAKAHIKO IIMURA’S “ART OF THE 60S AND MYSELF”

35 min. col. & b&w video 1995 Japan Japanese and English
Dir. Takahiko Iimura
Prod. Agency: Tokyo Metropolitan TV
On a tour of the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art, Japanese filmmaker Takahiko Iimura (b. 1937) explains how his work has been influenced by artists who came to prominence in the 1960s. Includes on-camera interviews with: Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Christo, Arman, Hans Haacke, James Rosenquist, Louise Bourgeois and Jim Hendricks. Also shows works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Yves Klein, Joseph Beuys, Frank Stella, Joseph Kosuth and Denise Burren. Iimura describes other influences such as world events, happenings and performance artists. Shows excerpts from the following films by Iimura: Dada 62 (1962), Eye Rape (1962), A Dance Party In the Kingdom of Lilliput (1964), Onan (1964), Anma/The Masseurs (1963), Ai/Love (1962), Summer Happenings USA (1967), Yoko Ono: This Is Not Here (1972), Filmmakers (1969), Filmstrips (1966–70) and the video Time Tunnel (1971).

Comments: Unfortunately, the samples of his own work that Iimura gives are too skimpy to shed much light on the connection between it and the artists. (Staff)
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A

 

TANGENTS

5 min. col. video 199? United States Nonverbal
Dir. Mark Richard Keane; Linda Nelson Keane
Prod. Agency: Studio 1032 Architecture
Source (US): Studio 1032 Architecture
Uses animated line drawings to illustrate how architectural forms are related to form in painting. Includes examples from Francis Picabia, Le Corbusier, Wassily Kandinsky, Marcel Duchamp, Peter Eisenman and Roy Lichtenstein.
Special Audience(s): Architects

 

TWELVE AMERICAN PAINTERS II

30 min. col. video 1974 United States English
Prod. Agency: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts/TEAMS
Source (US): Virginia Museum of Fine Arts/TEAMS (Free loan in VA)
Discusses six of the twentieth-century painters shown at the exhibition Twelve American Painters held at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, in 1974. Provides insight into the background and artistic development of Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Estes, Philip Pearlstein, Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Indiana and Roy Lichtenstein. Part II of a two-part film; Part I discusses the other six painters.
Aud./Grade Level: G

 

TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN ART: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PERMANENT
COLLECTION OF THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

26 min. col. 16mm; video 1982 United States English
Dir. Russell Connor Prod. Russell Connor
Prod. Agency: Whitney Museum of American Art; Jonathan David Films, Inc.
Source (US): Whitney Museum of American Art
Source (US): Home Vision (Video sales)
Source (US): Crystal Productions (Video sales)
Source (US): Facets Multimedia (Video rental)
Source (US): Yes! Video (Video sales)
Source (US): Clearvue/EAV Inc.
Source (US): Museum of Modern Art Circ. Film Library (16mm)
Source (US): Viewfinders, Inc. (Video sales)
Documents the 1982 exhibition Highlights of the Permanent Collection at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City. Captures a sense of individual achievement while emphasizing the diversity of twentieth-century art in the United States. Shows works by Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Stuart Davis, Milton Avery, Gaston Lachaise, Max Weber, Josef Albers, Joseph Stella, Ben Shahn, Richard Serra, Ellsworth Kelly, Arshile Gorky, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, David Smith, Louise Nevelson, Helen Frankenthaler, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, Lucas Samaras, Richard Estes, Jasper Johns and others. Includes a historical sequence focusing on events leading to the founding of the museum in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Narrated by Russell Connor, head of public education at the Whitney.
Comments: A once-over-lightly visit to the Whitney, offering a brief history of its founding and a survey of its contents. Though brief, it packs much valuable material into a half hour. Quotations from the artists’ writings are interesting. Good cinematography and an excellent narration make this a useful introduction to modern art for general audiences but it’s too superficial for use with art students. (Staff)
Aud./Grade Level: H; C; A
Reviews: Landers Film Reviews, Spring 89; Booklist, 1 Mar 89
Awards: Montreal Festival Intl. du Film sur l’Art Best Director, 1982; National Educational Film Festival First Place, 1982

 

VIDEO PORTRAITS: SILENT WORDS FOR INSTALLATION

20 min. col. video 1983 United States Nonverbal
Dir. Joan Logue Prod. Joan Logue
Source (US): Electronic Arts Intermix (For use in installations)
Video artist Joan Logue (b. 1942) uses a stationary camera to record the faces of friends, family and artists in silent extended portraits. Subjects include artists Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein (1923–97) and Robert Rauschenberg; conceptual artist John Baldessari; filmmaker Shirley Clarke (1920–97); and author Lillian Hellman. Produced from 1973 to 1983.
Aud./Grade Level: G

© 1998 PROGRAM FOR ART ON FILM, INC. 200 Willoughby Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11205