Friday, April 15, 2011
When Women Film History: History of a Secret (Mariana Otero 2003)
Women filmmakers' contribution to documentary started in France from the post-war period onwards and their films have been varied in their topics as well in their forms. The increase in feminine documentaries was seen as a political weapon in the 1970s. At that time women's documentaries dealt mostly with the present and the contemporary. Portraits of figures from the past especially artists are more prevalent in the following decade. In the 1990s with the return of political films, there is blurring between documentary and fiction with characters rather than witnesses. This article dissects Mariana Otero's Histoire d'un secret (2003). This documentary seems to be at the crossroads of how women's documentaries were made in France since the war. It is the portrait of a talented artist, but it is also and above all a criticism of the secrets surrounding the death of thousands of women who went through with illegal abortion in the 1960s and 1970s. This article analyzes how the film expresses the invisibility and secrecy of women's suffering and the dilemma it raises for visual representation. It also blends the idea of the personal joins the political (the artist was the director’s mother). Otero plays the role of the filmmaker and the daughter discovering a family secret which leads to the awareness of a political issue; illegal abortion. This conjunction of the personal combined with the political contributed to a new style of documentary filmmaking in France in the 1970’s which influenced Otero’s 2003 film. Rollet, Brigitte. "Quand les femmes filment l'Histoire: Histoire d'un secret (Mariana Otero, 2003)." Studies in French Cinema 10.3 (2010): n. pag. Intellect Ltd.. Web. 15 Apr. 2011.
French New Wave Film
French New Wave or Nouvelle Vague, in French. While more than half a century old, New Wave film might not be "new" but its revolutionary way of telling stories on film has still made an immense impact on the film industry.
Nouvelle Vague, in its time, was an all new general approach to cinema. This came about from a post-war cinematic starved peoples who drowned themselves in their passion for cinema. In other words, they loved film so much that they spent hours and hours taking in and learning at much as they could. It was the byproduct of ultimate cinematic appreciation, if you will. Nouvelle Vague was unlike most other cinematic movements in that it was not really recognized as an organized movement, but those involved were linked by a rejection of the overall quality of cinema. This constant "judging" of the film industry was used to look at the specialness of the creative medium. New wave rejected a typical Hollywood style film of carrying you through the story, and adopted the idea of giving a viewer a chance to interpret emotions and feeling brought on by the film. In essence, it was a realistic approach to cinema trying to make it as relate-able to the moviegoer as possible.
Some Famous Nouvelle Vague Films:
More on French New Wave:
http://www.newwavefilm.com/new-wave-cinema-guide/nouvelle-vague-where-to-start.shtml
Nouvelle Vague, in its time, was an all new general approach to cinema. This came about from a post-war cinematic starved peoples who drowned themselves in their passion for cinema. In other words, they loved film so much that they spent hours and hours taking in and learning at much as they could. It was the byproduct of ultimate cinematic appreciation, if you will. Nouvelle Vague was unlike most other cinematic movements in that it was not really recognized as an organized movement, but those involved were linked by a rejection of the overall quality of cinema. This constant "judging" of the film industry was used to look at the specialness of the creative medium. New wave rejected a typical Hollywood style film of carrying you through the story, and adopted the idea of giving a viewer a chance to interpret emotions and feeling brought on by the film. In essence, it was a realistic approach to cinema trying to make it as relate-able to the moviegoer as possible.
Some Famous Nouvelle Vague Films:
More on French New Wave:
http://www.newwavefilm.com/new-wave-cinema-guide/nouvelle-vague-where-to-start.shtml
Yves St. Laurent: His Life and Times
Video: RIP Yves Saint Laurent Here is a link to a short video capturing the life of Yves Saint Laurent and paying tribute to his contributions to the fashion industry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UapXfGaipN0 
The Cyclop - Magnificent, detailed, and fabulous work of art.
This article describes in detail the magnificent work of art by the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely, The Cyclop. located in the heart of Milly-la- Forêt, a province 50 km from Paris famous for sheltering some of contemporary art in its insulated forest. This monumental Cyclop is not only spectacular for its dimensions, but also for its design. The Cyclop, or as described in the artcle as the “iron King-Kong”, can be heard in metal slapping, tinklings, and acid squeakings. It took more than 20 years for the artists and all who were involved to build this “tower of Babel” with its 350 tons of steel. Several artists took part in building this tremendous work of art, including Tinguely’s wife, Niki de Saint Phalle. The unit was determined by “a mirror mosaic, two compressions of César, an accumulation of Arman, an installation of Soto, an immense measuring apparatus of Jean-Pierre Raynaud”. It was finally introduced to France in 1987. The silver head of the Cyclop is 23 meters, or 75 feet high, opened of a single luminous eye like a solar mirror. ”A toboggan as a tongue, plunges in a small basin, its single ear listens to stars. Inside this cranium giant, a constellation of metal gears work in cerebral wheels, surrounded by metal balls which suggest the stainless thoughts of this cortex in perpetual motion.” This work of art is a beautiful tribute to the artists of the recylging of the years of 1970s.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
The Creative Process of Pablo Picasso, Article Review
Pablo Picasso’s approach to art is one which stimulated a controversy. Researchers desired to analyze his creative process as evidenced in the film, “The Mystery of Picasso.” Picasso’s drawings either represent a systematic, expertise driven process or a Darwinian, blind-variation and selective-retention approach, according to Simonton (2007). Those influential, inventive individuals of the twentieth century, such as Picasso, maintain a creative pathway which can never be fully understood. However, in attempt to define some patterns, several judges observed his work. Their conclusion is that Picasso implemented a Darwinian nonmonotonic variant approach to art and creativity: “Not every step moves the artist forward, because he is actively engaged in exploring the range of possibilities before he selects that subset that will define the completed project.” (Simonton, 7007, p. 333).
Psychologists define creativity in various ways. The cognitive psychologists position states that creativity is “just one particular manifestation of straightforward problem solving” (Simonton, 2007, 329). Whereas, the Darwinian psychologists express it to be “an unpredictable, chaotic, even inefficient process driven by an indulgent wealth of diverse and unusual imagery, associative richness and originality, and divergent, sometimes even autistic, thinking” (Simonton, 2007, 330). In the first, an artist’s technique may be predictable when observed multiple times. The latter, however, will leave the observer feeling uninvolved and left behind amidst the creator’s internal, mysterious, cognitive process of imagination.
A quantitative, objective analysis of Picasso creating his work was implemented in this study to obtain the least subjective and most accurate identification of his technique. The end state of each piece was compared to the beginning sketch and received a score based on their similarity. Multiple judges from varying backgrounds of Psychology shared reflections on the works and all were complied to provide the least biased interpretations possible.
Results showed very similar “concordance rates” between anti-Darwinists’ and Darwinists’ explanation for Picasso’s creative steps. All perceive nonmonotonic variation in his works. For example, Picasso takes ten sketches to achieve his desired outcome of a figure of a bull. It is noted that he could have used far fewer sketches, had he implemented a montonic approach and improved upon each new drawing using the one prior. However, he reveals no relation between each bull drawing and instead varies significantly, creating what seem to be new sketches. One witnesses this in the film “The Mystery of Picasso” when he actually paints over the base layer of his original drawing to create something new and leaves only a small portion of the first layer visible in second or third design. We witness his active exploration of ideas. The author states that “clearly, this is a messy, inefficient, even chaotic manner of constructing a creative product” (Simonton, 2007, p. 340). Even so, Pablo Picasso had such an incredible influence in twentieth century art that his approach is treasured. It seems this technique would prevent any attempt at replication of his work, because only he could compile such abstract ideas and piece them together to become world renown masterpieces.
Simonton, D. (2007). FEATURED ARTICLE: The Creative Process in Picasso's Guernica Sketches: Monotonic Improvements versus Nonmonotonic Variants. Creativity Research Journal, 19(4), 329-344.
Psychologists define creativity in various ways. The cognitive psychologists position states that creativity is “just one particular manifestation of straightforward problem solving” (Simonton, 2007, 329). Whereas, the Darwinian psychologists express it to be “an unpredictable, chaotic, even inefficient process driven by an indulgent wealth of diverse and unusual imagery, associative richness and originality, and divergent, sometimes even autistic, thinking” (Simonton, 2007, 330). In the first, an artist’s technique may be predictable when observed multiple times. The latter, however, will leave the observer feeling uninvolved and left behind amidst the creator’s internal, mysterious, cognitive process of imagination.
A quantitative, objective analysis of Picasso creating his work was implemented in this study to obtain the least subjective and most accurate identification of his technique. The end state of each piece was compared to the beginning sketch and received a score based on their similarity. Multiple judges from varying backgrounds of Psychology shared reflections on the works and all were complied to provide the least biased interpretations possible.
Results showed very similar “concordance rates” between anti-Darwinists’ and Darwinists’ explanation for Picasso’s creative steps. All perceive nonmonotonic variation in his works. For example, Picasso takes ten sketches to achieve his desired outcome of a figure of a bull. It is noted that he could have used far fewer sketches, had he implemented a montonic approach and improved upon each new drawing using the one prior. However, he reveals no relation between each bull drawing and instead varies significantly, creating what seem to be new sketches. One witnesses this in the film “The Mystery of Picasso” when he actually paints over the base layer of his original drawing to create something new and leaves only a small portion of the first layer visible in second or third design. We witness his active exploration of ideas. The author states that “clearly, this is a messy, inefficient, even chaotic manner of constructing a creative product” (Simonton, 2007, p. 340). Even so, Pablo Picasso had such an incredible influence in twentieth century art that his approach is treasured. It seems this technique would prevent any attempt at replication of his work, because only he could compile such abstract ideas and piece them together to become world renown masterpieces.
Simonton, D. (2007). FEATURED ARTICLE: The Creative Process in Picasso's Guernica Sketches: Monotonic Improvements versus Nonmonotonic Variants. Creativity Research Journal, 19(4), 329-344.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Yves Working with Dior
Yves had an interesting life. He was very talented. He started working for Dior and at age 21 Dior wanted to pass on his work to Yves. I had seen an exhibit of Christian Dior's work at the Indianapolis Art Museum a few years ago and here are a few of the pieces that were there.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
The Life of Yves St. Laurent
The article entitled "Yves Saint Laurent- Portrait of an Icon" gives some additional information about the life of Yves Saint Laurent. This man was extremely gifted as an artist, taking over famous designer Christian Dior's business when he died. Even from the creation of his first collection, Laurent began to rise into fame. Some of the styles he is most famous for come from the creation of women's fashion from men's fashion. He made suits and other such male-typical items popular for women. Laurent was extremely tuned in to detail and studied the works of artists such as Picasso for inspiration. Some of his designs definitely resembled his influences. Among some of Laurent's life accomplishments include an unheard of exibit for his work alone at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the title of command of the Legion d'Honneur, and the creation of the Pierre Berge- Yves Saint Laurent Foundation. He died in 2008.
Article and pictures from http://www.indiansinparis.com/blog/editorials/357-ysl
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