Discovery in a Painting 2014
Distributed by Cinema Guild, 115 West 30th Street, Suite 800, New York, NY 10001; 212-685-6242
Producer n/a
Directed by Leo Hurwitz and Manfred Kirchheimer
DVD , color, 29 min.
K-General Adult
Art, Art History
Date Entered: 06/03/2015
Reviewed by Marsha Taichman, Cornell UniversityDiscovery in a Painting is an exploration of Cezanne’s Still Life with Apples (1895-1898). The film quite literally zooms in on the painting (as well as out and around), and offers a formal exploration of the work without commentary. It is a half hour of just observing, looking at miniscule details of the work and then stepping back to reassess the piece as a whole. The result is atmospheric and tactile; a meditation on the masterpiece.
The viewer sees the materiality of the paint and areas of the canvas where the weave of the fabric shows through. The thickness of the paint and deliberate brushstrokes can been seen, as well as how the colors were layered and blended. Sometimes the component parts of the work, such as the fruit and the drapery, are reduced to abstractions. At times, composition is reduced to form.
The film was originally shot at the Museum of Modern Art in 1968, and the image quality is poor. Without any verbal narrative, the viewer is left to listen to sometimes grating classical music intercut with the sounds of museum goers conversing near the painting. The movement around the painting can be disorienting.
My major question about this film is related to audience. Who is this film for? Students? Art lovers? I am left to wonder. The premise of examining a painting with such care and that thoroughness is a good one. Collectively, we go to museums to look at masterpieces and usually stand before them for a few minutes at best. It is an act of patience and concentration to study and analyze a painting, and this film helps the viewer do just that.