Art and Artists on TCM!

I prefer documentaries depicting the real artists and hearing what they have to say. Biopics are twisted truths

I agree that biopics aren't good sources of information, but I think they can make entertaining historical fiction, provided one acknowledges them as such. Plus, they could draw in audiences who might not normally watch a documentary, and make them more interested in art.

And let's not forget, even the best documentaries are not without some degree of bias...that's just the nature of the beast. Just as with books, a well-researched biography may be a better source than a historical novel, but you're still getting the story through the author's filter.

Actually, I only had time to catch one of the films on the list, The Naked Maja. Total trash, but it was kind of fun! As I said, not a good source of information at all, but entertaining historical fiction.

But biopics can have other merits. I didn't catch Moulin Rouge this time around, but I've seen it before, and the art direction is superb. One advantage a cinematic film has is the potential to commit fully to visual motifs you don't necessarily get from primary and archival footage. It's not true to the facts of Toulouse Lautrec's life, but it invokes the spirit of his art quite well. And the script is pretty damn good!

So long as one does not confuse fact with fiction, why not enjoy biopics for what they are?

Incidentally, I checked TCM's actual programming guide, and they are including a documentary: F is for Fake, narrated by Orson Welles about art forging. Never seen it, but could be interesting.

One art biopic I saw recently was Mr. Turner. (Not mentioned on that website link.) I thought it was pretty good.

There are lots of movies about Vincent Van Gogh, but one of the recent efforts I saw was The Yellow House. (Starring John Simm and John Lynch.) It was set in 1888 when Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin were sharing the studio in Arles. Complete with the bickering, squabbling and arguing:

Gauguin: Where's the chair that I fixed gone?

Van Gogh: I'm doing a painting of it.

Gauguin: You don't need the chair to paint the chair. It exists already, in your head. An artist is not interested in copying. An artist must paint the truth.

Van Gogh: And tell me, what is "the truth" about a chair?

Gauguin: The essence.

Van Gogh: No - I'll tell you the truth about a chair. It's something you can sit on.

I tend to agree with Van Gogh on that point.

Im doing an art degree so I don't really have the time for fake stories mixing in with reality.
I love moulin rouge it is one of my favourite films but alas it's nothing like toulouse lautrec or his work imo. The only similarity is that it's set in the moulin rouge. :)

Lol, that exchange from The Yellow House is hilarious. I'll have to keep an eye out for that one. I watched Lust for Life years ago, and thought it was nicely photographed but a bit showy. Kirk Douglas is a bit heavy into his method...but then, I guess so was Van Gogh.

I saw Mr. Turner. I thought it was visually well-done, but didn't work that well as a film, at least for entertainment's sake. Not to loose with the facts, though. Going back to Laurendorward's point, maybe the life of Turner would have worked better as a documentary than as a big screen, cinematic piece.

Of course, it was somewhat refreshing to see a biopic that was less "Hollywood" than the usual fare.

Mercifully I am out of academia at the moment so I have the luxury of watching movies just for fun.

I love moulin rouge it is one of my favourite films but alas it's nothing like toulouse lautrec or his work imo.

It sounds like we are in agreement. Art biopics can have entertainment value, and perhaps other artistic merits, but should not be confused with the truth, and are not a good source of factual information.

I would, however disagree, in that I think the 1952 version of Moulin Rogue did a pretty good job of capturing the visual atmosphere of some of Lautrec's work...as well as cinematography of the era could translate such brilliant artworks into a the limited medium of celluloid, which is to say no movie could do absolute justice to the originals.

What do you think about the non-biographical films in the series, which TCM's showing tonight? The horror movies and the film noir for example. While it's not considered high art in traditional academic circles, I think some of the studio production painters back in the day were brilliant. I too was impressed by the peculiar, primitive quality of the mock paintings in Scarlet Street in particular. Joan Bennett is one of my favorites, and that wild portrait of her is crazy cool.

The guy who did the grotesque painting for Dorian Gray, Ivan Le Lorraine Albright, I believe is accepted in academic circles as a pioneering American Modernist. He's got a lot of museum-grade paintings...whether it's one's cup of tea or not.

Best wishes on your degree, and please forward any recommendations for artist documentaries!

At least one film in the TCM program is a documentary, F for Fake narrated by Orson Welles. I didn't see it on either of the lists I posted. I've never watched it, so I can't speak to the quality, but I think it's cool that TCM mixed in a documentary with the dramatic films.

You can actually see The Yellow House on YouTube. It's a TV movie that goes for an hour and 13 minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXqrKOqVHAk

I should say I prefer The Yellow House to Mr. Turner. My girlfriend did say she found Mr. Turner a bit boring. I suppose since Van Gogh was such a "tortured" man, his life naturally makes for more gripping drama.

What do artists do all day from the bbc is really interesting