“He was labeled as ‘old fashioned’ and ‘out of date’ by the reigning critics of the day. Holsten said he was intrigued that his reputation in the art world seemed misdirected. Wyeth, the younger Wyeth had his first exhibition at age 20, and his painting Christina’s World was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in 1948.ĭirector Glenn Holsten said she met Wyeth as a young filmmaker in the early 1990s while working on a film about him called Snow Hill. But above all, he sought to show that Basquiat-who went from an anonymous graffiti writer known as SAMO© to an epoch-defining art star at the top tier of the international art market “did a remarkable job of being master of his own fate.”Īmerican Masters: Wyeth tells the story of one of America’s most popular, but least understood, artists – Andrew Wyeth. Schulman said he sought to take viewers on the “extraordinary journey of a kid from Brooklyn who had a dream of fame since childhood and with sheer determination and explosive talent manages to fulfill that dream,” though he admits the dream had tragic consequences and a very high emotional price tag." This year marks the 30 th anniversary of Basquiat’s untimely death from a heroin overdose. “How does an accountant’s son from Brooklyn manage to ascend to the pinnacle of the international art world in such a short space of time? How does this 20-year-old manage to befriend the most famous artist in the world – Andy Warhol? What was so extraordinary about his art when painting was supposed to be dead?” Schulman said there are “countless riddles and mysteries” associated with the life and art of Basquiat. But the work of Jean-Michel, Francesco Clemente, and others was beginning to erode that deeply held belief.” Describing Basquiat as “an artist who smashed art world barriers on a world historic scale,” Shulman said the biggest challenge in making the film was "to put complex and groundbreaking work in the context of the extraordinary creative scene that was pre-gentrified NYC in the 1980s.” But as a conceptual artist, I must confess, I was of the school that painting was dead. I had been to one of his exhibitions in the mid 80’s and had met Warhol. “I lived and worked literally around the corner from Jean-Michel’s studio on Crosby Street. “I was originally from New York City, and back in the early 80’s was an artist showing my experimental films in Castelli gallery and at New York City museums,” said David Shulman, director and producer of American Masters - Basquiat: Rage to Riches. You don’t need to know anything about modern art to love these beautifully crafted documentaries.” These stories happen to be about visual artists, but the stories are engaging on so many levels. Kantor said the films aren’t just for art connoisseurs.
“I think seniors will be particularly interested in seeing Andrew Wyeth pursue his own kind of dramatic, figurative painting in the face of the popular modernist explosion, watching pioneering women artists like Eva Hesse and Elizabeth Murray take center stage, and understanding how an untrained painter like Jean-Michel Basquiat could go from street art graffiti tags to selling paintings for millions.” Older Americans in particular will enjoy the series, says Kantor. The mission of American Masters, and public television in general, is to help us understand who we are as Americans, so documentaries on artists are exciting, engaging ways to grapple with this key question,” Kantor said. “Artists reflect who we are, and what we are interested in – they create their own perspective on the world.
American masters wyeth series#
Now in its 32nd season on PBS, the series is a production of THIRTEEN Productions for WNET and also seen on the WORLD channel. Launched in 1986, the American Masters biography series has garnered 74 Emmy nominations and 28 awards - 10 for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series since 1999 and five for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special - 12 Peabody Awards three Grammys an Oscar two Producers Guild Awards for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television and the 2012 IDA Award for Best Continuing Series.
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