I was at the International Art Fair at the Royal College of Art in London, on Friday.
The only thing I could afford were a few books on discount, near the café downstairs. One of the books I picked up and read was ‘Vincent’s Trees‘ by Ralph Skea. It was published earlier this year, and I recommend you read it. The cloth binding was pretty nice to stroke as I browsed but the reason I bought it was that for some reason I was in the mood to learn about Vincent Van Gogh and it was specific enough to not overwhelm me with too much information about him.
The other thing is, I didn’t want to dwell too much on his ‘tragic’ life, not yet anyway. I’m a fan of nature too, and one of the many aspects of our environment is that it makes sounds and painting is visual, so I was intrigued to see what type of sounds may have played a role in his work. Many of his paintings have a sense of movement in them, and with movement comes sound, unless you’re stuck in a (scientifically-speaking) vacuum.
Having read ‘Vincent’s Trees’, which quotes from his letters, I discovered to my annoyance that the author makes little reference to the sounds that may have influenced Vincent besides the wind, and perhaps this is an avenue I must continue to research.
Regardless, I was instead mentally referring to independent film-making in many of the passages. In fact, by the end of the book I was convinced that had Vincent been a 29 year old today, he would have been a cinematographer or art director, if not an independent film maker, trying to capture the scenes around him.
Reading his letters, he goes to great length describing landscapes to his brother, the light, the colours and moods. He went on walks and took in the sights, and really digested what he saw and mirrored it with his own thoughts and moods.
Given the slow pace of photography, the amount of equipment and lack of colours, this may have deterred him from taking up the camera during his time. But regardless of his upbringing being different, what would he have done if he was 29 in our time? I’m sure he would have taken advantage of the film-making tools to recreate moods like never before.
I’m just unable to imagine what he could have done if he was working in our time. Have we seen it yet? Is there more to come? Would he have still chosen painting? Would he have gone into photography or film or would he have pursued something else? I’m still thinking about that. Below are some ideas I pondered that made me consider him an independent film maker, and perhaps what filmmakers are doing now, and can do, to emulate him in our time. Feel free to jump in and regard him as a player in your own field of study.
1. Van Gogh Was Self Taught
Although he attended Antwerp Academy for a short while for a few lessons in painting and drawing, Vincent primarily learnt from books. Living today he would never have gone to film school.
He also looked to others to grow as an artist and spent a good deal of time discussing art with the other greats of the day (who, themselves were relatively unknown at the time). He spent time in galleries and his very profession involved looking up artists and making reproductions to sell, so a great eye for detail was needed.
I’m a big fan of libraries, free talks, watching films, and testing with phones and common cameras. Learning from those films that move you in some way.
Understanding what didn’t work for you too. If there is a short course that may boost your knowledge or be a stepping stone to more information and resources, go for it. There may also be people who are already well versed in these techniques, so try and reach out to them also. They are your peers, not your competitors.
Also, consider what techniques or skills you need and for what. Is it better to pay for a course in post-production sound or to get someone who knows what they’re doing to help you get something done? Vincent listed all those that influenced him, and asked his brother to look them up too. He placed works of art up on his wall for inspiration, and although he didn’t want to be classed as a collector, he spent a lot on prints and drawings that inspired him.
Perhaps much like how we discuss and share music today. It is interesting and pretty cool to see his progression from no training to some, for example, the National Museum holds his painting of ‘The Head of a Peasant Girl’, with a blurb that highlights the fact that the painting was, ‘dark, coarse and unidealised, the study was executed before the artist received any form of artistic training.’
2. Van Gogh Knew His Audience
“Orchards in blossom are subjects we have a chance of selling or exchanging”
Vincent’s uncles were in the art dealing business and it was fortunate for him that he was given a job at Groupil & Cie, which took him to the branches in London, Brussels and Paris. It also had an office in New York, but we won’t dwell on what could have been if he had gone over there.
Vincent had worked as an art dealer for seven years, and his brother Theo followed him into the company, creating an art dealer-artist team. Both brothers therefore continued to keep up to speed with what was popular with clients in terms of style and learning about other artists. He did mention the styles that did well and tried to emulate them in some of his paintings (“what people want in art nowadays has to be very lively, with strong colour, very intense”).
For all of this, Vincent wasn’t world renowned as an artist and wasn’t selling paintings at rapid speed, so there may have been other factors that did not come together to make him a ‘success’ during his life time. His religious outlook is a factor and may have affected his dealing with clients and outlook on art dealing, but apparently he was away during a busy Christmas period.
Further more, needing a brother to advocate for him may have strained a relationship also, especially providing harsh criticisms as to why paintings did not get sold. Balancing this information with what he wanted to showcase may have been what held him back. Perhaps if he abided by what was popular, his catalogue of work may have been altogether different and perhaps not as spectacular.
It took 20 long years after Vincent’s death, for his work to be showcased alongside other (now famous) French artists under the banner of ‘post-impressionism’ (which is somewhere between Impressionism and Cubism).
Even then, it was ridiculed for being too shocking. But the curator Roger Fry saw something in his work and those of his contemporaries that moved on from literal depictions of life to something more evocative. Their work as a collective went on to inspire a new breed of artist and their work is now applauded all over (in the form of chocolate covered sunflower seeds even). This leads me onto film festivals and getting to know your audience.
Getting involved with the DC Shorts Film Festival as a volunteer judge, allowed me the greatest insights about film festivals, the audience and the types of films being made. It was a great way to network (you discussed films in groups who are often budding film makers themselves), and you got to geek out on films before anyone else saw them.
I was taught what type of films they were looking for (from story structure to length of film) and to articulate our thoughts on them. This was primarily due to the fact that the festival provides feedback to everyone who submits a script or short film. It was the greatest teaching aid for me and allowed me to comfortably enter what seems like the mythical world of film making, which it isn’t.
DC Shorts had a mentor’s program that ran earlier this year, and other festivals like Raindance Film Festival hold seminars and workshops that teach you what to look out for and to improve the chances of 1) getting your film being seen and 2) getting it seen by a lot of people. (Not winning accolades- that’s a different kettle of fish). This is primarily the storytelling workshops (“who are you writing for?!”) and the marketing workshops (“target the right film festival!”).
Attend them and do the exercises they tell you about. You may have the formula, but it is no guarantee of a film being successful or being seen by the masses or a news reporter. Keep perspective on the situation, and try to find your voice. How are you and your film different from all the others? Do you want your film to be seen or do you want the applause of having made a film?
3. Van Gogh Re-Mixed
Vincent accepted the different colour palette (brighter colours) of artists he met in Paris and a need to evoke emotion rather than interpreting views literally. He also adopted the styles developed by others that may not have been accepted at first (Pointillism). He re-analysed his observations and they took on a new life, and he modified them in some cases with his own swerves and colour combinations, creating a new signature if not language of drawing and painting altogether.
Particular styles from Japanese art, in the form of Ukiyo-e, which were mass-produced paintings from woodblocks, came through Europe in the 1860′s and influenced many artists including Vincent. He took these styles on board and incorporated them into his work, even inspiring him to get an exhibit together showcasing the art form within his own work and those of his peers.
He never ridiculed or dismissed the artists that he learnt from. In fact he continued to admire them. I think this provides a great insight into his character. He respected the art of the past and also looked forward to creating his own style. If you consider music, there are the originals, and then you have re-mixes. Then you have new genre’s of music coming through altogether. Such are, incremental and radical changes.
In the context of film making, since all the stories have been told, what is your take (as a writer or director) on a particular story? A good quote I found from a book on Picasso, beside his one of many versions of Delacroix’s The Women Of Algiers’ puts it better than I can- “The old imitation of old masters is a theme that has haunted all the artists of the 19th and 20th centuries at one time or another. The goals are always the same: to measure oneself against classical discipline, to understand a work more fully and finally to break away.”
4. Van Gogh Chose To Focus
Having somewhat failed as a religious man, Van Gogh made the commitment to focus on being a painter at the age of 27. He accrued a great body of work in just 10 years, before his death, but he had in fact been dabbling in it ever since he was young. He married his religious background, his outlook on life, and his keen interest in the natural world, to painting.
I heard from a documentary film maker in DC (One of the Kramer brothers of Meridian Hill Pictures) who described his History major at university as a great foundation on which to create films, going further to say that these alternate career paths as well as our life trajectories are a great resource to find stories. A quote that Ralf Skea uses from Vincent is, ‘the duty of the painter is to study nature in depth and to use all his intelligence, to put his feelings into his work so that it becomes comprehensible to others‘.
Perhaps it is also an indication that whatever medium you use, tell a story with it for others, and draw from what you know and are interested in. “If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things.”
5. Van Gogh Was A Researcher
Should Vincent have needed to make a painting from memory, he had an ample reservoir of research to dip into to depict, for example a number of cypress tree paintings were likely never painted with the view in sight, but because he knew these trees intimately and the setting of the landscape as well as the emotions it brought out for him, he knew exactly how to go about his executing a painting. He spoke about the other artists of his time painting scenes they had never studied. Perhaps the lack of depth rubbed Vincent the wrong way, thinking them lazy in their approach.
So research, research, research. Take notes of something that looks good to you, the time of day, dialogue and so on. This will allow you to design contingency plans for scriptwriting problems, as well as aid the decision making process along the way by the producer and director during filming time.
This may be an act of active researching on a topic you are unfamiliar with, or it may be tapping into your own life lessons learnt and background. A role that I am getting familiar with is that of the art director in the department of production design. It is imperative to convey the thoughts of the director, and to do this you have to know just as much as the director, to discuss motifs, symbols, set design and colours for example. Eventually, in cahoots with the cinematographer (or who ever is handling the camera), the scenes are bustling with information and reflecting the story beside the actors and dialogue. I understand that on independent films, such roles are limited, so it’s up to the director to know their story and design of the story inside and out.
Stanley Kubrick himself spent a vast amount of time researching his film projects before even writing it up as a script. You may want to get detailed, but you must know that only a handful of people will take on the initiative to research your film for nuances. That shouldn’t put you off researching, but it may also be a way to reign in your research notes and take stock of what you need to push the story along.
6. Van Gogh Completed Some Paintings In One Go.
For some reason he was an advocate of this, and perhaps it may have been his desperate need to capture what he was seeing and feeling, often despairing at the fact he could never get it perfect.
There are a number of street artists that draw scenes in rapid time, and there also film festivals that cater and advocate fast film production. Join the 48 hour film project, which has competitions going on in multiple cities around the world each year. This will allow you to hone your skills in a number of roles, and also to think on your feet, and make multiple films in a short amount of time. You can also give yourself the challenge too. If you want a real kick in the pants consider Jurgen Wolff’s immensely useful Massive Action Day – and get your project done.
7. Van Gogh Found Inspiration Wherever He Went
“The Hague is beautiful- there’s enormous diversity”. He wasn’t a purist about the trees being in nature alone, but found in them a beauty even when intermingled with city and park life. “He saw each subsequent townscape through the eyes of a perceptive newcomer and with the mind of an artistic ‘stranger’.”
“I see drawings and pictures in the poorest of huts and the dirtiest of corners.”
“Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.”
8. Van Gogh Sought Help
Vincent was in and out of asylums to deal with his mental status. Painting was a relief for him. Film-making may be a release for you, but also understand that it may not make money to support you full time, and your films may suck. Van Gogh only gave a few of his paintings away, and fewer still were sold during his lifetime. Be honest with yourself about what you can and can’t do, what your reasons are for going into film making, look after your health and ask for help if it all get’s overwhelming. Vincent comments in one of his letters about some painters who give up after a long while of trying and that it takes a good decade perhaps to get anywhere. He asked for help with money and had family to support him.
So perhaps, Vincent may also have been a great advocate for crowd funding, and would have humbly asked for help from his family and friends for new film projects, even getting actors and crew to make them. His many letters to his brother may have been an update as a consequence of feeling he owed at least a snippet of information about his latest pieces of work to his financial support, again similar to the many updates one gets on Kickstarter or indiegogo.
Vincent was well aware about poverty and the inability to push forward as holding back progress as an artist. “Do you know what makes a prison disappear? Every deep, genuine affection. Being friends, being brothers, loving, that is what opens the prison…Without these one stays dead. But whatever affection is revived, there life revives. Moreover, the prison is sometimes called prejudice, misunderstanding, fatal ignorance of one this or another, suspicion, false modesty.”
This statement here, suggests that although he knew of his moods and stayed clear of communication and painting when in such a state, he craved getting better and wanting to be in close communication with his environment and the relationships around him.
9.Van Gogh was supported
Vincent’s mother wished, ‘he could work with nature or art‘. He may have felt like an odd ball, but Vincent’s family were concerned when he was depressed and asked him to live with them when needed.
Close family and friends can be a great source of comfort, and perhaps in a time when everyone is out for themselves and trying to survive, film-making may be the perfect opportunity to re-connect and rekindle relationships. Films are a collaborative process and there are so many avenues for support like the DC Shorts community as well as Raindance, who have ample free if not cheap workshops and networking events to attend. Make the most of them.
The shear outpouring of support following his death and the radical exhibit 20 years down the line by Roger Fry (titled ‘Manet and Post-Expressionism’), as well as a compilation of his letters by his sister-in-law, showcase how much he was loved as a man and as an artist. If you work hard and try and communicate what it is you’re doing, you’ll find supporters along the way.
10. Van Gogh Discussed His Work
He held an exhibit that described the influence of Japanese art on his work and those of others. He wrote extensively to others about the paintings he had done, the sights he wanted to paint and what it meant to him. He may not have showcased many works in his day, let alone sold much, but he actively gave paintings away, spoke about art and what was selling. With your work, as well as others, try and articulate what you are happy with and why. Try and get feedback from others. Even jot down your marketing strategies that proved fruitful, so the next film is smoother in it’s sailing.
He even felt the need to band together as a cooperative to push work through as a group. He was well aware of the dangers of quick prints and replications, much like our current concern with making money in a digital world with instant access to content. “We live in an unspeakably awful and miserable world for artists. The exhibitions, the shops selling pictures, everything, everything is in the hands of people who grab all the money“.
Living today as a filmmaker, Van Gogh could well become a festival darling and give great interviews and q&a’s.
Fade Out: Trees and Forests
It’s books on the little things that provide the greatest insights. I’d like to thank the author for his well written book, and providing a lot of food for thought and pointing me in the direction of his letters. Despite the fact he was battling mental health problems, he loved life and the world around him, and just wanted to create great work. Although he had limited reach with his work during his lifetime, he was on the verge of some great shows. Those who knew him and those who were given paintings, got their act together and advocated his work, which were showcased around the world after his death. We may all despair on our way to creating, but imagine what Vincent was going through and know he was on a similar boat to many of us, but he continued painting and improving his craft. Perhaps I’ve overlooked many pieces of research that have gone to great depths to understand his work and his life as well as the era, and I apologise for that, but all I wanted to mention was this link to his time as an artist and our time now as independents in (insert field of choice). I don’t see him as a tragic figure we’ve all come to stereotype him as. I see him as someone with a lot of heart and dedication, an eye for detail and moods conveyed by nature, reflecting his own and those of others. Imagine what his work in film could have been like. I am overwhelmed by such thoughts and I think he would be supportive of all of us trying to push boundaries and creating works of art for ourselves to get through periods of difficulty, and to try and convey a message:
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”
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