Film

Surrealist Cinema

Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies

by Katharine Vatter   |   May 17, 2010

Surrealist Cinema

Cinématographe Lumiére, affiche d’Auzzolle, 1896, from PICASSO AND BRAQUE GO TO THE MOVIES. (Photo: Photo courtesy of Cubists, LLC)

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Since the earliest inception of film, the industry has worked closely with painters and other fine artists. It should be noted that the first era of both mediums teaming up was in the age of surrealism. The modernity of film and art has lined up movement to movement.

But Arthouse Films’ new film Picasso And Braque Go To The Movies explores how the art movement prior to surrealism (cubism) relates to early film.

Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque are perhaps the two most recognizable names within the cubist movement. Post-cubism, Braque retired from “mainstream” art and moved in his own direction, whereas Picasso stayed with the times and moved on to a more surrealist aesthetic. However, despite moving forward with the art world in a time of art and film uniting, he himself did not engage with film as an art form.

Unlike most other explorations of film and the artists, Picasso And Braque Go To The Movies, produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by Arne Glimcher, explores how film influenced the artist rather than how the artists influenced film. With the post war attitude and rapid turnovers in technology, it’s easy to spot the influences within cubism. How did film play into the art form, though? Film was only experimental in the heyday of cubism.

Picasso And Braque Go To The Movies, playing at Cinema Village, is narrated by experts in the field of art, history, and film, including Martin Scorsese himself.

See arthousefilmsonline.com for more information on the film and cinemavillage.com for tickets.