Many people today don’t understand the concept of “art history through cinema.” I never really looked deep into art until I took this college class. The importance of art is actually everywhere you go. The more you study it, the more you notice that art is everywhere and there is always a story to tell behind a piece of work. Art expresses emotions and identifies a human experience. Many people will argue that art comes from a story, or a story comes from art. It could work either way, and be developed into something bigger such as making books or movies.
Many people who aren’t involved in art don’t understand that it could be so much more than just a piece of work. However, movies can give viewers a better understanding of aspects of art history. Art history movies can show the importance of famous artists, what they went through, and how they used art to escape reality. These movies can also make the interest in art increase the emotional power for viewers. Because of certain movies, a general audience can watch and learn more about art history, in a fun way.
The Art of the Steal (2009), directed by Don Argott is an example of this. Is about a group of men who created their own business, stealing art. The main character, known as “Crunch Calhoun,” got in trouble for attempting to steal and resell a famous painting to Stash Bartkowiak who is known as a rich, corrupt and most definitely dangerous man. He got caught at the beginning of the movie and was sent to jail due to his brother, Nicky Calhoun. His brother was offered a deal to snitch and give the original painting back in order to avoid jail time for 20 years. So, his brother snitched and sent him to jail instead. He then came out and wanted to do nothing with his life other than dirt bike riding. He felt that nothing was going right for him anymore. One day he decided to do one last job, by stealing a famous painting by George Seurat and getting revenge on his brother. He went through a series of events starting from his bike accident just to get everything correctly in place to sell his brother out for “stealing” the famous painting. His brother “Crunch Calhoun” set his brother up to make it look like his brother stole the original painting by getting a second copy of the painting and sold him out to the police. The movie ends with Crunch being successful and ending up with a ton of money.
This movie was all about George Seurat’s painting. Seurat had excellent knowledge of art in the past. He also studied many different cultures and the nature of human body. He was the founder of the 19th-century French school of Neo-impressionism. He played with the technique of light using tiny brushstrokes almost seen as dots contrasting into colors, known as Pointillism. His famous painting that was brought up in the movie is called “Model From the Back” and was made in France in 1887. This painting was one of his best and describes the silence of the work of a naked woman modeling from behind. This painting is made with many dots contrasting into a woman, which I find very interesting. The dots contrast different shades such as blue, white, yellow, orange and black. The blue and orange are used everywhere. The more you look into the body of the woman, the more you see that contrast of her pale skin. You can see the naturalism in this painting of a woman being structured with dots forming into a body of a woman. This painting fascinated me with the different shades of dots and never in my life had I seen a painting of a woman created out of dots. Learning about this painting would have never been brought up if it weren’t for the movie and Seurat’s excellent work.
Another painting that was shown and talked about was the “Mona Lisa”. This painting was briefly brought up in the movie, in a scene where the characters discuss when “Mona Lisa” was stolen. The “Mona Lisa” has been used for commercials, memes, t-shirts, hats, socks, etc. She is famously known as having a mysterious smile of a random woman who is over proportioned compared to the background of the painting. She was also placed in a very weird setting and people love the mystery behind “Mona Lisa”, and why she was this mysterious woman no one ever knew was posing in this mind mystery painting.
From watching this movie I didn’t know that art could be handled in so many ways, and how much it could cost you to steal famous artwork. The reason behind this is that people go to great lengths for a piece of art, such as, for example, making forgeries. People who aren’t so much into art probably don’t know how much famous artworks are worth. What the viewers think about an artwork explains why people go through so much just to steal it. Another thing is, not many people also understand that art is very important because it helps people create problem-solving skills like motor skills for young children, language skills, and social skills. This movie shows important paintings that not many people would have known about if it weren’t for the movie. Movies dealing with art help give you a better idea as to why particular paintings are so famous. Movies that create background knowledge with art are a great way to start learning about the history of art.
