A compendium of the development and history of film as art
Movies should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order. —Jean-Luc Godard
Debate over cinema’s credibility as an art form is as old as the medium itself, and largely defined in terms of formal, psychological, ideological, social, or auteurist theories. To explore how artists are also using the medium to investigate a wider range of aesthetic issues that are generally related to modern and contemporary art practices, this book is broken down into 10 subgenres, including abstraction, collage, appropriation, post-surrealism, structuralism, duration, parody, and expanded cinema.
The history of each subgenre is illustrated by over 300 films and filmmakers, from past masters such as
Hans Richter, Man Ray, and
Stan Brakhage to contemporary artists
Stan Douglas, Pipilotti Rist, and
Doug Aitken; from art-house legends
David Lynch, Jean-Luc Godard, and
Luis Buñuel to underground icons and contemporary artists
Kenneth Anger, Matthew Barney, Bruce Conner, Michael Snow, Owen Land, and
Paul McCarthy.