Monday, January 31, 2011

Deux films d'art de Lauro Venturi: Chagall / Pierre Bonnard

Chagall. FR 1963. D: Lauro Venturi. 25 min
Pierre Bonnard. FR 1965. D: Lauro Venturi. 19 min
Bonus: - Lauro Venturi et le Film d'Art (FR 2007), 54 min. - Adolfo Venturi, Arte Storia Passione (IT 2006), D: Giorgio Guido, 29 min. - Livret: Lauro's Movie Time, extraits des mémoirs inédites de Lauro Venturi. - Dvd © 2009 Les Documents Cinématographiques with English and Spanish (1) and Italian (2) subtitles viewed at home in Helsinki, 31 Jan 2011

Dvd cover: "Lauro Venturi est l'héritier d'une dynastie italienne d'historiens d'art. Son grand-père, Adolfo, fut une figure de proue de l'histoire de l'art en Italie et son père, Lionello, devint également un célèbre historien d'art. Lauro continua la tradition familiale à sa façon dans l'édition de livres d'art chez Skira dans les années 50 et 60, au moment où le livre d'art de luxe devint très à la mode et dans le cinéma, comme assistant de Mario Soldati et de Luciano Emmer, puis comme réalisateur de courts et longs-métrages sur des peintres, dont Leonardo da Vinci, Chagall et Bonnard. Chagall lui valut un Oscar en 1964."

Excellent quality of image and colour in these priceless art films. Marc Chagall himself is seen in the first film, shot by Jean Bourgoin and composed by Joseph Kosma. Pierre Bonnard had already died so the second film is based on photographs of him, shots of his neighbourhoods, and of course the painter's work. Lauro Venturi possesses the same level of ambition as Luciano Emmer and Alain Resnais, but he does not constrain himself radically into the frame of the paintings. Clearly there is however the same insight of inner biography via the paintings themselves. A feast for the eyes. The bonus documentary tells about the great Italian Venturi family of art historians. We see Luciano Emmer's storyboards and learn about Lauro Venturi's rotation method for filming paintings.

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