Art and Film Since 1945: Hall of Mirrors

Rating:
Summary: Hall of Mirrors
Review: 'Art and Film Since 1945: Hall of Mirrors' accompanied a major exhibition presented by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 1996 - in the Centenary of Cinema. This large scale exhibition charted the various aspects the dynamic relationship between film and modern art as it has developed over the last 50 years, and was an exploration the incredible impact that cinema has had on out visual at large, across the world and half the century. The exhibition drew on the immense expertise of Kerry Brougher, who curated the show and partly authored this catalogue. The catalogue is opened by Brougher's broad survey of the history of film and art, divided roughly into three moments (which was also the organising structure behind the exhibition) and goes on to explore other perspectives in illuminating essays by Russell Ferguson, Bruce Jenkins, Kate Linker et al. The volume is completed by a chronology of events and a comprehensive bibliography, which provides a useful tool for anyone interested in a further exploration of the field. Over all the catalogue is fascinating and inspiring reading for anyone with a passion for film and/or art. Especially to anyone who was fortunate enough to experience the exhibition the book is an absolute must. The publication must also be recommended for its fantastic illustrations, which adequately convey the spirit of the exhibition, even to art lovers and cinephiles who missed the show. The book is very pleasurable viewing as well as reading, and one finds oneself returning to it over and over again.

In the same vein I would like to recommend to other exhibition catalogues, which also offer valuable source material on the interdisciplinary relationship between film and art:

* 'Notorious', MOMA, Oxford 1999, catalogue by Brougher and Michael Tarantino.

* 'Spellbound', Hayward Gallery 1996, catalogue by Ian Christie and Philip Dodd.