Film as a vehicle for vehicles, or cars as characters

The 49 Hudson, the car driven across America by Dean Moriaty in his travels with Sal Paradise in 'On the Road'  is almost another character. The recent film of the book is by the documentary-maker Walter Salles, who was asked by Francis Ford Coppola to direct the film after seeing his earlier road movie, 'The MotorCycle Diaries', about Che Guevara, again based on a book, where the unreliable aged Norton 500 motorcycle, La Ponderosa, or 'Mighty One', could also be seen as a character in its own right. As a young man, Ernesto Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado rode across South America seeking adventure.

After the main shooting of 'On the Road' had been completed, Salles and Garrett Hedland, the young American who plays Moriaty in the film, did their own road trip travelling east to west via back roads to achieve the same kind of freedom found in the book. They listened to jazz and filmed the changing landscapes; much of this footage was used in the final cut.

Eighteen years after Kerouac wrote his Beat novel, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern wrote 'Easy Rider'(1969), a road movie about two bikers, played by Fonda and Hopper, travelling through the American Southwest and South. It was a film that examined the rise and fall of the hippie movement, shot without screenplay so mainly ad-libbed. Peter Fonda saw it as a modern western, calling the two main characters  Wyatt and Billy - after Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid. Four former police bikes - Harley Davidsons - were used to create the two bikes, the 'Billy Bike' and the 'Captain America' which brought choppers into the mainstream.

After all this examining of men travelling to find themselves, it was time that women had a turn. But it was bound to  end in a different type of soul searching and destination. In Ridley Scott's 'Thelma and Louise', the two women set off in Louise's1966 Ford Thunderbird Convertible for a two-day vacation in the mountains, but end up with more adventure than they bargained for, eventually running away from the police. The car is a friend and companion, their key to freedom initially,  but also a trouble-magnet as their problems intensify once they pick up a hiker, JD ( a young Brad Pitt).


So to lighten up, let's look to the future and sci fi. In the 'Back to the Future' films, Doc Brown has constructed a time machine based on the DeLorean DMC-12. The formula of each film is similar, with Doc inventing, Marty travelling one way or another into the future or the past, and the car adding the pyrotechnics. One of the cars is on show in the Studio tour at Universal Studios, Hollywood.


Even more futuristic, though  with the kind of relationship you would have once had with a Ford Cortina, is the partnership of Han Solo and his Millenium Falcon in the first Star Wars films. Although Lucas based the action scenes on the dog fights of the second world war, Han Solo is more of a space cowboy than war hero and his spacecraft is equally  rough at the edges : Luke calls it a piece of junk but Solo retorts that the ship 'may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts.' Han Solo has his side-kick and travelling companion, co-pilot Chewbacca, the wookie, together they cruise around space making it look easy.


Harrison Ford had worked with George Lucas earlier, in 'American Grafitti', in which the cars don't really go anywhere but  do all the talking as the boys cruise to impress the girls in Modesto, California; Terry 'The Toad' has borrowed his mate's 1958 Chevrolet Impala while Harrison  Ford as Bob Falfa drives a 1955 Chevy 210. Made in 1973, but set in 1962, it's a more nostalgic look at youth than 'On the Road' or 'Easy Rider' , a series of vignettes of one evening. Francis Ford Coppola had challenged Lucas to write a script for mainstream audiences, which Lucas did using his own early 1960s teen experiences.

Gwen John and her brother

Gwen John was the eldest daughter of Edwin and Augusta, born in Wales in 1876. After her mother died,  when she was eight, her father went into mourning in the style of Queen Victoria, never remarrying. He left his work as a solicitor in his late thirties; the atmosphere in the house became sombre and cold.

Gwen and her younger brother Augustus both went to the Slade School of Art. She only managed to go through strong will as up to that point her education had followed the normal path considered suitable for a genteel young lady; they shared a room and lived on 'a diet of  fruit and nuts', according to Augustus in his autobiography 'Chiaroscuro'.

Augustus John's portraits of Elizabeth Asquith and Mrs Randolph

Even as students, it was the more flamboyant Augustus that stood out, whereas Gwen was quieter and more subdued. At the turn of the century Gwen made visits to Paris, studying under James Whistler. She began studying for the famous, older sculptor Auguste Rodin, becoming his lover. She met many of the other leading celebrities of the time, including Matisse,Braque, Brancusi and Picasso.

 In 1903 Gwen and her brother had a joint exhibition: she contributed three paintings to his forty-five. But their relationship was loving and non-competitive: he appreciated the interior feeling of her work, and introduced her to John Quinn, an American lawyer and collector who provided her with a stipend, so that she had no money concerns until he died in 1924, after which she produced little work. She stayed in simple rooms in Paris and later in Meudon, where she painted the nuns in the local convent.

She died in 1939; her work was rarely seen in England until the Memorial exhibition at the Matthiesen Gallery in 1946 established her reputation. At the moment there is an exhibition of her work plus that of Celia Paul, 'Painters in Parallel', in Chichester at the Pallant House Gallery . Though not contemporaries, there are many similarities: both were models and lovers of famous artists (Celia Paul was one of Lucien Freud's lovers and models); both were at the Slade; both painted many self portraits and portraits of women in intense, light-filled interiors.

Gwen John was a perfectionist who took a long while to decide on the pose of her model, working very slowly on quiet portraits of women and children, many with a similar simple theme such as a girl reading, plus self portraits.

While her models were anonymous, her Bohemian brother painted the rich and famous; but he used  to say that 'Fifty years after my death I shall be known as Gwen John's brother.' Gwen John's work is certainly more timeless, less dated than her brother's.

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Beatles

Mick Jagger first sang with the Rolling Stones fifty years ago last July (according to Tony Bennett a few years ago on a chat show he also once said that he wouldn't want to still be performing when he was old like Tony!!). A new biography by Philip Norman came out recently - he wrote 'Shout!' about the Beatles in 1981, and has also published other biographies on Lennon and the Rolling Stones.
 The Beatles first single was 'Love, Love Me Do', released October 1962; it reached number 17.

Their second single released the following January, 'Please, Please Me', was their first number one. The Stones went for a more negative vibe for their first number one: 'It's all over now', released slightly earlier by its composer, Bobby Womack, with his band 'The Valentinos' (in the sixties there was often a US and UK version of the same song); the Stones were promoted as the edgy opposite of the Beatles, with them unsmiling in the dark moody photo on their first album, the self titled 'The Rolling Stones', and abandoning the smart suits for their casual clothes at performances.

Their name was  taken from a Muddy Waters track, apparently by Jones on impulse while on the phone to 'Jazz News'. But it was a choice that suited their tearaway, dishevelled image, and suggests that they would be on top of the insects! In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine compiled a list of the top 100 artists in which the Beatles were number one, the Stones at number four. But in the sixties it was still early days and a level playing field, you chose your side depending on whether you were a rebel or not.

The Stones' first three singles were covers (the second record was a Lennon-McCartney song, 'I wanna be your man'), as were most songs on the first LP. It was their manager Andrew Loog Oldham who marketed them as 'anti-Beatles', but  he was also urging them to write their own material like  The Beatles, who were initiating the idea of the self-contained rock band writing their own songs . Their album, 'Please Please Me' hit the top of the album charts, usually dominated by easy listening and film soundtracks; the majority of the songs were self-penned.  The distinctive cover photo brightly coloured in contrast to the shadows of the Stones' cover, is of the Beatles grinning, looking down the stairwell of the EMI London headquarters building.

Fast forward to the end of the decade - The Beatles may have been the most acclaimed and successful pop band, but when they broke up in 1969, the Stones were able to take up the slack - 'Sticky Fingers' in 1970 was a triple-platinum selling album, the first of their albums to achieve this.The individual members of the Beatles went on to have successful solo careers, as have some of the Stones in tandem with the band, but despite Jagger's earlier reservations about still being on stage in his sixties - and he's seventy next year - the band continue to tour and perform. They released a large hardback book entitled '50' last summer to commemorate half a century of the band, and a photographic exhibition was held in the summer at Somerset House. Now that's quite respectable!!

Women artists and their men

Just watched a short extract of a film about Lucien Freud, fascinating:
http://www.nowness.com/day/2010/2/26/376/the-god-of-small-things
Small Gestures in Bare Rooms was a film made by Tim Meara about the artist in his later years.   The artist's studio was reconstructed; it includes Celia Paul, one of Freud's models and lovers, who currently has an exhibition at the Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, until 27th January. This is of both her work, and the work of Gwen John, another female artist whose work was overshadowed by the famous male in her life: she was Augustus John's older sister.  The exhibition is called Painters in Parallel, and there is certainly something very similar about the styles of the two women (Gwen John's work is on the left above)with their muted colours and quiet scenes.

Forwards and Upwards

The first non-stop transatlantic flight was flown in Burberry -

 by British aviators Alcock and Brown in June 1919.

     Roald Amundsen conquered the South Pole also wearing Burberry, in December 1911.

The company was founded in 1826 when Thomas Burberry, aged only 21, opened a store in Basingstoke, Hampshire.By 1870 the business had established itself by concentrating on outdoor wear, introducing in 1880 the gaberdine, hard-wearing, water-resistant yet breathable.

 In 1901 the equestrian knight logo was registered - containing the Latin word Prorsum, or Forwards; ten years later they became outfitters for Amundsen, plus Ernest Shackleton, who led a 1914 expedition across Antarctica. However a Burberry gaberdine was also worn by George Mallory for his unsuccessful attempt on Mount Everest.

More recently it has been modelled by Kate Moss, Agyness Deyn and Emma Watson.

Of Birds and Men

Had a brilliant meeting of the Waveney and Blyth Valley Arts today. Three excellent speakers, including the dynamic Laurence Edwards with the tale of his Creek Men, which finally explained to me why they are no longer at Snape, what a loss, but luckily they are apparently now at Heveningham.
http://laurenceedwardssculpture.com

  Also speaking was Mark Cocker, whose 'Birds and People' is an internet forum for people around the world to contribute their experiences with our 'feathered friends', resulting in a book of the condensed details.
 Also, Peter Cowdrey  gave us a demonstration  of the way technology can help us understand the musicality and patterns in birdsong.
http://www.operaunlimited.org.uk/theconferenceofbirds.htmlAlso, heard a sneak preview of the Translation Through Reeds recording - fab!!

T shirts r us

The modern T-shirt had humble beginnings. A union suit was a one-piece item of underwear, originally designed in the U.S. for women, made of red flannel, with long arms and legs, as an alternative to the restricting garments previously worn, patented as 'emancipation union under flannel' in 1868. It was still worn into the 20th Century, but was gradually becoming menswear, and replaced by two garments, long johns and the precursor of the T-shirt.      Miners and stevedores wore T-shirts for their hot working conditions from the 19th century; they were issued by the US navy for wearing as an undergarment during the Spanish American war in 1898. It was soon popular as a bottom layer for many types of workers, including agricultural, particularly for young boys.

By the 1920s T-shirt was a term in the American/English dictionary. By the Great Depression it was the usual attire for farm work. After WW2 it was common to see veterans wearing t-shirts with uniform trousers, and after 'A Streetcar named Desire' 1951 starring Brando, and 'Rebel without a Cause' 1955 starring James Dean, they became a fashion item. Elvis and others added to their popularity.

In the early 1950s companies in Miami began to produce shirts with characters and resort names. Tropic Togs produced Disney characters.

In the sixties tie-dye and screen-printing became popular, with political messages, and pictures of Che Guevara, plus bands. In 1961 a surfboard maker, Floyd Smith, made possibly the first surfing T-shirt. Local surfers took him their white T-shirts for screen-printing.

 Musicians also began using the T-shirt as a marketing tool, selling them at concerts with their images and slogans. (The very oldest slogan T-shirt said 'Dew it for Dewey', to promote Thomas Dewey's bid to become president in the fifties -one is exhibited at the Smithsonian Institute.) The ringer T-shirt appeared in the sixties, with a different colour collar, popular among rock and roll fans, most frequently a black collar on a white T.

In the eighties white t-shirts became popular after Don Johnson wore his under an Armani suit in Miami Vice; designer-name logos were used as part of advertising campaigns.

Today over 300million surfing T-shirts are produced around the globe. T-shirts are ubiquitous, worn by almost everyone, almost everywhere.

Recently, Susan A. Barnett photographed people in T- shirts - from rear view - in a project called 'Not in Your Face'. On her web site-she says 
'Each one of these people reveal a part of themselves that advertises their hopes, ideals, likes, dislikes, political views, and personal mantras.

By photographing from the back I attempt to challenge the time-honored tradition of the portrait being of the face and test whether body type, dress and demeanor can tell us just as much as a facial expression might.'
http://notinyourface.com/about.html


So what's written on your T shirts?