Sunday, 27 May 2012
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Sunday, 13 May 2012
Maggie Nolan: Photomontages
Born in 1943 in London, Margaret Nolan had a career as a glamour model under the name of Vicki Kennedy, even posing for Playboy magazine. Entering films in 1963 in Saturday Night Out (1964) saw her catapulted into Goldfinger (1964). Besides the role of 'Dink' in Goldfinger, she was also 'The golden girl' in the title credits sequence. Her roles in the "Carry On..." films is probably her best remembered work in cinema. Often cast mainly for her fabulous buxom figure and good looks, Margaret was perfectly cast in Carry on Girls (1973), made six "Carry On..." performances in all and was very successful in all of her roles, displaying good comedy acting skills.
- The Internet Movie Database.
"I had many portraits taken of me during my acting career and found myself wondering what to do with them all. I began cutting and pasting those I had several copies of into these photomontages. To me they more accurately reflect an image of the 60's and 70's than the originals in their context. I found the quote below summed up my feelings about them..."
"To be born a woman has to be born, within an allotted and confined space, into the keeping of men...this has been at the cost of a woman's self being split into two...she must continuously watch herself..and so she comes to consider the surveyor and the surveyed within her as the two constituent yet always distinct elements of her identity as a woman. Men look at women, women watch themselves being looked at...her own sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being appreciated as herself by another...thus she turns herself into an object - and most particularly an object of vision; a 'sight'".
- John Berger 'Ways of Seeing' 1973.
Further information here, here & here.
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Harry Smith's final film: #18 Mahagonny
Experimental filmmaker, anthropologist, painter, and musicologist Harry Smith's final film was an epic four-screen projection titled Mahagonny. Smith worked on this cinematic transformation of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny for over ten years and considered it his magnum opus. His friends have said that Smith was obsessed with the opera, playing it over and over in his room at the Chelsea Hotel. The film was shot from 1970 to 1972 and edited for the next eight years. The "program" of the film is meticulous, with a complex structure and order. The Weill opera is transformed into a numerological and symbolic system. Images in the film are divided into the categories portraits, animation, symbols and nature to form the palindrome P.A.S.A.N.A.S.A.P.
Mahagonny is an allegory of contemporary life, it explores the needs and desires of man amid the rituals of daily life in New York City. Smith's New York is a place where everything is permitted and the only sin is not having enough money. Much of the action takes place within the Chelsea Hotel. The film contains invaluable portraits of important avantgarde figures such as Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith, and Jonas Mekas, intercut with installation pieces from Robert Mapplethorpe's studio, New York City landmarks of the era, and Smith's visionary animation. Smith's portrait of life in New York has strong affinities with the Brecht/Weill opera. Both are set in a somewhat mythical America, meant to exemplify life in capitalist society more generally.
The opera caused a riot when it premiered in Leipzig, Germany, in 1930. Smith's selection of the opera was prompted by his desire to create a similarly radical effect, although his Mahagonny provoked no mass demonstrations when it was screened on the Lower East Side.
Smith identified with Weill's transformation of popular music into an avantgarde presentation, and an analogy can be made between Weill's work and Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music (1952). For the Anthology, Smith took existing commercial recordings of traditional American folk music and reshaped them into a complex aural collage. Like Weill's opera and the Anthology, Mahagonny blurs the line between "high" and "low," traditional form and radical production, taking vernacular elements out of their original context to create a work of true originality, addressing many areas of culture that Smith had been investigating for over thirty years.
The editing of Mahagonny was a byzantine process. Smith created index cards for each scene and organized them according to various mathematical permutations in relation to the opera. Twenty-four scenes appear on each reel, following the order of the palindrome. Smith determined the length of each scene by taking into account certain constants in the viewer such as respiration and heartbeat. To synchronize the four reels with the operatic score, he made scrolls representing each edited reel plus a fifth scroll with the time code and list of scenes from the opera. The completed film consists of four 16 mm images tiled together on the screen to form one four-part image synched to the opera.
The film has had limited exposure, showing only six times in 1980 at Anthology Film Archives in New York with Smith present at each screening. His desire was to have it presented on four pool tables within a boxing ring but that was never realized. Smith designed frame filters within which the film would be projected accompanied by scrolling subtitles of the opera, but that project also never came to fruition...
Rani Singh, Getty Research Institute. Photo by Allen Ginsberg.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy / Smiley's People
"As a good socialist, I'm going where the money is; as a good capitalist, I'm sticking with the revolution, because if you can't beat it, spy on it!"
When first broadcast in September 1979, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was greeted with opposing voices as "turgid, obscure, and pretentious" or as "a great success." It is in keeping with the ambiguous nature of John Le Carré's narratives that one can simultaneously agree with both formulations without contradiction. As Roy Bland, paraphrasing Scott Fitzgerald observes: "An artist is a bloke who can hold two fundamentally opposing views and still function".
The obscurity is a consequence of the themes of deception and duplicity at the centre of the narrative: to those who, like Sir Hugh Greene, prefer the moral certainties of Buchan's version of British Intelligence, Le Carré's world will not only be difficult to follow but morally perplexing.
On the other hand, the success of the serial was not only demonstrated by good audience ratings but by general critical acclaim for the acting, a judgment ratified by subsequent BAFTA awards for best actor (Alec Guinness) and for the camerawork of Tony Pierce-Roberts. Ambiguity persisted in America where the serial won critical acclaim when shown on PBS but failed to be taken up by the networks.
Although Le Carré published his first novel, Call For the Dead, in 1961, and his first major success The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) was turned into a film in 1966, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was his first venture into television. He rejected the project of turning it into a film because of the compression, but felt the space afforded by TV serialization would do justice to his narrative. He was also impressed with the skill of Arthur Hopcraft's screenplay which extensively reordered the structure of the novel to clarify the narrative for a television audience without violating its essential character (Hopcraft for example begins the narrative with the debacle in Czechoslovakia which only begins to be treated in the novel in chapter 27). Le Carré was even more taken by the interpretation of Smiley provided by Alec Guinness, so much so that as he was writing Smiley's People he found himself visualizing Guinness in the role and incorporated some of the insights afforded by the actor in the sequel to the trilogy. A trivial example will stand for many. During the production of Tinker Tailor, Guinness complained that the characterizing idiosyncrasy of Smiley, polishing his glasses with the fat end of his tie, cannot be done naturally because the cold weather in London means that Smiley will be wearing a three piece suit, thus a handkerchief has to be substituted. At the end of Smiley's People Le Carré includes a teasingly oblique rejoinder:
From long habit, Smiley had taken off his spectacles and was absently polishing them on the fat end of his tie, even though he had to delve for it among the folds of his tweed coat.
The story of Tinker, Tailor has an archetypal simplicity reminiscent of the Odyssey: the scorned outsider investigates the running of the kingdom, tests the loyalty of his subjects and kin by means of plausible stories before disposing of the usurpers and restoring right rule. In Le Carre's modern story the elements are transposed onto the landscape of conflicted modern Europe in the throes of Cold War.
Brendan Kenny
John le Carré reads from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy:
When we left George Smiley at the end of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (BBC, 1979) he had been appointed acting head of British Intelligence.
He had uncovered a mole within the Service (nicknamed 'The Circus' because the HQ is located near Cambridge Circus in London) that had been in the employ of Karla, Smiley's KGB opposite number at 'Moscow Centre'.
John Le Carré had followed this story with The Honourable Schoolboy (1977), but as much of the action was set in South East Asia and Smiley was featured less prominently, the BBC opted to adapt Smiley's People instead, jumping straight to the last book in the trilogy (all three since republished as 'The Quest for Karla').
As Le Carré had not been entirely happy with their previous adaptation, this time he came onboard as Executive Producer and co-writer with John Hopkins. Alec Guinness returns as Smiley, but only a few of the actors from the first series re-appear, including Sîan Phillips, Beryl Reid and Bernard Hepton as Toby Esterhase. In the latter case, the decision was made to bring the character closer to the original book, so that he now appears with a bouffant hairpiece and a Hungarian accent that he presumably regained after being kicked out of the 'Circus' at the end of Tinker, Tailor. Patrick Stewart returns as Karla, although as before he has no lines to speak, remaining an enigmatic, almost abstract adversary, the overcoming of which might give Smiley a fleeting sense of triumph, but no lasting satisfaction.
While the earlier series was set mostly in London, with sections in (what was then) Czechoslovakia and Portugal, the new story mostly takes place in Paris, Germany and Switzerland, with Smiley closing in on Karla by finding an unexpected weak spot while investigating the death of an ex-agent.
Guinness is superb, while the plot (as with Tinker, Tailor) functions mainly to support a series of short episodes featuring a rogue's gallery of frequently weary but still fascinating characters. The pace across the six one-hour episodes is occasionally a little too stately, meaning the main plot takes a little too long to come into focus; Smiley doesn't even appear for the first half-hour! However, this does ensure breathing room for a fine cast, featuring Curd Jürgens (in his final role), Maureen Lipman, Eileen Atkins, Barry Foster, Michael Elphick, Bill Paterson and, in a small supporting role, Alan Rickman.
Sergio Angelini
John le Carré reads from Smiley's People:
More information here, here and here.
When first broadcast in September 1979, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was greeted with opposing voices as "turgid, obscure, and pretentious" or as "a great success." It is in keeping with the ambiguous nature of John Le Carré's narratives that one can simultaneously agree with both formulations without contradiction. As Roy Bland, paraphrasing Scott Fitzgerald observes: "An artist is a bloke who can hold two fundamentally opposing views and still function".
The obscurity is a consequence of the themes of deception and duplicity at the centre of the narrative: to those who, like Sir Hugh Greene, prefer the moral certainties of Buchan's version of British Intelligence, Le Carré's world will not only be difficult to follow but morally perplexing.
On the other hand, the success of the serial was not only demonstrated by good audience ratings but by general critical acclaim for the acting, a judgment ratified by subsequent BAFTA awards for best actor (Alec Guinness) and for the camerawork of Tony Pierce-Roberts. Ambiguity persisted in America where the serial won critical acclaim when shown on PBS but failed to be taken up by the networks.
Although Le Carré published his first novel, Call For the Dead, in 1961, and his first major success The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) was turned into a film in 1966, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was his first venture into television. He rejected the project of turning it into a film because of the compression, but felt the space afforded by TV serialization would do justice to his narrative. He was also impressed with the skill of Arthur Hopcraft's screenplay which extensively reordered the structure of the novel to clarify the narrative for a television audience without violating its essential character (Hopcraft for example begins the narrative with the debacle in Czechoslovakia which only begins to be treated in the novel in chapter 27). Le Carré was even more taken by the interpretation of Smiley provided by Alec Guinness, so much so that as he was writing Smiley's People he found himself visualizing Guinness in the role and incorporated some of the insights afforded by the actor in the sequel to the trilogy. A trivial example will stand for many. During the production of Tinker Tailor, Guinness complained that the characterizing idiosyncrasy of Smiley, polishing his glasses with the fat end of his tie, cannot be done naturally because the cold weather in London means that Smiley will be wearing a three piece suit, thus a handkerchief has to be substituted. At the end of Smiley's People Le Carré includes a teasingly oblique rejoinder:
From long habit, Smiley had taken off his spectacles and was absently polishing them on the fat end of his tie, even though he had to delve for it among the folds of his tweed coat.
The story of Tinker, Tailor has an archetypal simplicity reminiscent of the Odyssey: the scorned outsider investigates the running of the kingdom, tests the loyalty of his subjects and kin by means of plausible stories before disposing of the usurpers and restoring right rule. In Le Carre's modern story the elements are transposed onto the landscape of conflicted modern Europe in the throes of Cold War.
Brendan Kenny
John le Carré reads from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy:
When we left George Smiley at the end of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (BBC, 1979) he had been appointed acting head of British Intelligence.
He had uncovered a mole within the Service (nicknamed 'The Circus' because the HQ is located near Cambridge Circus in London) that had been in the employ of Karla, Smiley's KGB opposite number at 'Moscow Centre'.
John Le Carré had followed this story with The Honourable Schoolboy (1977), but as much of the action was set in South East Asia and Smiley was featured less prominently, the BBC opted to adapt Smiley's People instead, jumping straight to the last book in the trilogy (all three since republished as 'The Quest for Karla').
As Le Carré had not been entirely happy with their previous adaptation, this time he came onboard as Executive Producer and co-writer with John Hopkins. Alec Guinness returns as Smiley, but only a few of the actors from the first series re-appear, including Sîan Phillips, Beryl Reid and Bernard Hepton as Toby Esterhase. In the latter case, the decision was made to bring the character closer to the original book, so that he now appears with a bouffant hairpiece and a Hungarian accent that he presumably regained after being kicked out of the 'Circus' at the end of Tinker, Tailor. Patrick Stewart returns as Karla, although as before he has no lines to speak, remaining an enigmatic, almost abstract adversary, the overcoming of which might give Smiley a fleeting sense of triumph, but no lasting satisfaction.
While the earlier series was set mostly in London, with sections in (what was then) Czechoslovakia and Portugal, the new story mostly takes place in Paris, Germany and Switzerland, with Smiley closing in on Karla by finding an unexpected weak spot while investigating the death of an ex-agent.
Guinness is superb, while the plot (as with Tinker, Tailor) functions mainly to support a series of short episodes featuring a rogue's gallery of frequently weary but still fascinating characters. The pace across the six one-hour episodes is occasionally a little too stately, meaning the main plot takes a little too long to come into focus; Smiley doesn't even appear for the first half-hour! However, this does ensure breathing room for a fine cast, featuring Curd Jürgens (in his final role), Maureen Lipman, Eileen Atkins, Barry Foster, Michael Elphick, Bill Paterson and, in a small supporting role, Alan Rickman.
Sergio Angelini
John le Carré reads from Smiley's People:
More information here, here and here.
The curious world of C. John Taylor & the Highland Arts Exhibition
If, like me, you find yourself stuck for something to do on a rainy afternoon, whilst meandering along the west coast of Scotland, you may well thank yourself, as I did, for making your way across the Atlantic Bridge, to the Isle of Seil, and the wonderful world of C. John Taylor & the Highland Arts Exhibition.
The decision to visit the Isle of Seil was based on nothing more than a finger jabbed at a map. Beyond the possibility of a good oyster restaurant, expectations were low. Sadly, the restaurant at Ellenabeich was closed, but just as I turned to leave, I noticed a sign for locally produced ice cream. I called to my wife "fancy an ice cream" and made my way towards, what turned out to be, the Highland Arts Exhibition.
Having been, up until that point, ignorant of the late C. John Taylor; 'Poet/Artist/Composer', the heady combination of gift shop, museum, gallery & exhibition, were initially a little too much to take in. The beautiful Highland landscape, having long since drained my digital camera, a handful of images are captured on my mobile phone. If anything, I feel the low-res adds to the general confusion...
Born on 6th February 1915 in Stockport, C. John Taylor at the age of three years, first showed signs of having an artistic talent. He grew up with two brothers Arthur, Bert and Sister Anne.
C. John Taylor started his working life in Liverpool, in a wholesale drapery warehouse; IG and J Cooper.
His office manager asked him about his passion for art and took him downstairs to an unused studio where he painted in his lunch hour and sold his work to leading department stores for 18 shillings, it cost him 4 pence ha'penny! He met his wife at this place of work. She was Jean MacIntyre Carmichael. Jeans family were from Loch Buie in Mull.
At 18, he had his own business; a manufacturing chemist, employing 85 demonstrators who would promote the various products throughout the UK, in leading department stores. During this time, he won the best advertising award in the UK, for his pro-active and imaginative marketing.
C. John Taylor married Jean and set up their home in West Newton house, near Carlisle. They started their own family; Sheena, Barbara, John, David, Duncan and Fiona.
Always keen on politics he was a parliamentary candidate for Penrith and Border, missing election by only three votes, however he was Chairman for Carlisle city council for many years.
Whilst the children spent their school holidays on Seil Island, C. John Taylor and wife Jean were keen to relocate to Seil Island. They bought coolas building in Ellenabeich. C. John always had a paintbrush to hand and started a serious collection of works.
The coolas shortly developed into an art gallery and gradually more and more merchandise was introduced, calling his new business “Highland Arts Exhibition”.
Within no time, he bought the Oban branch and found the village of Luss (by accident staying in a hotel), later to open there along with Inveraray and latterly Callander. Highland Arts Exhibition now had several branches. Sons John, David and Duncan were involved in the business from day one and later one of his nine grandchildren, Jane also joined.
Products were being produced exclusively for Highland Arts, including prints, poetry, and many more gifts that are exclusive. This was far more than a Scottish Gift shop...
His first poem written was when he turned 60 years old and it was on a Sunday morning. Writing poetry was a way to relax, it naturally flowed, with rhythm and in harmony. Since that Sunday, he has written over 1,000 poems.
Every November, typically the end of a season C. John Taylor and his wife Jean would travel to warmer climates, later in his life they became fond of cruising and travelled around the world painting, sketching, writing poetry, and music. At the end of the voyage he would hold an exhibition on board of up to 100 pieces of work displayed which were completed on board his trip.
Sadly, his wife passed away on the 7th Feb 1985 in Tahiti on a world cruise. C. John Taylor did re-marry to Ida Marie Samuels Brusse who was a friend of Jean on the cruises.
C. John Taylor never stopped working to his dying day, 84 years old on board the Saga Rose on 11th Feb 1998 (Almost in the same location as his former wife and almost on the same day).
Text courtesy of Highland Arts.
Islands Of Beauty
The Prince Of Wales / For Friendship Sake / Islands Of Beauty
The decision to visit the Isle of Seil was based on nothing more than a finger jabbed at a map. Beyond the possibility of a good oyster restaurant, expectations were low. Sadly, the restaurant at Ellenabeich was closed, but just as I turned to leave, I noticed a sign for locally produced ice cream. I called to my wife "fancy an ice cream" and made my way towards, what turned out to be, the Highland Arts Exhibition.
Having been, up until that point, ignorant of the late C. John Taylor; 'Poet/Artist/Composer', the heady combination of gift shop, museum, gallery & exhibition, were initially a little too much to take in. The beautiful Highland landscape, having long since drained my digital camera, a handful of images are captured on my mobile phone. If anything, I feel the low-res adds to the general confusion...
Born on 6th February 1915 in Stockport, C. John Taylor at the age of three years, first showed signs of having an artistic talent. He grew up with two brothers Arthur, Bert and Sister Anne.
C. John Taylor started his working life in Liverpool, in a wholesale drapery warehouse; IG and J Cooper.
His office manager asked him about his passion for art and took him downstairs to an unused studio where he painted in his lunch hour and sold his work to leading department stores for 18 shillings, it cost him 4 pence ha'penny! He met his wife at this place of work. She was Jean MacIntyre Carmichael. Jeans family were from Loch Buie in Mull.
At 18, he had his own business; a manufacturing chemist, employing 85 demonstrators who would promote the various products throughout the UK, in leading department stores. During this time, he won the best advertising award in the UK, for his pro-active and imaginative marketing.
C. John Taylor married Jean and set up their home in West Newton house, near Carlisle. They started their own family; Sheena, Barbara, John, David, Duncan and Fiona.
Always keen on politics he was a parliamentary candidate for Penrith and Border, missing election by only three votes, however he was Chairman for Carlisle city council for many years.
Whilst the children spent their school holidays on Seil Island, C. John Taylor and wife Jean were keen to relocate to Seil Island. They bought coolas building in Ellenabeich. C. John always had a paintbrush to hand and started a serious collection of works.
The coolas shortly developed into an art gallery and gradually more and more merchandise was introduced, calling his new business “Highland Arts Exhibition”.
Within no time, he bought the Oban branch and found the village of Luss (by accident staying in a hotel), later to open there along with Inveraray and latterly Callander. Highland Arts Exhibition now had several branches. Sons John, David and Duncan were involved in the business from day one and later one of his nine grandchildren, Jane also joined.
Products were being produced exclusively for Highland Arts, including prints, poetry, and many more gifts that are exclusive. This was far more than a Scottish Gift shop...
His first poem written was when he turned 60 years old and it was on a Sunday morning. Writing poetry was a way to relax, it naturally flowed, with rhythm and in harmony. Since that Sunday, he has written over 1,000 poems.
Every November, typically the end of a season C. John Taylor and his wife Jean would travel to warmer climates, later in his life they became fond of cruising and travelled around the world painting, sketching, writing poetry, and music. At the end of the voyage he would hold an exhibition on board of up to 100 pieces of work displayed which were completed on board his trip.
Sadly, his wife passed away on the 7th Feb 1985 in Tahiti on a world cruise. C. John Taylor did re-marry to Ida Marie Samuels Brusse who was a friend of Jean on the cruises.
C. John Taylor never stopped working to his dying day, 84 years old on board the Saga Rose on 11th Feb 1998 (Almost in the same location as his former wife and almost on the same day).
Text courtesy of Highland Arts.
Islands Of Beauty
The Prince Of Wales / For Friendship Sake / Islands Of Beauty
Fontana Modern Masters
Sir John Frank Kermode (29 November 1919 – 17 August 2010) was a highly regarded British literary critic best known for his seminal critical work The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction, published in 1967 (revised 2000).
Kermode was known for many works of criticism, and also as editor of the popular Fontana Modern Masters series of introductions to modern thinkers. He was a regular contributor to the London Review of Books and The New York Review of Books.
Kermode was born on the Isle of Man, and was educated at Douglas High School and Liverpool University. He served in the Royal Navy during World War II, for six years in total, much of it in Iceland. Kermode was a contributor for several years to the somewhat neoconservative magazine, Encounter and in 1965 became co-editor. He resigned in less than two years after it became clear that the magazine was funded by the CIA. He subsequently pursued an academic career, becoming Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London from 1967 to 1974. Under Kermode, the UCL English Department chaired a series of graduate seminars which broke new ground by introducing for the first time contemporary French critical theory to Britain.
In 1974, Kermode took the position of King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at Cambridge University. He resigned the post in 1982, at least in part because of the acrimonious tenure debate surrounding Colin MacCabe. He then moved to Columbia University, where he was Julian Clarence Levi Professor Emeritus in the Humanities. From 1975 to 1976 Kermode was the Norton professor at Harvard University. A few months before Kermode's death the scholar James Shapiro described him as "the best living reader of Shakespeare anywhere, hands down".
Firm taking covers of the Modern Masters and creating new vintage print. HarperCollins Publishers has secured a deal with Raking Light to take the covers of the famous Fontana Modern Masters and create a new vintage print.
The pocket guides to artists, writers, philosophers, sociologists and other thinkers were first published in the 1970s under Fontana, which is the paperback imprint of the Scottish publisher William Collins & Co.
In 1989, Collins was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and was incorporated into HarperCollins Publishers.
James Pardey of Raking Light commented: "The covers of the Fontana Modern Masters are unique. Each of the covers is a piece of art in its own right and a classic example of 1970s graphic design. Fontana was using art to sell books, so it seemed natural to turn these iconic covers back into a stunning work of art." Mel Beer, head of licensing and content development at HarperCollins, added: "The Collins: Fontana Modern Masters book covers are a work of art and Raking Light's vision for capturing these in a montage print is inspired. I'm sure they'll do well."
More information here and here.
Cover paintings by Oliver Bevan.
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