It's killing me that this movie hasn't been released here. It looks like it'll get a wider release in March (after the Oscars).They're discussing it today on Science Friday with the director and the main character.
Tim Jenison (inventor of the Video Toaster) sets out to duplicate the painting techniques of Johannes Vermeer. I'd heard about Vermeer's camera obscura, but until last year I'd never heard of the camera lucida, which sounds like the device used by Jenison in this documentary. There's a company that sells portable camera lucidas through Kickstarter.
I want to see this - looks interesting. It reminds me of the two kids who made a machine that provides a new way of achieving correct linear perspective.
Yes, that's a camera lucida, not a camera obscura. Interesting to see one in action. I've always meant to read that book by David Hockney where he asserts that use of these sorts of optical devices were standard practice among Old Master painters, but I never got around to it.
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This was on my short list for the first half of today's double feature, but the Film Forum is screening Godard's Alphaville which I'd never seen before, and it's only playing for one week. Maybe next Friday.
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I could see some people finding it tedious, but I enjoy watching people paint. It was sort of an extended version of Penn and Teller's Bullshit.
It's an amazing process. Tim sells himself short as an artist. The process doesn't require artistic talent, but it does require that someone have an extremely steady hand and the ability to use a paint brush. Give your brushes to someone who has no touch and see how quickly they destroy them.
I watched this today. An amazing piece of work. I like that before he can even begin to start painting, he had to build an exact copy of Vermeer's studio room…including things like silhouettes of buildings outside the windows (where they can't even be seen) so the light is just right.
I laughed so hard at how he solved his lathe problem.
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