Robert McGinnis has drawn the covers for over 1200 paperback books and has designed 40 film posters, including Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the first of the James Bond films. McGinnis is distinguished by his strong attention to detail and atmosphere. After being in the business for over 50 years, McGinnis is still designing covers for both romance novels and for the Hard Case Crime novel series.
Below are just a few examples of Robert McGinnis’s work:
Reynold Brown was a realist artist who, over the course of his long career, painted landscapes, drew paperback book covers, and illustrated articles that appeared in magazines like The Saturday Evening Post and Popular Aviation. However, Brown is best remembered for drawing and designing Hollywood film posters. From 1950 to 1970, Brown designed posters for everything from cheap horror films to expensive biblical epics. Below is just a small sampling of his work.
His poster for The Alamo is my personal favorite.
Though best known as the father of actor Robert De Niro, Robert De Niro, Sr. was also an important and influential artist. His paintings were influenced by both French modernism and abstract expressionism and are memorable for his expressive use of color.
Below are some of my favorite examples of his work:
Best known as a film director, David Lynch is also a prolific and acclaimed photographer and painter. In the catalogue for a recent exhibition in Tokyo, Lynch wrote, “”When it comes to painting, it´s the darker things I find really beautiful. All my paintings are organic, violent comedies. They have to be violently done, and primitive and crude, and to achieve that I try to let nature paint more than I paint and stay out of the way as much as I can. In fact, I don´t paint with a brush too much any more – I prefer to use my fingers. I´d bite them if I could.”
Here’s a sampling of David Lynch’s artwork:
One of my favorite photographers is Gregory Crewdson. Working with a large crew and with elaborate lighting and staging, Crewdson captures images that are heavily influenced by the painter Edward Hopper and photographer Diane Arbus and which present a surreal and disturbing vision of life in small town America.
Fractured Girl
Dennis Hopper was best known as an actor but he was also a prolific and influential sculptor, painter, and photographer. He took up photography as a hobby in the 1960s and eventually became so acclaimed that he was even profiled in an issue of Better Home and Gardens Magazine as a “photographer to watch” for in the future. Hopper was also an important art collector.
Below are some of my favorite Hopper photographs:
Double Standard
Andy Wahol
Bruce Conner (in tub), Toni Basil, Teri Garr, and Ann Marshall
Donald Factor
Larry Bell
Paul Newman
Tuesday Weld
Biker Couple
After the Fall
Teenage Couple on Hudson Street
“Giving a camera to Diane Arbus is like giving a hand grenade to a child.” — Norman Mailer
Diane Arbus was born in 1923 in New York City. She started out as a commercial and fashion photographer but she is best known for her work featuring men and women who would never appear in a fashion spread. Her stark, black-and-white pictures of outsiders and fringe dwellers always found the humanity in her subjects. Though she committed suicide in 1971, Arbus continues to influence artists to this day and her work remains powerful.
Below are a few of my favorite photographs of hers:
A lot of film critics are giving Act of Valor a negative review but I think they’re missing the point. Featuring an actual Navy SEAL squad and real-life military tactics (and weapons), Act of Valor feels like a documentary and serves as a much-needed tribute to these brave men. The action scenes are intense and exciting and the movie makes great use of the “helmet cam” vantage point to truly make you feel as if you’re actually there in the middle of the action.
Yes, the Seals aren’t actors but they are the men who are putting their lives on the line for this country and seeing them recreating their missions is exciting in a way that watching Matt Damon or (sorry, Lisa) James Franco going through the motions wouldn’t be. Act of Valor is a movie that makes you want to stand up and salute. You might not start cheering at the end of it but you will appreciate the willingness to sacrifice and the sense of duty that epitomizes the best of our armed forces. It’s a tribute to the men and women who truly deserve the honor.
Whether you’re single or in love,
Whether you’re happy or bitter,
Have a safe and fun Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day from all the cats at the Shattered Lens!
It took me a while to narrow it down to these ten films but here are my favorite films of 2011.
1. Bill Cunningham New York
2. The Cave of Forgotten Dreams
3. The Tree of Life
4. Midnight in Paris
5. Hugo
6. Bridesmaids
7. The Help
8. Super 8
9. The Artist
10. Battle Los Angeles
Through the Shattered Lens