#documentary art

[gael-garcia]

The Palestinian (1977)

[bluegiragi]

trapdoor.

early access + nsfw on patreon monster!AU masterpost

[turtletoria]

i wanted to try drawing older Mabel and Dipper !

[jojaxcola]

"can i ask YOU a question?"

[ jojamart mockumentary #15 ]

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[noodles-and-tea]

Back at it with my enchanted merthur shenanigans

[parkercore-69]

yo guys i think it’s pretty sweet when Troy smiles at the camera when Abed’s filming ☹️

[comemierdatlazolteotl]

Some things worth considering here: before photography became widely available (which wasn’t until the 1880s, and even then, it was still only for a small, privileged class of white bourgeoisie individuals (mostly men), and while people certainly did make things up all the time, it is hard to say that a drawing isn’t a good document since Art History has time and time again confirmed to us that our standards of truth and aesthetics are historically conditioned.

The history of picture making has for a long time depended on the drawing and text to document the world, and so when we consider evidence of things that happened before the 1800s and even well after, what we find is that all evidence becomes a kind of socially agreed upon hearsay, and one can even pull up court documents and statements from individuals to shore up a conclusion, but ultimately, all we can ever have is a collection documents that someone has used to tell a story that they believe is true, and that’s because art, like speech and writing, are made up, at their base, of rhetorics. So to not trust a drawing as evidence will lead to a type of skeptic cynicism that makes looking at art historically completely useless.

I’m an art historian and this is a common concern: is it really that drawing a picture of reality can give us reality or can it only ever be a metaphor or a piece of propugnada? Also, what’s the difference? It’s never easy to say, and a photograph isn’t much more privileged in giving us proof of things either. That’s why intention and context matter because a picture is always the product of a social reality where it comes at a cost to produce. Good drawings have never been cheap, and until recently, a good photograph wasn’t either, and we must imagine a time when the interpretation of a certain artifact as being completely detached from the real world is a very new phenomenon which I have my own doubts about.

That’s why the Realists in the 1800s emerged in France: there had been a crisis in representation due to the power of the photographic image and it behooved painters that the reality of what they represented could ever be put into question. You could say that artists like Courbet were inventing new categories of objective observation and representation because, even in those days, people didn’t fully trust photographs because we’ve always known they could be doctored which is why his paintings are made with broad strokes, even before Impressionism. What we have in this era of history is the invention of documentary photography which emerged with the revolutionary politics of this pro-communist era which demanded a democratization of information and literacy. To learn art is to learn how to read and write information, and so while to say that in the past, artists just couldn’t make things up is false and completely outdated, to also discard documentation based on the medium it was made in is also not very good practice, and there are still many ways in which drawings are used to disseminate facts, today for good and ill.

Check out Linda Nochlin’s book, Realism (1970) for more:)

Image I found on twitter that just sums up everything perfectly

[venusinmyrrh]

You said you love a good fashion doc- do you have any more to recommend?

Designers and tastemakers

Very Ralph (2019). The preeminent American designer of our time, one of the very few who can stand toe to toe with the titans of Paris and Milan. To call Ralph Lauren's work "sportswear" is to call the Sistine Chapel "kind of a big painting".

Halston (2019). Speaking of going head to head with Paris, Halston did it first. Skip Ultrasuede-- this is a much better doc about the king of American 70s disco glam.

McQueen (2018). When people talk about fashion as an art form, chances are they're thinking of Alexander McQueen. Worth watching for the pulse-pounding runway shows alone.

Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist (2018). Obviously you already know about this one, but it's gotta go on any comprehensive list. Without Vivienne Westwood, punk would have been nothing but a handful of noisy assholes.

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (2011). My icon, my north star, my personal hero. The empress of taste and high priestess of personal style. Watch this doc whenever you need encouragement to do and wear whatever the hell you want.

The Gospel According to André (2017). Diana Vreeland's protegé and a godfather of style in his own right. If it happened in fashion in the last fifty years, André Leon Talley was there for it.

Lagerfeld Confidential (2007). I have a high tolerance for difficult and unpleasant people as long as I like their work. Your mileage may vary, but Karl Lagerfeld's immaculate, relentless taste cannot be denied.

Institutions and events

The First Monday in May (2016). Witness all the hustle, bustle, savvy, and stress that goes into planning the Met gala!

The September Issue (2009). Same as the above, but for the famous September issue of Vogue. Watch this to learn who Grace Coddington is.

Dior and I (2014). How do haute couture collections get made? In 8 weeks from start to finish, I guess, if you're Raf Simons during his first season at the House of Dior. A documentary and a thriller.

Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's (2013). No matter what other retailers might want you to think, Bergdorf Goodman is the last great department store. A portrait, already halfway to a time capsule, of what luxury shopping used to be.

Peripheral, but may be of interest

Nose (2021). The passionate, delicate art of perfume creation for the House of Dior. The French landscapes where they source their materials will make you swoon.

Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story (2017). As the makeup artist to pretty much every single icon of the 80s and 90s, Kevyn Aucoin invented the image of that era as much as any designer.

Fabergé: A Life of Its Own (2014). Come for the dazzling jewels and sumptuous objets d'art; stay to find out how this illustrious name ended up on hair care products in the 70s.

Crazy About Tiffany's (2016). Another luxury jeweler whose name alone is the stuff dreams are made on.

Bill Cunningham New York (2010). The original street style photographer, since before "street style" was even a thing. A love letter to curiosity, and a testament to the power of taking an interest in the world around us.

Still on my watchlist

Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams (2020). Directed by Luca Guadagnino, which is enough to put this Ferragamo doc at the top of my list.

Advanced Style (2014). Portraits of seven women aged 62-95 with truly fab personal style. Top Letterboxd review is seething about how out of touch they are with the real world, which means I am probably gonna love it.

Suited (2016). A study of gender through clothing in modern culture.

Dries (2017). A year-- and four collections-- in the life of Dries Van Noten, who, interestingly, doesn't see the point of clothes that people can't buy to wear, and so does not do couture.

Yellow is Forbidden (2018). This doc about Guo Pei appears to use her career as a framework to understand the gatekeeping of global culture by the West. Dope as hell, if it can pull it off.

American Style (2019). The political, social, and economic history of America through its fashion. Another one that could be really awesome if done with insight and panache.

Quant (2021). She may share the credit for inventing the miniskirt with two other people, but it cannot be argued that Mary Quant invented 1960s Swinging London. And for that we say thank you Dame Mary.

[dogma85]

"The idea of becoming one, because we are constantly trying to separate ourselves. All these technological devices... this is what they are trying to do." 🎬 ➡️ YOUTUBE.COM/@DOGMA85

[gael-garcia]

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (2024, Johan Grimonprez)

[psykopaths]

The Hidden Life of Trees, (2020)

[artylla]

now they're frightened of leaving it

everyone's weaving it

[yeehawpim]

Screenshots of @dropoutdottv's documentary "The Legendary Rick Perry and the Art of Dimension 20"

all the work the art team does over there is so cool, it's hugely inspiring to me

[adas-trashheap]

'dance with me the gallowdance'

[lace-sutures]

Donnie on a pogo stick..

hes scared to get on

[tadc-survival-isles]

The energy/sugar rush these three are going to experience in the next 30 seconds... that poor 7 eleven employee is going to go through it /silly

I asked Krow what else should I add to this drawing before I post it and he would not stop begging me to give Remains gas station nachos... so he now has gas station nachos. He is going to get robbed in the next 3 seconds.

Remains Jax belongs to @rorydrawsandwrites and Cryptid Jax belongs to @sunifixation! :]