🎬 FilmReview The Chicago Film Society will screen this patient 90s artist film. | ✍️ Dmitry Samarov
In the fall of 1990, the Madrid-based realist painter Antonio López García set himself the seemingly humble task of painting the quince tree in his yard that he’d planted four years before. Known for his exacting fidelity in depicting the seen world, he uses a plumb line, puts posts in the ground to make sure he stands in the right spot for every session, and even paints white hash marks on the fruit, leaves, and brick walls beyond in order to nail down his still, patient rendering.
Friends and family visit to check on his progress, the Polish workmen remodeling the house pause on breaks to look in wonder, and an old classmate even helps by holding a sagging leaf out of the way so Lopez can keep drawing the overripe fruit hiding behind it. When a Chinese guest asks about all the white marks, the painter replies that he’s following the growth of the tree and keeps changing his composition as the tree changes.
When this film came out in 1992, I was a painting student, and it left a profound impression. Rather than showing the romanticized wild-man version of the artist’s life that’s become pop culture cliche, here is what the work actually entails, moment to moment, day to day, year to year. It’s the best filmed evocation of a painter’s process that I know of.delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday. Dive into our most recent stories and exclusive insights from our editors and staff.
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