EXHIBITION ON SCREEN, the award-winning and much-loved cinematic series that explores the biographies of history’s most revered artists, concludes its sixth season with this latest film. VAN GOGH AND JAPAN features Van Gogh’s personal letters and written accounts by friends and contemporaries this extraordinary and moving film reveals the fascinating story of Van Gogh’s little-known deep connection to Japanese art, despite never travelling to Japan himself, and the role it has in understanding his most iconic works.
As well as investigating the expression of Van Gogh’s ‘japonisme’, the film explores how Japanese society have developed an affinity to Van Gogh’s work as a result of his engagement with their culture. Featuring insights from contemporary artists, including calligrapher Tomoko Kawao and performance artist Tatsumi Orimoto, VAN GOGH AND JAPAN provides revealing and modern perspectives on the rich, symbiotic relationship between Van Gogh and Japan.
Executive Producer, Phil Grabsky said of this latest film “Vincent van Gogh is arguably the world’s favourite artist. But he runs the risk of being among the most understood or misrepresented. To understand his art, you have to understand his influences and his world. Above all the world of Paris at the end of the 19th century. This was an art world that had been staggered and hugely influenced by the recent arrival of Japanese art. You simply can’t understand the work of Vincent without understanding how impacted he was – like Monet, Manet, Whistler, Degas and others – deeply affected by what he saw in Japanese art. We all know he went to the south of France – but did you know why? Because he was looking for a ‘Japan in France.
“EXHIBITION ON SCREEN goes in search of the world’s great exhibitions and when we heard about this one in Japan (where it started before ending at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and where it was a huge success, we knew it would make a great film. It was the first time our series had looked at Japan and Japanese art – and it is fabulously cinematic. Add into that Van Gogh’s art and life and you have a great film – fresh & revealing. And it has proved one of our most popular films ever,”
David Bickerstaff, the Australian director, said of the film, ‘This is one of the most stunning stories I have yet made a film about and travelling in Japan as well as France and the Netherlands makes it one of the most visual and exciting films that I have made. More importantly, I now see Vincent in a new and deeper light. Once you’ve seen this film, you’ll never look at a Van Gogh painting in the same way’.
EXHIBITION ON SCREEN: VAN GOGH AND JAPAN opens nationally at cinemas this Thursday 21 November, 2019
