Influential Painters

[Nossair CHKERBOUBY]

hey guys!
can you tell me about some peinters that had influence in lighting in cinematography, i know only about rembrandt, but i want to know about others.
thank you

[David Mullen ASC]

Vermeer, Caravaggio, and Hopper are also common sources of inspiration, and countless more, some movies are actually about painters and use their paintings as a visual reference.

[DarrylPargeter]

for painters its depend on the style of the film, or the individual but painters I've looked at include Caravaggio, Edward Hopper, Da Vinci a lot renaissance painters as they where looking for a way to portray realism

[Nossair CHKERBOUBY]

i'll start looking for these peinters work, thanks a lot guys

[Brian Drysdale]

Not forgetting Turner, Monet, Renoir, Degas and various other painters.

[Eric Wobma]

It is very interesting to tackle Caravaggio and Rembrandt simultaneously. You'll notice at once that Rembrandt uses softer light. (And that the 'stories' that Rembrandt tell with paint are looking inward, where the persons Caravaggio painted are trying to leap of the canvas towards you…)

 

Caravaggio is an inspiration to all, at the moment we can find the Italian tv-series 'Caravaggio' on dvd.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Caravaggio-Alessio-Boni/dp/B003RHZ68Y/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

or

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Caravaggio-Luis-Enriquez-Bacalov/dp/B001Q3E7IG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1388307976&sr=8-2&keywords=caravaggio+dvd

 

D.o.p. of that series, or rather he prefers to be called Director of Cinematography, is Vittorio Storaro.

One of the very best d.o.p.'s ever.

And Caravaggio has been his hero since childhood.

 

Caravaggio has influenced many painters too through the centuries.

One of them is Georges de la Tour, who used a visible light source within his paintings, where as Caravaggio and Rembrandt hardly ever did.

Usually candle light or a fire.

De La Tour was a major influence on Nestor Almendros, another true Maestro D.O.P. (Oscar for 'Days Of Heaven'; THE cinematographer for the French Nouvelle Vague).

Try to find his book 'A Man With A Camera' where he explains very clearly what he has done with each of his films.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Man-Camera-Nestor-Almendros/dp/0571135897/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388308880&sr=8-1&keywords=the+man+with+the+camera

 

(Terribly expensive, the book has been out of print for ages. I stole a copy once from a University Library, copied it from beginning to end in a copy shop across the street, and then took the book back to the library again…)

 

Almendros started experimenting with lighting sets with a single petrol lamp or a candelabra.

Exciting thing is that at the same time in England and without knowing it from one another, Maestro John Alcott was doing the same thing and created the look of 'Barry Lyndon' for Stanley Kubrick, which is said to have been lit without any lights, using nothing but candles and (bounced) sun light...

 

Have fun and a wonderful Sunday,

Many greetings from Amsterdam,

 

Eric

Edited December 29, 2013 by Eric Wobma

[David Walden]

Speaking of the masters, anyone get a chance to check out Tim's Vermeer? Basically, it poses the theory that masters like Vermeer used a camera obscura to replicate natural lighting and perspective in their work. They would use a kind of of dark room (or box), in combination with a lens and/or mirror pointing at the subject, to project the image onto a surface, and then trace and paint over the projection. The theory is extremely convincing imho, and explains things like exaggerated perspective, photographic highlights, and focal shifts that are seen in the work of the masters. David Hockney already did a documentary called Secret Knowledge on the exact same topic a few years ago. You can check it out on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBNrgCaoyW8 It starts out a bit slow, but as you watch parts 2-8 it shows very clearly how the masters achieved their photorealism. Fascinating stuff.

 

-d

www.davidwalden.com

[Nossair CHKERBOUBY]

Eric Wobma thanks for the information i started watching the Caravaggio tv serie, i'm a very big fan storaro work, for the book there is no way i can find it in morocco.

 

David Walden i'll try to find tim's veermeer interesting theory by the way, i took a look at your web site good job.

cheers