A while back I started working on a new series of ‘director’ papercuts and prints.
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One of my first papercuts was the great American film-maker John Cassavetes. You’ll either love or hate his work. Hopefully love it.
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Any of his films are a treat to watch. His 1970 film ‘Husbands’ has some of the most authentic acting and dialogue I’ve ever seen in film. An early scene set at a bar, 17 minutes into the film runs for about 40 minutes. It has such a natural pace to it that you begin to feel like your actually in the bar with these people. It’s hard to imagine ever seeing anything like that in modern cinema.
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The second half of the film takes places in London. It’s just great to see the old empty 1970 London streets, casinos and hotels. I looked up the location of the casino - and it became a Virgin megastore and is now, I believe, a Primark store. So the magic has gone from that location.
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To show the split opinion about the film, I’ve lazily pasted this from Wiki - … Jay Cocks of Time wrote that "Husbands may be one of the best movies anyone will ever see. It is certainly the best movie anyone will ever live through." He described it as an important and great film, and as Cassavetes' finest work. In response, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that "seldom has Time given a better review to a worse movie." Ebert gave the film two out of four stars, and wrote that it "shows an important director not merely failing, but not even understanding why." He also criticized the improvisations, writing: "There are long passages of dialogue in which the actors seem to be trying to think of something to say’.
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#johncassavetes #independentcinema #husbands#bengazzara #peterfalk #americanfilm #70slondon #1970 #1970smovies #minnieandmoskowitz #womanundertheinfluence #openingnight #thekillingofachinesebookie #toolateblues #gloria#lovestreams #papercutting #filmdirectors
Predictably slow as ever updating my Instagram account … but here we have some work based on the wonderful ‘Willlkommen’ dance routine from Cabaret.
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Joel Grey also did this number on the Muppet Show back in 1976, accompanied by the full muppet crowd. Amazing the amount of great stars they had join that show. Maybe I should liven up this composition by adding Gonzo and Miss Piggy.
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#cabaret #sallybowles #johnkander #fredebb #kitkatklub #lizaminnelli#joelgrey #bobfosse #lifeisacabaret #musicaltheatre #broadwaytheatre #westendshow #papercutting #inkdrawing #muppetshow #willkommen
This print here features the Fosse move termed ‘The Rake’ which requires the torso to be angled while one hand is dropped from the wrist as the other lightly touches the rim of the bowler hat.
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I casually describe this move as if I’m some sort of Fosse dance move expert which is far, far, far from the truth. I get the easy job of idly hunching in a chair while I draw dancers that do the most physically demanding and controlled tasks.
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I might return to this pose and include the dancers’ legs. I’m trying to improve the dynamism of my figures, so having a couple of nicely angled legs in frame might help.
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#chicagothemusical #chicago #bobfosse #westendtheatre #londontheatre #londonshow #dancemove #therake #musicaltheater #musicaltheatre #moneymoney #papercut #inkdrawing #artprint #darinmount #poscapens #poscaart #danceroutine #chicagomusical #cabaret
Well it’s been months since I last uploaded a pic. I was determined to post more in 2022 - but somehow 20 days have already shot by.
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This is the work for my ‘Money Money’ Cabaret print. My drawing becomes a papercut which then becomes a print.
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I was hoping to see the new Eddie Redmayne & Jessie Buckley production in London’s West End but at the moment ticket prices are a little expensive for my wallet.
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#cabaret #lizaminnelli #joelgrey #bobfosse #westendtheatre #londontheatre #londonshow #jessiebuckley #eddieredmayne #musicaltheater #musicaltheatre #moneymoney #sallybowles #papercut #inkdrawing #artprint #darinmount #poscapens #poscaart #danceroutine #johnkander #fredebb #kanderandebb
Bundled together in this post is the drawing, papercut and print of Master of the Butoh dance, Kazuo Ohno.
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Butoh, sometimes termed ‘The Dance of Darkness’, is a Japanese dance form that originated in late 1950s Japan.
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The art form can include grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and it is traditionally performed in white body makeup with slow hyper-controlled motion.
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Swipe along and there’s a brief video upload of Ohno’s haunting performace of ‘The Dead Sea’ from back in the 1980s - and, just to add a quick updated comparison, I’ve also included a shot from the bathroom dance scene from Todd Phillips’ Joker, which seems to share some of Butoh’s movement characteristics. .
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#butoh #butohdance #butohdancer #kazuoohno #tatsumihijikata #japanesedance #japanesedancer #dance #jokermovie #jokermovie2019 #joaquinphoenix #papercutting #artwork #japaneseculture #japaneseart #drawing #inkdrawing #darinmount
Another bundle of images here - with the drawing, the papercut and the print of a Bob Fosse favourite, the amazing Ben Vereen.
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This is from the musical ‘Pippin’. Swipe to see a snippet of Mr Vereen performing ‘Glory’ from a televised version of the musical, filmed back in 1981. Even though the film quality isn’t quite the high definition we’ve come to expect, it’s a real treat to be able to step back in time and watch it forty years down the line.
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#benvereen #pippin #bobfosse #fossedance #broadwaymusicals #dance #choreography #dancers #musicaltheatre #artprints #inkdrawing #papercut
The three processes here - the drawing, then the papercut and finally the print.
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This is my 2nd image from that great dance routine The Rich Man’s Frug - the first section of the dance titled ‘The Aloof’. There are so many great visual moves in the routine, it’d be easy to make this a series of a hundred pictures.
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#bobfosse #lifeisacabaret #musicaltheatre #broadwaytheatre #westendshow #papercutting #inkdrawing#richmansfrug #sweetcharity #musicals #broadwaymusical #broadway #thefrug #shirleymaclaine #dancemoves #choreography #choreographer #fosse
… and big thank you to a customer who sent me this photograph of The Rich Man’s Frug & Cabaret original drawings - now framed using a striking black mount.
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#cabaret #sallybowles #johnkander #fredebb #kitkatklub #lizaminnelli #bobfosse #lifeisacabaret #musicaltheatre #broadwaytheatre #westendshow #papercutting #inkdrawing#richmansfrug #sweetcharity #musicals #broadwaymusical #broadway #thefrug #shirleymaclaine
This was completed last year - it’s based on Liza Minnelli’s performance as Sally Bowles from the Fosse classic, Cabaret. Here we have the whole process from my large scale drawing (which found a happy home yesterday), the papercut and the print.
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This is such a great stage show / film. The Sam Mendes 1993 theatre version at the Donmar Warehouse, with the brilliant Jane Horrocks as Sally Bowles and Alan Cumming as the emcee is just about perfect. And available in grainy resolution on Youtube for anyone interested. I transferred the video to a single audio file and it’s great to hear all the musical numbers along with the play’s dialogue, rather than just as a traditional song by song soundtrack.
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#cabaret #sallybowles #johnkander #fredebb #kitkatklub #lizaminnelli #bobfosse #lifeisacabaret #janehorrocks #alancumming #musicaltheatre #broadwaytheatre #westendshow #papercutting #inkdrawing
Keeping the Sweet Charity theme going … here’s probably one of the happiest faces I’ve ever drawn. This papercut & print comes from the track ‘I’m a Brass Band’.
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I’ve got a fondness for this film, but Sweet Charity was generally panned by the critics - and there’s a great article from the late movie critic Joe Baltake (on his blog ‘the passionate moviegoer’) about the this dance number / Sweet Charity titled ‘the. worst. production. number. ever’ - it makes for a great read and here’s a taster snippet below …
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‘… Finally, there's that big production number, "I'm a Brass Band," composed by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Field, that is not only jaw-droppingly bad but makes no sense whatsoever. Huh? Why would anyone, much less Charity Hope Valentine, equate being in love with marching with a brass band?
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The number, staged in the courtyard of Lincoln Center, no less, stops the film cold - and it never recovers. With dozens of chorus boys crowding the screen, it goes on and on and on, with old pro Shirl huffing and puffing, screeching the lyrics and straining her ligaments to little avail …’
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After typing this, I’ve just seen that the hashtag #joebaltake has never been used on Instagram. You’d have thought someone somewhere would have posted before. So to commemorate this unexpected hashtag moment, I’ve added a photograph of him to this post to put a face to the name. His blog is definitely worth checking out.
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#bobfosse #bobfossestyle #richmansfrug #sweetcharity #musicals #broadwaymusical #broadway #thefrug #shirleymaclaine #drawing #inkdrawing #inkdrawingart #unipinfineline #darinmount #danceroutine #1960s #sixtiesfashion #sixtiesstyle#bluraycollection #papercutting #shirleymaclaine #60smusicals#joebaltake#moviecritic #thepassionatemoviegoer #iftheycouldseemenow
And here’s my Sweet Charity prints …
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This pose is taken from the part of the film where the starstruck Charity has just met the charming film star Vittorio Vidal and she been invited back to his apartment - but soon needs to hide in his walk-in wardrobe when his Vidal’s glamorous girlfriend arrives knocking at his door. This is just after the classic number ‘If they could see me now’.
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The actor who played Vittorio - Ricardo Montalbán - I mainly remember from Fantasy Island fame back in the 80s, although his impressive career spanned decades, from the early 40s into the 2000s.
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#bobfosse #bobfossestyle #richmansfrug #sweetcharity #musicals #broadwaymusical #broadway #thefrug #shirleymaclaine #drawing #inkdrawing #inkdrawingart #unipinfineline #darinmount #danceroutine #1960s #sixtiesfashion #sixtiesstyle#bluraycollection #papercutting #shirleymaclaine #60smusicals #iftheycouldseemenow#ricardomontalban #ricardomontalbán
My drawing of Shirley MacLaine as Charity Hope Valentine from Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity. That’s got to be one of the most pleasant character names in film history.
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The last time I drew a picture from this film was when I was applying to art college in what seems like a lifetime ago. Seems like I’ve come full circle with this one.
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#bobfosse #bobfossestyle #richmansfrug #sweetcharity #musicals #broadwaymusical #broadway #thefrug #shirleymaclaine #drawing #inkdrawing #inkdrawingart #unipinfineline #darinmount #danceroutine #1960s #sixtiesfashion #sixtiesstyle#bluraycollection #papercutting #shirleymaclaine #60smusicals #iftheycouldseemenow
