Kubrick and Van Gogh

John Z. Elias

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Mar 7, 1997, 3:00:00 AM3/7/97

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Has anyone noticed similarities between Van Gogh's Prisoners Exercising
and one of the scenes in ACO? Both involve prisoners walking in a circle
within a symmetric and entrapping space. Does anyone know if this was
Kubrick's intention at all? Anyways, they do strike me as being very
similar.

bobcubed

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Mar 8, 1997, 3:00:00 AM3/8/97

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In article , "John says...

I dont know if Kubrick had that in mind when he shot it, but it is possible
that it had some kind of influence on him. That is of course, if he has
seen the painting and it struck some chord within him. This may follow
along the same lines as the burning slab in FMJ which resembles the
monolith from 2001. The sub conscious mind is pretty strong. One other
scene to note may be in Midnight Express. Which had some of the
insane prisoners walking in a circular, rather than rectangular, space.
"Clockwise! You must walk clockwise!"

Bobby Gilliland

http://www.wavegate.com/~bobcubed/

Jerry

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Mar 9, 1997, 3:00:00 AM3/9/97

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In article <5fone0$2d...@uni.library.ucla.edu>,

"John Z. Elias" <f47e...@ucla.edu> wrote:
>Has anyone noticed similarities between Van Gogh's Prisoners
Exercising
>and one of the scenes in ACO? Both involve prisoners walking in a
circle
>within a symmetric and entrapping space. Does anyone know if this
was
>Kubrick's intention at all? Anyways, they do strike me as being
very
>similar.
>

what does ACO stand for?????

freedom@webspan

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Mar 9, 1997, 3:00:00 AM3/9/97

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"A Clocwork Orange". Using the letters ACO is just another example of
the laziness and "good enough-ism" which seems often to pose for things
like economy or brevity in "Cyberwrite"--similar to (thought not as bad
as) the lack of capitalization, punctuation, or proper formatting which
is also quite prevalent in this "new" form of communication. You will
notice, however, with a few exceptions, that this newsgroup (NG) con-
tains much less of this, as a rule, than many other "popular" forums on
the net--therefore making you less likely to feel as though you are
communicating with a bunch of 9 year olds, not only in content but in
style.

Jeff

Thomas Briggs

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Mar 10, 1997, 3:00:00 AM3/10/97

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John Z. Elias wrote:
>
> Has anyone noticed similarities between Van Gogh's Prisoners Exercising
> and one of the scenes in ACO? Both involve prisoners walking in a circle
> within a symmetric and entrapping space. Does anyone know if this was
> Kubrick's intention at all? Anyways, they do strike me as being very
> similar.

I first saw ACO back when I was an art student and thought that the shot
seemed too literal a recreation of the painting to be simply an
unconscious copy. To paraphrase Picasso as he said after being accused
of stealing from other artists, "It is alright to steal as long as you
steal from the best."

--
Thomas Briggs
Vertex Films
Taipei Taiwan

#######################################################
##### In theory there is no difference between theory and practice,
##### but in practice they are very different
#######################################################

Martin Cannon

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Mar 20, 1997, 3:00:00 AM3/20/97

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Thomas Briggs wrote:
>
> John Z. Elias wrote:
> >
> > Has anyone noticed similarities between Van Gogh's Prisoners Exercising
> > and one of the scenes in ACO? Both involve prisoners walking in a circle
> > within a symmetric and entrapping space. Does anyone know if this was
> > Kubrick's intention at all? Anyways, they do strike me as being very
> > similar.
>
> I first saw ACO back when I was an art student and thought that the shot
> seemed too literal a recreation of the painting to be simply an
> unconscious copy. To paraphrase Picasso as he said after being accused
> of stealing from other artists, "It is alright to steal as long as you
> steal from the best."
>
>

You got that right, Mr. Briggs. Here's the kicker: The original Van Gogh
painting was ITSELF a copy -- of an engraving by Gustav Dore.

How do I know? Because that particular Van Gogh was displayed here in
Los Angeles some years back. (Incidetnally, that painting does not even
EXIST in reproduction -- indeed, it's almost more accurate to call it a
piece of sculpture, because the paint is laid on so thickly.) The
accompanying brochure explained the work's origins: While in the asylum,
Van Gogh briefly took up painting from engravings and other
reproductions.

Incidentally, I recall that, directly after seeing this Van Gogh in the
paint, I left the museum to go see a 70mm revival of "2001" at the
Cinerama Dome. Living in a large city may be awful at times, but
compensations DO exist. (My girlfriend wants to move to a rural
community. I don't know....)