1939 was a monumental year for Hollywood films and Technicolor was in full bloom, as demonstrated in this vibrant portrayal of one of America's favorite pastimes. I'm not big into westerns, but this show looks plenty exciting.
Oscar Berninghaus — Movie Night at Taos Theater —1939
I'm very interested in the iconography. If you look at most any graphic depiction of people watching movies in a theater, it is almost always a western. I think "western" means "American movie," no matter how popular the genre seems at the time. I think there is even a graphic for a computer company using people watching a western... I think.
Well, one thing that is a factor here is that Berninghaus was a western genre artist, painting stagecoaches and cowboys and such all the time. So it was a little bit of a surprise for him to make this little cinematic thematic twist.
I'm very interested in the iconography. If you look at most any graphic depiction of people watching movies in a theater, it is almost always a western. I think "western" means "American movie," no matter how popular the genre seems at the time. I think there is even a graphic for a computer company using people watching a western... I think.
ReplyDeleteWell, one thing that is a factor here is that Berninghaus was a western genre artist, painting stagecoaches and cowboys and such all the time. So it was a little bit of a surprise for him to make this little cinematic thematic twist.
ReplyDelete