Marcus Reichert
Encyclopedia
Marcus Reichert is an American artist, author, photographer, and film writer/director.
He was given his first exhibition of paintings at the age of twenty-one at the legendary Gotham Book Mart and Art Gallery
, New York, home to the Surrealists during WWII. In 1990, he was honored with a retrospective organised by the Hatton Gallery of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne
which toured in various forms to Glasgow
, London
, Paris
, and the United States
. His Crucifixion paintings have been described by Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford, as being among the most disturbing painted in the 20th Century, while the American critic Donald Kuspit
has written that both Picasso's and Bacon's pale in comparison. The first neo-noir
, Reichert's film Union City, which premiered at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival
, was hailed by Lawrence O'Toole, film critic for Time
magazine, as "an unqualified masterpiece." His film works are held in the Archive of the Museum of Modern Art
, New York.
Marcus Reichert is the author of three novels, including the cult classic Verdon Angster, and his writing is featured on the internet journals 3:AM Magazine
and Newtopia Magazine. His published work, including Diary Of A Seducer with poems by D.A. Blyler, is available from Art Books International, London. Reichert: The Human Edifice by Mel Gooding, with 100 photographs by the artist in colour, is available from The Photographers Gallery, London and amazon.co.uk.
coast by indulging in an air-conditioned matinee. Most “serious” films of the period - the mid 1950’s - were still photographed in black and white and Reichert took particular joy in imagining the unfolding scenes in colour. His grandmother had a taste for “adult” romances, which obviously informs Reichert’s preoccupation in his own films and screenplays with psychologically distorted relationships.
Reichert’s earliest films, shot primarily in 8 mm, concentrate on the formal aspects of the human figure in an abstracted environment. This is particularly apparent in Silent Sonata which he co-directed with fellow-painter Akira Arita. The short films that follow - amputated scenes from scripts never realized in their entirety - have an atmosphere of anticipation about them, as if in pursuit of some barely glimpsed cinematic prey. The first neo-noir, Reichert's Union City was selected for the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes in 1980, and was hailed by Lawrence O'Toole, film critic for Time Magazine, as "an unqualified masterpiece." It has been in distribution ever since.
The film has been hugely influential, especially among younger filmmakers. As the actor Everett McGill (Quest For Fire, Brubaker, Heartbreak Ridge, Twin Peaks, Under Siege II), who played Larry Longacre in Union City, has said, "Before Twin Peaks there was Union City." Now considered a classic, the film was the centre-piece of the neo-noir festival held in 1997 by the American Museum of the Moving Image
. Union City is in the Film Archive of the Museum of Modern Art
, New York
.
Many individuals who have gone on to substantial careers in the industry were involved in the making of the film, including Kathryn Bigelow
, Stefan Czapsky, Edward Lachman A.S.C., Dennis Lipscomb, Everett McGill, Sam McMurray, and Monty Montgomery. No less notably, Deborah Harry
made her dramatic debut in the film and Chris Stein
of Blondie
created the musical score.
Union City has been under contract, in the English language, to the following distribution and television companies: Columbia Tristar, Channel 4, Cinemax
, Cineplex, Film4
, Fox Lorber Associates / Winstar Home Entertainment, Orion Pictures
, Mainline Pictures, and Tartan Video. The film is owned by Marcus Reichert & Co. and the Museum of Modern Art
.
2004 SUNDAY EVENING, photography, design, and direction by Marcus Reichert for high definition surround sound music DVD; Lazy Curtis, Final Touch Productions Ltd., London (Executive Producer: Chris Smith)
1998 THE SEAWALL MURAL, design and direction by Marcus Reichert for public works fine art project; The Renaissance Project, Thanet Arts Development Office (Advisors: Christina McQuaid, Sam Thomas)
1991 PEOPLE, production design and direction for music video by Marcus Reichert; The Cutaways, Ragin’ Records, Iris Sound / Metropolis Film Studios, Philadelphia (Producer: David Ivory) - MTV Selection
1980 UNION CITY, written and directed by Marcus Reichert; The Tuxedo Company Inc., New York (Producers: Graham Belin, Monty Montgomery, Ron Mutz); owned by Marcus Reichert & Co. and The Museum of Modern Art
, New York
1978 WINGS OF ASH (A Dramatization of the Life of Antonin Artaud
), pilot for feature film, written and directed by Marcus Reichert; Silver Screen Productions Inc., New York and Mick Jagger, London (Producers: Monty Montgomery, Marcus Reichert)
1977 LE GRAND SILENCE, written, produced, and directed by Marcus Reichert; Silver Screen Productions Inc., New York
1968 SILENT SONATA, written and directed by Marcus Reichert and Akira Arita; Rhode Island School of Design
"In a world caught up in the pseudo-sophistication of a new barbarism, the power of the photographic image to transform thought becomes ever more compelling and, in many ways, ominous. There is always for the photographer the will to make sense of chaos - to make it legible - but the conjuring of an image for one’s own philosophical purposes, however calculating or innocent, necessarily constitutes a kind of aesthetic totalitarianism. I regard my photographic work very much as an objectification of the unreal: I perceive an idealised world, in formal and atmospheric terms, that does not exist, at least not until the photograph is taken. When I compose a picture, attempting to remain faithful to my instinct for abstraction, I seek a simplification and hence a purification of what I see. Given the staggering abundance of literally everything - visual detritus strewn everywhere - my job is to isolate and distil whatever peculiar beauty I might find lurking in the miasma. In the camera, when one fastens with determined intent upon another human being, an unfamiliar interior, a darkened building, one can impose all sorts of ulterior meanings on that presence. This proposition - of evoking a new reality - awakens an almost ruthless determination in me. Ultimately, the subject collaborates in the act. Nevertheless, one imposes an egocentric idea of beauty on the subject, and thereby on the eye of the beholder."
by Mel Gooding, with 100 images in color, is published by Artmedia Press, London and available from The Photographers Gallery, London and amazon.co.uk and amazon.com
Marcus Reichert's Photographs are represented by Michael Hoppen Contemporary (website), London.
He was given his first exhibition of paintings at the age of twenty-one at the legendary Gotham Book Mart and Art Gallery
Gotham Book Mart
The Gotham Book Mart, in operation from 1920 to 2007, was a famous midtown Manhattan bookstore and cultural landmark. The business was located first in a small basement space on West 45th Street near the Theater District, it then moved to 51 West 47th Street, then spent many years at 41 West 47th...
, New York, home to the Surrealists during WWII. In 1990, he was honored with a retrospective organised by the Hatton Gallery of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle University is a major research-intensive university located in Newcastle upon Tyne in the north-east of England. It was established as a School of Medicine and Surgery in 1834 and became the University of Newcastle upon Tyne by an Act of Parliament in August 1963. Newcastle University is...
which toured in various forms to Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. His Crucifixion paintings have been described by Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford, as being among the most disturbing painted in the 20th Century, while the American critic Donald Kuspit
Donald Kuspit
Donald Kuspit is an American art critic, poet, and Distinguished Professor of art history and philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and professor of art history at the School of Visual Arts. Kuspit is one of America's most distinguished art critics. He was formerly the A....
has written that both Picasso's and Bacon's pale in comparison. The first neo-noir
Neo-noir
Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.-History:The term Film Noir was coined by...
, Reichert's film Union City, which premiered at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, was hailed by Lawrence O'Toole, film critic for Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine, as "an unqualified masterpiece." His film works are held in the Archive of the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, New York.
Marcus Reichert is the author of three novels, including the cult classic Verdon Angster, and his writing is featured on the internet journals 3:AM Magazine
3:AM Magazine
3:AM Magazine is a literary magazine, which was set up as 3ammagazine.com in April 2000 and is edited from Paris. Its editor-in-chief since inception has been Andrew Gallix, a lecturer at the Sorbonne ....
and Newtopia Magazine. His published work, including Diary Of A Seducer with poems by D.A. Blyler, is available from Art Books International, London. Reichert: The Human Edifice by Mel Gooding, with 100 photographs by the artist in colour, is available from The Photographers Gallery, London and amazon.co.uk.
Background
As a child, Marcus Reichert was first taken to the cinema by his grandmother who often escaped the summer heat of the New JerseyNew Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
coast by indulging in an air-conditioned matinee. Most “serious” films of the period - the mid 1950’s - were still photographed in black and white and Reichert took particular joy in imagining the unfolding scenes in colour. His grandmother had a taste for “adult” romances, which obviously informs Reichert’s preoccupation in his own films and screenplays with psychologically distorted relationships.
Reichert’s earliest films, shot primarily in 8 mm, concentrate on the formal aspects of the human figure in an abstracted environment. This is particularly apparent in Silent Sonata which he co-directed with fellow-painter Akira Arita. The short films that follow - amputated scenes from scripts never realized in their entirety - have an atmosphere of anticipation about them, as if in pursuit of some barely glimpsed cinematic prey. The first neo-noir, Reichert's Union City was selected for the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes in 1980, and was hailed by Lawrence O'Toole, film critic for Time Magazine, as "an unqualified masterpiece." It has been in distribution ever since.
The film has been hugely influential, especially among younger filmmakers. As the actor Everett McGill (Quest For Fire, Brubaker, Heartbreak Ridge, Twin Peaks, Under Siege II), who played Larry Longacre in Union City, has said, "Before Twin Peaks there was Union City." Now considered a classic, the film was the centre-piece of the neo-noir festival held in 1997 by the American Museum of the Moving Image
American Museum of the Moving Image
The Museum of the Moving Image is a media museum located in Astoria, Queens on the former site of the Kaufman Astoria Studios. The museum originally opened in 1988 as the American Museum of the Moving Image. The museum began a $67 million expansion in March 2008 and reopened in January 2011...
. Union City is in the Film Archive of the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Many individuals who have gone on to substantial careers in the industry were involved in the making of the film, including Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Ann Bigelow is an American film director. Her best-known films are the cult horror film Near Dark , the surfer/bank robbery action picture Point Break , the science fiction/film noir Strange Days , the historical/mystery film The Weight of Water and the war drama The Hurt Locker...
, Stefan Czapsky, Edward Lachman A.S.C., Dennis Lipscomb, Everett McGill, Sam McMurray, and Monty Montgomery. No less notably, Deborah Harry
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
made her dramatic debut in the film and Chris Stein
Chris Stein
Christopher "Chris" Stein is co-founder and guitarist in the New Wave band, Blondie. He is also a producer and performer for the classic soundtrack of the hip hop film Wild Style....
of Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
created the musical score.
Union City has been under contract, in the English language, to the following distribution and television companies: Columbia Tristar, Channel 4, Cinemax
Cinemax
Cinemax, sometimes abbreviated as simply "Max", is a collection of premium television networks that broadcasts primarily feature films, along with softcore erotica, original action series, documentaries and special behind-the-scenes features. Cinemax is operated by Home Box Office, Inc., a...
, Cineplex, Film4
Film4
Film4 is a free digital television channel available in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned and operated by Channel 4, that screens films.-Programming:...
, Fox Lorber Associates / Winstar Home Entertainment, Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures Corporation was an American independent production company that produced movies from 1978 until 1998. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former top-level executives of United Artists. Although it was never a large motion picture producer, Orion...
, Mainline Pictures, and Tartan Video. The film is owned by Marcus Reichert & Co. and the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
.
Filmography
Selected films of Marcus Reichert:2004 SUNDAY EVENING, photography, design, and direction by Marcus Reichert for high definition surround sound music DVD; Lazy Curtis, Final Touch Productions Ltd., London (Executive Producer: Chris Smith)
1998 THE SEAWALL MURAL, design and direction by Marcus Reichert for public works fine art project; The Renaissance Project, Thanet Arts Development Office (Advisors: Christina McQuaid, Sam Thomas)
1991 PEOPLE, production design and direction for music video by Marcus Reichert; The Cutaways, Ragin’ Records, Iris Sound / Metropolis Film Studios, Philadelphia (Producer: David Ivory) - MTV Selection
1980 UNION CITY, written and directed by Marcus Reichert; The Tuxedo Company Inc., New York (Producers: Graham Belin, Monty Montgomery, Ron Mutz); owned by Marcus Reichert & Co. and The Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, New York
1978 WINGS OF ASH (A Dramatization of the Life of Antonin Artaud
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
), pilot for feature film, written and directed by Marcus Reichert; Silver Screen Productions Inc., New York and Mick Jagger, London (Producers: Monty Montgomery, Marcus Reichert)
1977 LE GRAND SILENCE, written, produced, and directed by Marcus Reichert; Silver Screen Productions Inc., New York
1968 SILENT SONATA, written and directed by Marcus Reichert and Akira Arita; Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877. Located at the base of College Hill, the RISD campus is contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions share social, academic, and community resources and...
Background
STATEMENT BY MARCUS REICHERT"In a world caught up in the pseudo-sophistication of a new barbarism, the power of the photographic image to transform thought becomes ever more compelling and, in many ways, ominous. There is always for the photographer the will to make sense of chaos - to make it legible - but the conjuring of an image for one’s own philosophical purposes, however calculating or innocent, necessarily constitutes a kind of aesthetic totalitarianism. I regard my photographic work very much as an objectification of the unreal: I perceive an idealised world, in formal and atmospheric terms, that does not exist, at least not until the photograph is taken. When I compose a picture, attempting to remain faithful to my instinct for abstraction, I seek a simplification and hence a purification of what I see. Given the staggering abundance of literally everything - visual detritus strewn everywhere - my job is to isolate and distil whatever peculiar beauty I might find lurking in the miasma. In the camera, when one fastens with determined intent upon another human being, an unfamiliar interior, a darkened building, one can impose all sorts of ulterior meanings on that presence. This proposition - of evoking a new reality - awakens an almost ruthless determination in me. Ultimately, the subject collaborates in the act. Nevertheless, one imposes an egocentric idea of beauty on the subject, and thereby on the eye of the beholder."
Resources
Reichert: The Human Edificeby Mel Gooding, with 100 images in color, is published by Artmedia Press, London and available from The Photographers Gallery, London and amazon.co.uk and amazon.com
Marcus Reichert's Photographs are represented by Michael Hoppen Contemporary (website), London.
Writing
Books about or by Marcus Reichert:- Marcus Reichert: The Human Edifice, with 100 colour photographs from 30 years of the artist's work and an illuminating text by Mel Gooding, is available from Art Books International, London.
- Rare early editions of Verdon Angster and The Miracle of Fontana’s Monkey are available from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.
- Marcus Reichert: Selected Works 1958-1989 is available from Art Books International, London and Tate Britain and Tate Modern, London.
- Diary of a Seducer, Drawings 1970-71 by Marcus Reichert, Poetry by D.A. Blyler, is available from Art Books International, London.
- Displaced Person: Poetry, Pornography & Politics by Marcus Reichert is published by Ziggurat Books, London and is available from Central Books, London. The book features selected writing from 1970 to 2005, including Reichert's controversial political articles for the internet, confessional poetry, and excerpts from his three novels.
- Art & Ego: Marcus Reichert in Conversation with Edward Rozzo is published by Ziggurat Books, London and is available from Art Books International, London.
External links
- www.marcusreichert.com Official Marcus Reichert website, features galleries and additional information.
- IMDb entry on Marcus Reichert
- Interview with Marcus Reichert , by Richard Marshall, 3:AM Magazine
- Press release for Displaced Person and Union City on the Official Blondie Web Site, includes images and additional information