As the stunning Kubrick exhibition prepares to depart Los Angeles, here is a quick tour (with some additional photos). Think of this as a prelude to a future perambulation through the Kubrickian maze….
“Essentially the film is a mythological statement. Its meaning has to be found on a sort of visceral, psychological level, rather than in a specific, literal explanation.” — Stanley Kubrick.
The altering eye: Kubrick’s cameras and lenses
From Kubrick’s photos of New York life in the 1940s in Look magazine:
Cartoonist Peter Arno with model
Deep space and wide angles — Kubrick signatures
The Shining
The following shot — a Kubrick favorite
Full Metal Jacket
Sterling Hayden and Coleen Gray
The art of strategy — the strategist in art. On set and onscreen Kubrick always had a chess game in progress (here in Paths of Glory)
On location shooting Paths of Glory
The patterns of war: storyboards for Spartacus by the legendary Saul Bass
Costume for Crassus (Laurence Olivier)
The Senate set
Matte painting for Spartacus by the legendary Peter Ellenshaw
Finished scene
Shooting Spartacus
Contemplating James Mason contemplating Lolita….
…. and Lolita contemplating us…..
Kubrick and Sue Lyon (Lolita) photographing the iconic scene
Promotional shot of Sue Lyon by Bert Stern
(More photos from Bert Stern’s legendary shoot can be found here).
Designing Armageddon: model of the War Room set from Dr. Strangelove
Copy of source material for Dr. Strangelove, with Kubrick’s notes for possible film titles
Riding the Bomb
Who says doomsday is the end of the world?
Peter Sellers filming Kubrick playing chess with George C. Scott on set of Dr. Strangelove
Polish poster for 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001 co-author Arthur C. Clarke with Kubrick on set
Stargazer….
Designing movement for the Dawn of Man
Grasping new concepts (2001: A Space Odyssey)
2001 in 1968
Model of the giant centrifuge set
The real thing
Filming inside the centrifuge set
Caution: Unattended Monolith
Early thoughts were to “fly” the monolith with wires. This idea was later abandoned.
The alien in the familiar: suspended model of the White Room where Man takes the next step in his evolution (2001: A Space Odyssey)
One possible future of Man —
or another —
Even mannequin Alex inspires unease (A Clockwork Orange)
Design sketch for Alex’s room
Fallout from the film led to Kubrick withdrawing it from circulation in the UK for 27 years. I had to travel to Paris to see it for the first time, dubbed into French
Set design sketches by John Barry
Got milk?
In which our Hero lies amidst the illusions of his invulnerability (Barry Lyndon)
Kubrick would use location photos to storyboard, as with this shot of a carriage
Customized camera and lens for capturing the impossible beauty of Barry Lyndon
“My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night;
But oh, my foes, and ah, my friends —
It gives a lovely light.”
Early poster design by Saul Bass
Kubrick and Jack Nicholson on set
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” (The Shining)
“Helloooo, DANNY!”
What critic Michael Ciment calls “the return of the repressed”, a strand of behaviour that weaves throughout Kubrick’s work, becoming a murderous psychosis signalled by a telltale look:
Private Pyle (Full Metal Jacket):
The duality of Man: Joker’s helmet from Full Metal Jacket
Enemy — thy name is Woman!
Cataclysms echoing endlessly through time: Aryan Papers installation (abandoned film project)
In flagrante delecto — Masques of the Red Death….
Masks of marriage…..
and celebrity….
“Who’s been sleeping in my bed…..?”
In the room the people come and go….
“We’ll meet again…”
Talking of Michelangelo….
“…. some sunny day”
“…. and — CUT!”
HOLLYWOOD ( and all that ) 