Dr. Colin Eatock, composer
  • Home
  • About Colin Eatock
  • Composing
  • Catalogue of works
  • Writing about music
  • Eatock Daily (blog)
  • New and upcoming
  • Contact me

Tim's Vermeer

3/14/2014

4 Comments

 
PictureTim Jenison at work on his Vermeer.
Every now and then, I write about something other than music. Here’s a piece I wrote for the Houston Chronicle about the documentary film Tim’s Vermeer.

How could anyone paint with photographic accuracy two centuries before the invention of photography?

That’s the question that set San Antonio inventor Tim Jenison on an obsessive five-year quest. And his answer to the question is the subject of the documentary Tim’s Vermeer.

Jenison is the co-founder of NewTek, a computer company known for its imaging software. On a business trip to Holland, he had the opportunity to examine a few of Johannes Vermeer’s astonishingly realistic paintings in Dutch museums. How, he wondered, could an artist born in 1632 have done them?

In an eureka! flash, in a bathtub in Amsterdam, he came up with an idea. Through a clever arrangement of lenses and mirrors, an artist could readily compare a real-life image with a painting in progress. In this way, capturing even the subtlest gradations in color and light would be a fairly straightforward process. Could that be how Vermeer achieved such precision? Jenison tried it at home – re-creating a photo of his father in oils – and it worked.

Enter the Las Vegas magicians Penn Jillette and Teller. (Teller legally jettisoned his given names and is now known by his surname only.) Teller says the idea of making a movie arose during a dinner between Jenison and Jillette, who are old friends, in 2008.

“Jenison said that he’d been to Delft,” Teller said, “where Vermeer lived and worked, and he had measured the light there. He also pointed out that the light in San Antonio is much the same. He said, ‘I’m going to get a few objects of furniture like the pieces in Vermeer’s studio and try to re-create one of his paintings.’ ”


That’s when Jillette decided to produce a film about the whole process – and asked Teller to direct it. However, when the duo went looking for cash for the project, it became apparent that they faced an uphill battle.

“Nobody would bite,” continues Teller. “It sounded like a movie about watching paint dry. And what if Tim didn’t succeed in his attempt to copy a Vermeer? Also, because magicians were involved, people suspected some kind of put-on, or Borat-like stunt.”

Undaunted, Jillette and Teller pooled their own money, and the film was underway. In a San Antonio warehouse near Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Jenison began to reconstruct the scene of Vermeer’s Music Lesson, with the goal of meticulously reproducing the painting – even though he had no instruction or experience as an artist.

“At one point,” Teller recalls, “Tim said, ‘If I fail, I guess there won’t be a movie.’ I said, ‘Oh no, there will be a movie – it’ll just be a different one.’ It may have been the intrinsic threat of public humiliation that drove him on to a startling level of determination.”


It’s the process, more than the result, that lies at the center of Tim’s Vermeer. And it soon becomes apparent the pains Jenison took to get everything just right. He ground his own pigments and even made his own lenses, using technologies that would have been available in Vermeer’s day.

Then he set to work with his lenses, mirrors and paint brushes, trying to achieve the same level of detail that Vermeer is famous for. The task turned out to be even more daunting that Jenison thought – on Day 82, he turns to the camera and says, “If I weren’t making a film, I’d quit.” On Day 130, when he finally finishes his painting, he breaks down and cries.

Interspersed in the film are interviews with several art experts. For instance, there’s an interview with English artist David Hockney – who shook the art world in 2001 with a book called Secret Knowledge, in which he argued that Old Master artists used optical devices in their work.

“I think this might disturb quite a lot of people,” says Hockney, approvingly, when he sees Jenison’s Vermeer copy.

There’s an element of skepticism hanging over the film – and Jenison admits that he’s only 90 percent certain that Vermeer used optical devices to paint the original Music Lesson.


However,  conspicuously absent from the film is anyone who disagrees with Jenison’s theories. But according to Teller, the purpose of Tim’s Vermeer isn’t to rewrite art-history.

“This film isn’t a tract on Vermeer,” he insists. “Mostly, it’s a character sketch of Tim. This movie is about a man who is testing his theory to his own satisfaction – and when he completes the painting, that’s the end of the film.”

Yet he acknowledges that Jenison’s demonstration of how Vermeer’s Music Lesson might have been painted is bound to stir up some controversy.

“If we get a lot of debate going, I’m fine with that. But the movie is about a man who gets an idea and did what we all should do – follow through on it to the end.”

© Colin Eatock 2013
4 Comments
high PA DA Trust Flow link
8/12/2016 02:07:06 pm

*** Wow Wow Gig to Boost Your Website Ranking ***

Hello, everyone!

It's the team of LINKSHOP that brings to you a Gig that will leave you shocked and you'll wanna buy this right now!

With 75 HIGHPR Blog Comment backlinks, it is made sure that your website will get increased traffic and surely a higher rank in the Google rankings!

Reply
https://legitimate-writing-services.blogspot.com/2016/02/top-essay-writing-services-reviews.html link
8/14/2016 07:56:07 am

I visited the Dutch Museums after I watched Tim's Vermeer and truly, I was blown away with the photographic accuracy of those paintings. I even wrote about my experience on https://legitimate-writing-services.blogspot.com/2016/02/top-essay-writing-services-reviews.html in case anyone is interested in knowing what those paintings are like from someone other than an expert. Also, this documentary was filmed amazingly, providing with great insight into these paintings.

Reply
feedsyouneed.com link
9/21/2016 05:25:57 am

nice blog

Reply
ielts speaking tips link
10/14/2016 08:59:14 am

Now look at the different sweeteners. Let’s look at the ‘Total’ first. What does the line do? Would you say that there is a noticeable increase before it drops off? I would!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Eatock Daily

    I'm a composer based in Toronto – and this is my classical music blog, Eatock Daily.

    When I first started blogging, Eatock Daily was a place to re-post the articles I wrote for Toronto’s Globe and Mail and National Post newspapers, the Houston Chronicle, the Kansas City Star and other publications.

    But now I have stepped back from professional music journalism, and I'm spending more time composing.

    These days, my blog posts are infrequent, and are mostly concerned with my own music. However, I do still occasionally post comments on musical topics, including works I've discovered, enjoyed, and wish to share with others.


    – CE

    Archives

    March 2022
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    June 2020
    September 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

    Index

    Click here for an alphabetical list of blog entries.

    RSS Feed

    Follow colineatock on Twitter
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.