Happy 69th Birthday, Julian Schnabel! Born today in 1951, this American painter and filmmaker, in the 1980s, received international media attention for his "plate paintings" — large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates. Since the 1990s, he has been a proponent of independent arthouse cinema.
Schabel later received his B.F.A. at the University of Houston. After graduating, he sent an application to the Independent Study Program (ISP) at the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan.
His application included slides of his work sandwiched between two pieces of bread. Schnabel was later admitted into the program and studied there from 1973-1975.
It was with his first solo show, at the Mary Boone Gallery in 1979, that Schnabel had his breakthrough; all his works were sold in advance.
The following year he participated at the 39th Venice Biennale in 1980 with German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer and German painter, sculptor and graphic artist George Baselitz.
Later that same year, Schnabel married his first wife. This was Belgian clothing designer Jacqueline Beaurang. They have three children: two daughters, Lola, a painter and filmmaker, Stella, a poet and actress, and a son, Vito, an art dealer.
By the time Schnabel exhibited his work in a show jointly organized by Boone and Italian-American art dealer Leo Castelli in 1981, Schnabel had become firmly established.
He was the youngest artist in the legendary exhibition 'A New Spirit in Painting' in the Royal Academy of Arts. His now famous "plate paintings — large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates—received a boisterous and critical reception from the art world.
His wild and expressive works were classed as neo-expressionism by art critics. In the years to follow Schnabel's success on the art market would above all be criticized.
Schnabel's style is characterized by very large-scale paintings. He uses diverse materials such as plaster, wax, photographs, antlers, velvet and ceramics.
His paintings make use of canvas, wood, muslin and even surfboards. His paintings often combine abstract and figurative elements. Due to the size, weight and depth of his works, they are often given sculptural properties.
Schnabel began his film career in the late 1990s. This was writing and directing the 1996 American biographical drama/independent film 'Basquiat'. It starred David Bowie as Andy Warhol.
Four years later, this was followed by the 2000 American biographical romantic drama/political drama film 'Before Night Falls.
It starred Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp, Olivier Martinez and Argentine-born Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor Héctor Babenco ('Kiss of the Spider Woman').
The film premiered at the 57th Venice Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize.
Seven years later, Schnabel directed the film of which he is best known. This was the 2007 French biographical drama film 'Le Scaphandre et le Papillon' ('The Diving Bell and the Butterfly').
The film tells of Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), an editor-in-chief of French fashion bible Elle magazine. Later on, he has a devastating stroke at age forty-three.
The damage to his brain stem results in lock-in syndrome, with which he is almost completely paralyzed and only able to communicate by blinking his one functioning eye.
Through this mean, Bauby painstakingly dictates his memoir by blinking for each letter. This is the only means of expression left to him, translated by his dedicated nurse and caretaker Céline Desmoulins (Emmanuelle Seigner).
'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' is based on French journalist, author and editor of the French fashion magazine Elle Jean-Dominique Bauby's 1997 autobiographical memoir The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death.
According to the New York Sun, Schnabel insisted that the film should be in French, resisting pressure by the production company to make it in English.
He believed that the rich language of the book would work better in the original French, and even went so far as to learn French to make the film.
South African-born British author, playwright and screenwriter Ronald Harwood (of whom wrote the screenplay), tells a slightly different story:
"Pathé wanted "to make the movie in both English and French, which is why bilingual actors were cast".
He continued by saying: "Everyone secretly knew that two versions would be impossibly expensive", and that "Schnabel decided it should be made in French".
Schnabel had said that his influence for the film was drawn from personal experience:
"My father got sick and he was dying. He was terrified of death and had never been sick in his life. So he was in this bed at my house, he was staying with me, and this script arrived for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
As my father was dying, I read Ron Harwood's script. It gave me a bunch of parameters that would make a film have a totally different structure.
As a painter, as someone who doesn't want to make a painting that looks like the last one I made, I thought it was a really good palette. So personally and artistically these things all came together."
Several key aspects of Bauby's personal life were fictionalized in the film, most notably his relationships with the mother of his children and his girlfriend.
In reality, it was not Bauby's estranged wife who stayed by the patient's bedside while he lay almost inanimate on a hospital bed, it was his girlfriend of several years.
Despite the fact that producing 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' might seem like a commission to do someone else's work, Schnabel took on the film.
According to Schnabel, "I used to go up to read to Fred Hughes, Andy Warhol's business partner, who had multiple sclerosis. And as Fred got worse, he ended up locked inside his body.
I had been thinking that I might make a movie about Fred when his nurse, Darren McCormick, gave me Bauby's memoir, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Then, in 2003, when my father was dying, the script arrived from Kennedy. So it didn't feel quite like taking on a commissioned job."
'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' premiered at the 60th Cannes Film Festival in May 2007. The film was also nominated for the Palme d'Or. However, it did not win.
One year later, the film was nominated for four César Awards but won two for Best Actor (Mathieu Amalric) and Best Editing. This occurred at the 33rd César Awards on February 22, 2008.
Two days later, 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' received four Oscar nominations but won for Best Director, Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Best Cinematography and Best Editing. However, the film had no wins. This occurred at the 80th Academy Awards on February 24, 2008.
According to Schnabel's personal life, he currently maintains studios in New York City and in Montauk at the east end of Long Island.
Schnabel resides at 360 West 11th Street, in a former West Village horse stable that he purchased and converted for residential use.
He added five luxury condominiums in the style of a Northern Italian palazzo. It is named the Palazzo Chupi, and it is easy to spot because it is painted pink.
Schnabel's works are exhibited in the collections of various museums throughout the world, among them the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, California; Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In Europe, this includes the Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain; the Tate Modern in London, England, United Kingdom and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, France.
Schnabel has been active from 1996–present.
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