Altman - Hardcover

Altman, Kathryn; D'Agnolo Vallan, Giulia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1419707779 ISBN 13: 9781419707773

Publisher: Abrams, 2014

Synopsis

For decades, Robert Altman fascinated audiences with pioneering films―among them M*A*S*H, Nashville, The Player, and Gosford Park―that combined technical innovation with subversive, satirical humor and impassioned political engage­ment. His ability to explore and engage so many different worlds with a single, coherent vision changed the landscape of cinema forever. This signature "Altmanesque" style is, in the words of Martin Scorsese: "as recognizable and familiar as Renoir's brushstrokes or Debussy's orchestrations." Now, the Altman estate opens its archive to celebrate his extraordinary life and career in the first authorized visual biography on the iconoclastic director. Altman, by Altman’s widow Kathryn Reed Altman and film critic Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, brims with photographs and ephemera, many culled from private family albums, and personal recollections of the director. Alongside the intimate illustrated story is a complete visual, historical, and critical narrative of Altman’s films and his process. To honor the Altman trademark of using a wide cast of characters, Altman also features contributions from his collaborators and contemporaries including Frank Barhydt, E. L. Doctorow, Roger Ebert, Jules Feiffer, Julian Fellowes, James Franco, Tess Gallagher, Pauline Kael, Garrison Keillor, Michael Murphy, Martin Scorsese, Lily Tomlin, Alan Rudolph, Michael Tolkin, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

About this title

About the Author

Kathryn Reed Altman is the widow of Robert Altman. Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan is an Italian film writer and curator. Martin Scorsese is one of America's most prominent working filmmakers.

From the Back Cover

For decades Altman fascinated, challenged and perplexed critics and audiences alike with films--among them M*A*S*H, Nashville, Short Cuts, and Gosford Park --that pioneered the use of zoom lenses, overlapping dialogue, multi-track recording, improvisation, multiple storylines and mixing documentary with fiction. Yet, for all his technical innovations, Altman infused each of his works with a trademark sense of subversive, caustic, satirical humour, as well as an empassioned social and political engagement.

A visual history of this important artist and his oeuvre, Altman brims with photographs, writings and memorabilia culled from Altman's own archive, as well as from dozens of personal scrapbooks belonging to his wife Kathryn, who contributes personal recollections of life with Altman. Also included are contributions from some of the best-known filmmakers, critics, writers and performers with whom Altman worked or whom Altman inspired, including Martin Scorsese, E. L. Doctorow and Jules Feiffer, among others.

Edition details

• Publisher: Abrams
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1419707779
• ISBN 13: 9781419707773
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336