Aesthetics, Art, Associative Thought, Film, Inspiration, Remix, photography
Lartigue, Avedon, and Wes Anderson
It’s been duly noted that Wes Anderson took inspiration from Jaques Henri Lartigue.
For one, the shot of Max Fischer (played by Jason Schwartzman) as founder of the Yankee Racers is clearly homage to Lartigue’s image of his brother on a “bobsled with wheels”. Furthermore, his brother’s name is Zissou and any Anderson fan will tell you that Zissou is the name of Bill Murray’s character in The Life Aquatic.
As I was exploring the late Richard Avedon’s portfolio, I came across this image of a young rattlesnake skinner:
I perused the internet to see if this has been documented, and of course it has been mentioned (although not as much as the Lartigue/Anderson homages.) Turns out, the mother of Luke and Owen Wilson, Laura Wilson, worked closely with Avedon, particularly in his documenting the American West. What’s more, Richard Avedon is the man behind the cast photo for the Royal Tenenbaums, according to the Criterion Collection page.
The best thing about great filmmakers is the ability of their work to affect you long after you are exposed to it. Woody Allen’s cultural references had turned me on to Swedish playwright August Strindberg, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, American comics the Marx Brothers, and countless other creative talents. Wes Anderson’s work seems to have the same effect on me, although his references also introduced me to new things in the world of typography and classic fashion in addition to film, music, and literature.
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Hello, Great analysis, and really good searching work, i was looking for Anderson’s references and you brought me one more. I’m crazy about his universe and i understand with you a bit more why it is so dense and rich. You are talking about typographic references at the end… can you tell me a bit more about it? Thank you, hope to write your answer soon and know a bit more about this young genius!
Hi jb, sorry for not catching this comment sooner! Anderson uses the typeface Futura on basically everything. Check this website for more information on Anderson’s typography choices: http://www.marksimonson.com/article/87/royal-tenenbaums-world-of-futura
It’s a great analysis. Thanks for the comment!
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