Jake Auerbach
Encyclopedia
Jake Auerbach (born 1958) is a British film maker specialising in documentary
subjects. Though his films have ranged across the cultural spectrum he is best known for his portraits of artists both contemporary and historical.
, Yorkshire to Frank Auerbach
and Julia Wolstenholme. He was educated at King Alfred School in North London (1963–76) and then joined the Economist
newspaper, organising worldwide distribution. After two years he left to seek work in the film industry; he joined the Henson Organisation
working on The Muppet Show
and Dark Crystal.
He then worked on the film 'Haunted', an independent feature, in the USA before returning to the UK and the editing department of the BBC
. After a year in the cutting rooms working on strands such as Arena
, Omnibus and Horizon he began to direct items on the arts magazine programme Review. There followed films on rock music, photography, Voodoo, football and major documentaries about London, the art market and filmed portraits of artists. In 1992 he left the BBC to become an independent Producer/Director, he now runs his own company Jake Auerbach Films Ltd.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
, The Tate Gallery
, The Royal Academy
and the National Gallery
have presented Auerbach’s films and seasons of his work have been shown at Abbot Hall, Kendal (Cumbria), Pallant House
, Chichester (West Sussex) and most notably The National Portrait Gallery in London.
Auerbach writes occasional, enthusiastic pieces of journalism and his films have been broadcast and screened around the world.
An intimate portrait of the artist Paula Rego
.
Allen Jones: Women and Men (59) Prod/Director JAFilms 2007
A portrait of the artist Allen Jones
Rodin: the sculptors' view (53) Prod/Director JAFilms 2006
Rodin
as seen through the eyes of contemporary sculptors Rachel Whiteread
, Sir Anthony Caro
, Barry Flanagan
, Marc Quinn
, Tony Cragg
, Richard Deacon and Antony Gormley
John Virtue’s London (50) Prod/Director JAFilms 2005
A film about the painter John Virtue
Lucian Freud: Portraits (68) Prod/Director JAFilms/BBC 2004
Lucian Freud
as seen through the eyes of those who model for him including David Hockney
, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire
and Andrew Parker Bowles
Restoration (14 short films) Prod/Director Endemol/BBC 2003
A series of short films made with Jonathan Foyle
Titian (50) Prod/Director National Gallery 2003
with John Berger
Frank Auerbach... to the studio (53) Producer HRJAFilms/BBC 2002
A Portrait of Majesty (20) Prod/Director BBC 2001
Orange Juice (short drama) Producer Various 2000/1
Private View Project Chairman L Ashley Found. ‘96-9
Patrick Hughes (20) Director Various 1996
A portrait of Britain's leading surrealist artist Patrick Hughes
Kitaj; In the Picture (50) Director HRJAFilms/BBC 1995
A unique interview with the artist R. B. Kitaj
.
Sickert’s London (50) Director HRJAFilms/BBC 1994
A film about the forgotten hero of British art Walter Sickert
. Voiced by Alan Bennett
and with music by Jools Holland
.
Missing Pictures series (20s) Director HRJAFilms/BBC 1993
The Nation (60) Prod/Director BBC 1991/2
Nevin: Picture Hunt (40) Director BBC 1991
With footballer Pat Nevin
Phillips: Artists Eye (40) Prod/Director BBC 1990
A portrait of artist Tom Phillips
Rego: Artists Eye (40) Prod/Director BBC 1990
A portrait of Paula Rego
.
Sickert in Liverpool (20) Director BBC 1989
Bandes Designee (15) Director BBC 1989
Cindy Palmano (20) Director BBC 1989
Lucian Freud (50) Prod/Director BBC 1988
A unique interview with the painter Lucian Freud
.
Jeffrey Bernard (20) Director BBC 1988
Jeffrey Bernard
reviews the Ideal Home Exhibition.
Freud (20) Prod/Director BBC 1988
Frank Zappa (20) Director BBC 1988
An interview with Frank Zappa
History Painting (20 minutes) Director BBC 1987
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2004/jun/10/tvandradio.television1 Guardian Freud review
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
subjects. Though his films have ranged across the cultural spectrum he is best known for his portraits of artists both contemporary and historical.
Career
Jake Auerbach was born in SheffieldSheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, Yorkshire to Frank Auerbach
Frank Auerbach
Frank Helmut Auerbach is a painter born in Germany although he has been a naturalised British citizen since 1947.-Biography:Auerbach was born in Berlin, the son of Max Auerbach, a patent lawyer, and Charlotte Nora Burchardt, who had trained as an artist...
and Julia Wolstenholme. He was educated at King Alfred School in North London (1963–76) and then joined the Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
newspaper, organising worldwide distribution. After two years he left to seek work in the film industry; he joined the Henson Organisation
The Jim Henson Company
The Jim Henson Company, an American entertainment organization, traces its origins to the founding of Muppets, Inc. in 1958 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The Muppets helped the company gain worldwide acclaim in family entertainment for more than four decades...
working on The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
and Dark Crystal.
He then worked on the film 'Haunted', an independent feature, in the USA before returning to the UK and the editing department of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. After a year in the cutting rooms working on strands such as Arena
Arena (TV series)
Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. It has run since 1 October 1975, and over five hundred episodes have been made. Arena covers all manner of subjects, from profiles of notable people such as Bob Dylan to the Ford Cortina car...
, Omnibus and Horizon he began to direct items on the arts magazine programme Review. There followed films on rock music, photography, Voodoo, football and major documentaries about London, the art market and filmed portraits of artists. In 1992 he left the BBC to become an independent Producer/Director, he now runs his own company Jake Auerbach Films Ltd.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, The Tate Gallery
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
, The Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
and the National Gallery
National gallery
The National Gallery is an art gallery on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom.National Gallery may also refer to:*Armenia: National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan*Australia:**National Gallery of Australia, Canberra...
have presented Auerbach’s films and seasons of his work have been shown at Abbot Hall, Kendal (Cumbria), Pallant House
Pallant House Gallery
Pallant House Gallery is an art gallery in Chichester, West Sussex, England. It houses one of the best collections of 20th century British art in the world....
, Chichester (West Sussex) and most notably The National Portrait Gallery in London.
"Auerbach's films create compelling, intimate portraits of some of the most fascinating artists of the past 100 years.
'I tell people that I don't make art films, I make people films... portraits rather than profiles' says Auerbach. 'It's really satisfying then to have these films screened at the National Portrait Gallery, it feels right"
Auerbach writes occasional, enthusiastic pieces of journalism and his films have been broadcast and screened around the world.
Style
Auerbach is regarded as a maverick in the world of arts documentary, backing his own judgment rather than constructing films to suit broadcasters; he works, where possible, with the artists themselves, without the intervention of interpreters.Films
Paula Rego: telling tales (50) Prod/Director JAFilms 2009An intimate portrait of the artist Paula Rego
Paula Rego
Paula Rego is a painter born in Portugal although she is a naturalised British citizen.-Biography:Rego was born in the Portuguese capital Lisbon, the daughter of an electrical engineer who worked for the Marconi Company. Although this gave her a comfortable middle class home, the family was...
.
Allen Jones: Women and Men (59) Prod/Director JAFilms 2007
A portrait of the artist Allen Jones
Allen Jones (sculptor)
Allen Jones RA is a British pop artist, best known for his sculptures. He lives and works in London.Jones was born in Southampton and from 1955 to 1961 studied at the Hornsey College of Art...
Rodin: the sculptors' view (53) Prod/Director JAFilms 2006
Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
as seen through the eyes of contemporary sculptors Rachel Whiteread
Rachel Whiteread
Rachel Whiteread, CBE is an English artist, best known for her sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She won the annual Turner Prize in 1993—the first woman to win the prize....
, Sir Anthony Caro
Anthony Caro
Sir Anthony Alfred Caro, OM, CBE is an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using 'found' industrial objects.-Background and early life:...
, Barry Flanagan
Barry Flanagan
Barry Flanagan RA OBE was a Welsh sculptor, best known for his bronze statues of hares.-Biography:Barry Flanagan was born in Prestatyn, North Wales. He studied at Birmingham College of Art and Crafts before going on to St. Martin's School of Art in London in 1964. Flanagan graduated in 1966 and...
, Marc Quinn
Marc Quinn
Marc Quinn is a British artist and part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs . He is known for Alison Lapper Pregnant , Self , and Garden .He is one of the Young British...
, Tony Cragg
Tony Cragg
Tony Cragg is a British visual artist specialized in sculpture. He is currently the director of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.-Early life:Cragg was born in Liverpool in 1949...
, Richard Deacon and Antony Gormley
Antony Gormley
Antony Mark David Gormley OBE RA is a British sculptor. His best known works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in the North of England, commissioned in 1995 and erected in February 1998, Another Place on Crosby Beach near Liverpool, and Event Horizon, a multi-part site...
John Virtue’s London (50) Prod/Director JAFilms 2005
A film about the painter John Virtue
John Virtue
John Virtue was born in Accrington, Lancashire in 1947 to become an English artist who specialises in monochrome landscapes. He is honorary Professor of Fine Art at the University of Plymouth, and from 2003–2005 was the sixth Associate Artist at London's National Gallery.Virtue trained at the...
Lucian Freud: Portraits (68) Prod/Director JAFilms/BBC 2004
Lucian Freud
Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud, OM, CH was a British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impasted portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time...
as seen through the eyes of those who model for him including David Hockney
David Hockney
David Hockney, CH, RA, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London....
, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire
Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire DCVO , née The Hon. Deborah Freeman-Mitford is the youngest and last surviving of the six noted Mitford sisters whose political affiliations and marriages were a prominent feature of English culture in the 1930s and 1940s...
and Andrew Parker Bowles
Andrew Parker Bowles
Brigadier Andrew Henry Parker Bowles OBE is a retired British Army officer. He is the former husband of the Duchess of Cornwall , who is now married to the Prince of Wales....
Restoration (14 short films) Prod/Director Endemol/BBC 2003
A series of short films made with Jonathan Foyle
Jonathan Foyle
Jonathan Foyle is an architectural historian, broadcaster and advocate for heritage sites. He is also an accomplished artist.- Background :...
Titian (50) Prod/Director National Gallery 2003
with John Berger
John Berger
John Peter Berger is an English art critic, novelist, painter and author. His novel G. won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism Ways of Seeing, written as an accompaniment to a BBC series, is often used as a university text.-Education:Born in Hackney, London, England, Berger was...
Frank Auerbach... to the studio (53) Producer HRJAFilms/BBC 2002
A Portrait of Majesty (20) Prod/Director BBC 2001
Orange Juice (short drama) Producer Various 2000/1
Private View Project Chairman L Ashley Found. ‘96-9
Patrick Hughes (20) Director Various 1996
A portrait of Britain's leading surrealist artist Patrick Hughes
Patrick Hughes (artist)
Patrick Hughes is a British artist working in London. He is the creator of "reverspective", an optical illusion on a 3-dimensional surface where the parts of the picture which seem farthest away are actually physically the nearest....
Kitaj; In the Picture (50) Director HRJAFilms/BBC 1995
A unique interview with the artist R. B. Kitaj
R. B. Kitaj
Ronald Brooks Kitaj was an American artist who spent much of his life in England.-Life:Born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, near Cleveland, United States, his Hungarian father, Sigmund Benway, left his mother, Jeanne Brooks, shortly after he was born and they were divorced in 1934. His mother was the...
.
Sickert’s London (50) Director HRJAFilms/BBC 1994
A film about the forgotten hero of British art Walter Sickert
Walter Sickert
Walter Richard Sickert , born in Munich, Germany, was a painter who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century....
. Voiced by Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
and with music by Jools Holland
Jools Holland
Julian Miles "Jools" Holland OBE, DL is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer, and television presenter. He was a founder of the band Squeeze and his work has involved him with many artists including Sting, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, The Who, David Gilmour and Bono.Holland is a...
.
Missing Pictures series (20s) Director HRJAFilms/BBC 1993
The Nation (60) Prod/Director BBC 1991/2
Nevin: Picture Hunt (40) Director BBC 1991
With footballer Pat Nevin
Pat Nevin
Patrick Kevin Francis Michael "Pat" Nevin is a retired Scottish footballer. In a 20-year career, he played for Clyde, Chelsea, Everton, Tranmere Rovers, Kilmarnock and Motherwell as a winger. Nevin was a fans' favourite at Chelsea during the 1980s...
Phillips: Artists Eye (40) Prod/Director BBC 1990
A portrait of artist Tom Phillips
Tom Phillips (artist)
Tom Phillips CBE R.A. is an English artist. He was born in London, where he continues to work. He is a painter, printmaker and collagist.-Life:...
Rego: Artists Eye (40) Prod/Director BBC 1990
A portrait of Paula Rego
Paula Rego
Paula Rego is a painter born in Portugal although she is a naturalised British citizen.-Biography:Rego was born in the Portuguese capital Lisbon, the daughter of an electrical engineer who worked for the Marconi Company. Although this gave her a comfortable middle class home, the family was...
.
Sickert in Liverpool (20) Director BBC 1989
Bandes Designee (15) Director BBC 1989
Cindy Palmano (20) Director BBC 1989
Lucian Freud (50) Prod/Director BBC 1988
A unique interview with the painter Lucian Freud
Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud, OM, CH was a British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impasted portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time...
.
Jeffrey Bernard (20) Director BBC 1988
Jeffrey Bernard
Jeffrey Bernard
Jeffrey Bernard was a British journalist, best known for his weekly column "Low Life" in the Spectator magazine, and also notorious for a feckless and chaotic career and life of alcohol abuse. He became associated with the louche and bohemian atmosphere that existed in London's Soho district...
reviews the Ideal Home Exhibition.
Freud (20) Prod/Director BBC 1988
Frank Zappa (20) Director BBC 1988
An interview with Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
History Painting (20 minutes) Director BBC 1987
Sources
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1589649/ Internet Movie Database page
- http://www.moviemail-online.co.uk/directors/3023/Jake-Auerbach/ MovieMail page
- http://shootingpeople.org/cards/Jake Shooting People page
- http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-review-paula-rego-e-jake-auerbach-47-mins-1768258.html Independent review of Paula Rego: telling tales
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywords=jake+auerbach&Go.x=13&Go.y=10&Go=Go Amazon page
- http://www.npg.org.uk/about/press/jake-auerbach.php?searched=jake+auerbach&highlight=searchHighlight+searchHighlight1+searchHighlight2 National Portrait Gallery Season page
- http://www.canadianart.ca/microsites/film//2006/ Canadian Art Film Series 2006
- http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23728979-inside-paula-regos-madhouse.do Evening Standard review of Paula Rego: telling tales
- http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/ra-magazine/autumn2006/autumn2006features/life-force,21,RAMA.html Royal Academy of Arts Rodin: the sculptors’ view page
- http://www.tomphillips.co.uk/portrait/beno/index.html Tom Phillips page
- http://www.artfifa.com/fr/index.php?option=com_film&task=view&id=689&year=25&Itemid=289&lang=en 25th International Festival of Films on Art Montreal - Rodin page
- http://artfifa.com/index.php?option=com_film&task=view&id=2142&Itemid=482 28th International Festival of Films on Art Montreal - Paula Rego: telling tales page
- http://www.artfifa.com/index.php?option=com_film&task=view&id=114&year=23&Itemid=402 23rd International Festival of Films on Art Montreal - Lucian Freud: Portraits page
- http://www.spectator.co.uk/search/search.thtml?search=jake+auerbach Spectator Magazine book reviews by Jake Auerbach
- http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/brushes-with-genius-picassos-sculpture-goes-on-show-at-the-tate-this-month-a-huge-amount-has-been-written-about-his-art-and-life-mostly-by-people-who-never-met-him-but-what-was-he-really-like-jake-auerbach-asked-nine-people-who-did-meet-picasso-for-their-personal-recollections-1392397.html Auerbach’s Picasso article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2004/jun/10/tvandradio.television1 Guardian Freud review