1937 Academy Players Directory 1981

Robert Peak imagined this 1937 Academy Players Directory as if he were painting movie stills. What might it have been like for him to choose, crop, and merge all these different scenes together? The piece has a layered feel, like so many memories flashing before our eyes. Look at the sharp contrasts: the stark differences between light and shadow that give the subjects drama and depth. I can imagine him mixing together the thick, opaque oils to construct the figures and then thinning them down to add those wispy, blurred edges. There is a lot of technical skill involved, sure, but there’s also an intuitive, improvisational quality. Peak is in conversation with the history of painting and film, remixing and reimagining, finding a new language. I think that is what every artist does when they create something.