Robert Joseph Flaherty, 16 Feb 1884 - 23 Jul 1951 Search this
Medium:
Bronze
Dimensions:
With Base: 47 x 31.4 x 29.5cm (18 1/2 x 12 3/8 x 11 5/8")
Without Base: 39.7 x 31.4 x 29.5cm (15 5/8 x 12 3/8 x 11 2/8")
Base: 7.6 x 22.8 x 22.8cm (3 x 9 x 9")
Type:
Sculpture
Date:
1949 (cast 1973)
Exhibition Label:
Born Iron Mountain, Michigan
Often called the father of documentary film, Robert J. Flaherty began filming native life while exploring the Hudson Bay region in the late teens. In 1920 a fur-trading company funded his filmmaking, and the result was Flaherty’s classic documentary, Nanook of the North (1922), which depicted an Eskimo (Nanook) hunting, fishing, and trapping. Flaherty’s subsequent documentaries included Moana (1926), a depiction of Samoan life, and Tabu (1931), which took place in the South Seas and won an Oscar for Best Cinematography. As much a showman as a filmmaker, Flaherty helped popularize the idea of motion pictures as a chronicle of everyday life.
Provenance:
(M. Knoedler & Co., Inc.), New York; purchased NPG 1973
