Change Your Image
davidalexander-1
Reviews
The World of Gods and Monsters: A Journey with James Whale (1999)
James Whale's paintings
I enjoyed hearing much of the back story on the making of the "Gods and Monsters" movie and more about James Whale's life. I also found the details from his paintings quite intriguing. I couldn't find much information on the extent of his work in this area or an indication of how many of these works exist or are known. While I found an indication that they are considered by at least one person to be "amateur", the selections from this documentary show a quite possibly high level of accomplishment. Maybe what we're seeing is just very selective editing intended only to flatter, but it's difficult to exaggerate from nothing and that's not the tone I get from the movie. I for one would like to see more of the complete works for a wider perspective (er, um... so to speak).
The three paintings available on the James Whale.com site are somewhat disappointing examples when compared to the clips from "The World of...". I wonder if anyone has ever gathered a collection together for a show or a publication other than for this documentary short. If not it might be a interesting and worthwhile endeavor.
I'm hoping either of the directors or a producer might help shed some light on this. It could be a nice post, post-script on this very interesting man.