Portrait of Wally

“Injustice upon injustice upon injustice” is how one interviewee describes the saga behind Portrait of Wally, a 1912 painting by Egon Schiele of his mistress Valerie “Wally” Neuzil. Much of Schiele’s work is quite provocative, not just nude but erotic, viewed by some as pornographic and grotesque. But Andrew Shea’s inciting documentary is less a biography about the Expressionist figurative artist (in fact, little is said about Schiele’s short life at all) than his most controversial work—a work controversial not for its subject matter but for its history of ownership....  read more

In Darkness

The Holocaust/WWII film genre has given birth to cinematic masterpieces (The Pianist, Schindler’s List, Sophie Scholl), maudlin excursions into fantasy (Life Is Beautiful) and serious-minded films that reach a bit too far (Black Book). To even think that such events could be recreated again and again within the confines of a film genre, which is inherently subject to its own clichés and devices, is a bit cringe-inducing. But from great horror often springs great art, and there are important stories of courage and survival, as well as the most base human depravity, that have yet to be told. Famed...  read more

Anne Frank Diaries to Become Graphic Novel

The Anne Frank House Museum in Amsterdam has commissioned author Sid Jacobson and artist Ernie Colón to turn Frank’s legendary diary into a graphic novel, to be published by Hill & Wang in the United States and Macmillan in the UK....  read more