Art Is…The Permanent Revolution

Manfred Kirchheimer's documentary explores the expression of political protest in various forms of print art—lithographs, woodcuts, etchings, drawings, and engravings—from the 16th century to the present. Hundreds of activist works by some 60 artists—from Rembrandt, Goya, and Daumier to Dix, Grosz, and Picasso—are surveyed to demonstrate how art was employed as a means of criticism, with primary targets being war, social injustice, and political oppression. But Kirchheimer is not concerned merely with the past; Art Is…. also features contemporary practitioners—etcher Sigmund Abeles, lithographer Ann Chernow, woodcutter Paul Marcus, and master printer James Reed—following each of them as they create works, describing the process step-by-step. Along the way, the artists also comment on predecessors and discuss how they are continuing the tradition of social criticism by taking on current domestic and international issues as subjects. Shifting between present and past—juxtaposing the laborious, highly personal process of production today with the socially conscious purposes that drove artists over the years to fashion striking images—this documentary should foster admiration for graphic artists' fusion of socially critical content with aesthetic form. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)