The Linda Pace Foundation has acquired two large scale photographs by filmmaker and installation artist, Isaac Julien from his 1989 film Looking For Langston.
The two production stills, Film-Noir Angels and Masquerade No. 3 provide examples of the dreamlike vision Julien’s film creates in portraying poet Langston Hughes as a Harlem Renaissance gay icon.
Film-Noir Angels by Issac Julien
In a press announcement about the acquisition, the Pace Foundation discusses the artistic influence of Julien’s Looking For Langston:
“The film, and the images herein, are considered a landmark in the exploration of artistic expression, the nature of desire and the reciprocity of the gaze. The artwork became a hallmark of New Queer Cinema as well as a touchstone for African-American Studies and has been taught widely in North American universities, colleges and art schools for nearly 30 years.”
Julien was born in London where he still resides. He came to prominence in the 1980s as a founding member of the member of the Sankofa Film/Video Collective which was dedicated to developing an independent black film culture in the areas of production, exhibition and audience.
Isaac Julien
Besides, Looking for Langstson, Julien has created almost 20 other films including Young Soul Rebels (1991), Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask (1996) and BaadAsssss Cinema (2002).
“During his 1999 Artpace residency [in San Antonio], he wowed Texas with The Long Road to Mazátlan, which has now screened internationally and was the centerpiece of his Turner Prize nomination in 2000 and at Documenta 11 he took audiences by storm with Paradise/Omeros,” according to a post about Julien on the Artpace website.
Linda Pace, who died in 2007, was an avid supporter of Julien’s art work, the foundation that bears her name continues to maintain a comprehensive collection of his work adding new pieces every couple of years.
