Remembering The Artist Robert De Niro, Sr. Premeires on HBO on June 9th
In the latest HBO documentary Remembering The Artist Robert De Niro, Sr. introduces audiences to the life of Robert DeNiro, Sr., the artist whose art showed with the likes of Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. Actor Robert De Niro, Jr., opens up about his father the artist and why it was important his story be told.
The HBO Documentary Films presentation of Remembering The Artist Robert De Niro, Sr. is a deeply moving portrait of the painter told by those who knew him best, debuts Monday, June 9 (9:00-9:45 p.m. ET/PT). An official selection of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, the film was directed by Perri Peltz (HBO’s The Education of Dee Dee Ricks) and Geeta Gandbhir (Emmy®-winning editor of HBO’s If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise). Other HBO playdates: June 9 (3:00 a.m.), 11 (9:30 a.m.), 12 (6:00 p.m.), 15 (2:00 p.m.), 18 (1:15 p.m.), 21 (10:15 a.m.) and 25 (10:45 a.m.). HBO2 playdates: June 11 (8:00 p.m.) and 29 (3:50 a.m.)
Remembering The Artist Robert De Niro, Sr. traces De Niro, Sr.’s story from his childhood in Syracuse, NY, where he felt misunderstood by his demanding father, to his marriage to fellow up-and-coming painter Virginia Admiral, whom he met at Hofmann’s school, to the birth of Robert De Niro, Jr. in 1943, to his unacknowledged homosexuality.
In 1945, Robert De Niro, Sr.’s work was included in the Autumn Salon at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century gallery along with that of Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. The next year, he had his first solo exhibition at Guggenheim’s gallery, an extremely prestigious honor for the young figurative painter. But while De Niro continued to show at the highly regarded Charles Egan Gallery throughout the 1950s, his career began to slip out of the critical spotlight, and he struggled for recognition in subsequent decades.
As part of his mission to honor and preserve his father’s legacy, actor Robert De Niro, Jr. reads from De Niro, Sr.’s letters and journals, providing his own recollections of the artist’s personal and professional struggles. The film weaves together archival family footage and interviews with the artist himself, as well as with art experts, artists who worked alongside him and, most affectingly, his son.
At the heart of the film is Robert De Niro, Sr.’s beautiful work, which will be exhibited in conjunction with the documentary’s debut at New York City’s DC Moore Gallery from June 6–July 11. These vibrant paintings are a reminder that art movements can be so powerful that they can obscure the work of talented artists who don’t fit a particular genre.
When Robert De Niro, Jr. was a toddler, his parents separated, but always remained close. As the son grew up, he observed his father’s career disappointments and bouts of depression. De Niro, Jr. speaks movingly of the irony of dealing with the early days of his own success as an actor while taking trips to France to help his father, carrying paintings under his arm from gallery to gallery.
Robert De Niro, Jr. has remained committed to honoring his father’s legacy after his death, maintaining his art studio as it was when his father worked there, so that his children can appreciate their grandfather’s work.
Remembering The Artist Robert De Niro Sr., was directed by Perri Peltz and Geeta Gandbhir; produced by Perri Peltz; edited by Geeta Gandbhir; director of photography, Rudy Valdez; music by Philip Glass; supervising producer, Sara Bernstein; executive producers, Jane Rosenthal and Sheila Nevins.
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