Mr. F & I have recently established a democratic movie-night selection system.  It goes something like this, His, Hers, Ours.  We love a well done documentary and after the last two disturbing political picks by Mr. F ( Dirty Wars & The Act of Killing ), it was time for a joint movie night selection.  Documentary for Mr. F + art-related story for me, we settled on Cutie and the Boxer.  Win win.  The Sundance Film Festival winner follows the story of the 40 year marriage between famed “boxing” painter Ushio Shinohara and his artist wife Noriko.

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Ushio Shinohara came to notoriety as an artist in Tokyo in the 60s, eventually leaving Japan for New York, where he was a relatively unknown working artist and met Noriko, then an art student around twenty years his junior.  Not long after meeting and falling in love, Noriko became pregnant with their son, Alex.  She would spend the next forty years raising Alex and taking care of Ushio, a temperamental alcoholic ( who is now sober ).

images found here and here

There are obvious parallels between the relationship of Ushio & Noriko and that of Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner— the boisterous, alcoholic artist husband overshadowing his artist wife and caretaker.  But in Ushio & Noriko’s story, the long-suffering wife regains her artistic identity not with the death of her husband, but by taking it back for herself.

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I do wonder if, had Pollock lived and gotten the treatment he needed, whether that couple’s story would have had a similar ending– the tortured artist finding health and peace while his wife finally comes out from behind her husband’s shadow to find her own voice.  Krasner, of course, would eventually gain her own well deserved notoriety but only many years following Pollock’s death.

We love documentaries for all the questions they bring forth, leading to great conversations between Mr. F & I, usually over coffee the next morning.  Cutie and The Boxer led to questions like Is there truth to the stereotype of the tortured artist?  Why do so many female artists end up putting their own work on hold while caring for husband and family?  Was that a generational thing or is it still happening today?  Is all art cathartic for the artist in some way?  What say you, Artsies?  Would love to hear your thoughts on these questions and the film, if you’ve seen it!

All image sources linked above.