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cshimokita
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Part I: To put Werner Herzog in perspective, I start with Amos Vogel

Clearly Herzog (1942 - ) got an early start at being Herzog, but in his own words he gained much by his association with Amos Vogel (1921 – 2012) the Austrian-born historian, curator and all-round man of cinema.  Vogel established Cinema 16 in 1947, America’s most important film club, and later the New York Film Festival, as well as publishing in 1974 one of the most legendary books on cinema ever, "Film as a Subversive Art".

"Werner Herzog - A Guide for the Perplexed" conversations with Paul Cronin is dedicated to "the Last Lion", Amos Vogel.  A book in which Werner wrote: "Amos was a remarkable man, a true visionary and great film scholar who was a mentor to me for decades.  He grew up in Vienna and escaped with his family from Austria before the Holocaust, eventually arriving in New York ... He was a deeply impressive man, the person, who one day, out of the blue, said to me, 'You look like someone who should have children.'  I named my first son after him." The influence of Vogel, not only with Herzog but with many others, cannot be underestimated.

More from "A Guide for the Perplexed" ... unpack Werner's thoughts about (a) the lack of adequate imagery... and (b) our failure to lob grenades into television stations... and you will find that both ideas reflect Amos Vogel's work as a historian, author and curator, the belief that most of the images around us, suffused with commercialism, are worn out and pernicious in their banality, that [for example] television chokes off and impoverishes ... it's unlikely that the tide of stagnant cinema will ever be beaten back ...

In some ways Herzog can be summed up, at least as well as any moving target, with his following quote given the inherent danger in trying to pigeonhole anything: "We are, as a race, aware of certain dangers that surround us. We comprehend that global warming and overcrowding of the planet are real dangers for mankind. We have come to understand that the destruction of the environment is another enormous danger, that resources are being wasted at an extraordinary rate. I believe that the lack of adequate imagery is a danger of the same magnitude."

I will attempt to expand on that in part two...

I positioned this brief introduction in the Photo Forum because of the obvious relevance to still photography. For more about Amos Vogel and Cinema 16 follow the link (Film as a Subversive Art - running time 56 minutes).

Thanks for reading,
Casey

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