By Karen Ostlund
Photos by Josh White
Photos by Josh White
Guillermo del Toro: "At Home with Monsters" opens Aug.1st thru November 27, 2016 at LACMA, Art of the Americas Building, Plaza Level, 5905 Wilshire, Los Angeles
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is
pleased to present Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters (August 1–November
27, 2016), the filmmaker’s first museum retrospective.
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| Guillermo del Toro with his sculpture Sammael from the movie Hellboy |
Guillermo del Toro is born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico, and is one of the most inventive filmmakers of his generation.
Beginning with Cronos (1993) and continuing through The Devil’s Backbone (2001), Hellboy (2004), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Pacific Rim (2013), and Crimson Peak (2015). Among many other films, television, and book projects, del Toro has reinvented the genres of horror, fantasy, and science fiction.
Today, del Toro’s home base is a cherished residence in suburban Los Angeles that he calls Bleak House. Carefully curated and maintained by the filmmaker, the house contains several thematic “libraries” of objects he has accumulated over many years: paintings, drawings, maquettes, artifacts, and concept film art.
Del Toro collected books from a young age, everything from literary classics to medical encyclopedias to horror comics, and began making short films at eight years old.
He has always collected voraciously, arranging his prized possessions in environments that nourish and motivate him. Bleak House embodies these lifelong fascinations; it is, as del Toro puts it, “the world as I understand it; as it exists in my soul.
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| Bleak House statues |
”The exhibition explores del
Toro’s creative process by bringing together elements from his films, objects from his vast
personal collections, drawings from his notebooks, and approximately 60 objects from
LACMA’s permanent collection. The diverse range of media—including sculpture,
paintings, prints, photography, costumes, ancient artifacts, books, maquettes, and film—
totals approximately 500 objects and reflects the broad scope of del Toro’s inspirations. Del Toro said:
“To find beauty in the profane. To elevate the banal. To be moved by genre. These things
are vital for my storytelling,” “This exhibition presents a small fraction of
the things that have moved me, inspired me, and consoled me as I transit through life. It’s
a devotional sampling of the enormous love that is required to create, maintain, and love
monsters in our lives.”
“By bringing del Toro’s notebooks, collections, and film art into museum galleries, we
acknowledge the curatorial aspects of his approach to filmmaking,” said Britt Salvesen,
curator and department head of the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department and the
Prints and Drawings department at LACMA. “On one level, he carefully constructs and
stages his films in the manner of an exhibition. On another level, he fills their plots with
commentaries about the social, psychological, and spiritual power of objects. In this retrospective, as in his extraordinary filmography, del Toro demonstrates the energizing
effects of cross-pollination.”
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| Notebook 2, Guillermo del Toro |
Michael Govan, LACMA’s CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director, said, “This retrospective
is a wonderful example of Art+Film at LACMA. Del Toro encourages us to ignore our
traditional art-historical narratives and hierarchies of high and low culture, just as he
blends and reinvents conventional genres in his films. With his ability to collapse time and
space, history and fiction, nature and fantasy, he taps the latent potential at the core of
our institutional mission.”
Following its exhibit at LACMA, Guillermo del Toro will travel to its co-organizing
institutions: the Minneapolis Institute of Art (February 26–May 21, 2017) and the Art
Gallery of Ontario (September 30, 2017–January 7, 2018).
Guillermo del Toro is organized into 8 thematic sections:
The exhibition begins with Childhood and Innocence, exploring the central role children play in many of del Toro’s films. Often, these children can perceive alternate realities and give expression to unfiltered emotions in ways that adults cannot. Del Toro does not insulate his young protagonists from fear, abandonment, harm, or even death. At some level, del Toro’s films endlessly revisit his own childhood, which he felt was marred by a strict Catholic upbringing and bullying classmates but redeemed by books, movies, and horror comics. He began drawing at a very young age. To this day, del Toro maintains his early habit of keeping a notebook at hand to record ideas, phrases, lists, and images. Resources for his films, these journals are also essential to his evolution as an artist.
Victoriana, the next gallery, references the Romantic, Victorian, and Edwardian ages, as well as latter-day interpretations of the Victorian era. Charles Dickens, the quintessential Victorian writer, inspired the name of del Toro’s personal residence, Bleak House, a curated space from which many objects in the exhibition are borrowed. Dickens’s blend of realism and fantasy, fascination with the city, sense of humor, and predilection for taxonomy, multifarious character types, and intricate plot twists resonate in del Toro’s films.
This gallery also demonstrates del Toro’s interest in the Victorian relationship to science, in which humans attempted to exert dominion over nature through meticulous categorization. As suggested by his extensive collection of insect specimens, images, and trinkets, del Toro has inherited a fascination with such creatures, although the insects in his films tend to break free of human control in spectacular ways.
Visitors will subsequently experience a version of Del Toro’s Rain Room (not that Rain
Room), a favorite spot in Bleak House in which del Toro has installed a false window and
special effects to simulate a perpetual thunderstorm.
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| Guillermo del Toro with his favorite monster Frankenstein |
The exhibition begins with Childhood and Innocence, exploring the central role children play in many of del Toro’s films. Often, these children can perceive alternate realities and give expression to unfiltered emotions in ways that adults cannot. Del Toro does not insulate his young protagonists from fear, abandonment, harm, or even death. At some level, del Toro’s films endlessly revisit his own childhood, which he felt was marred by a strict Catholic upbringing and bullying classmates but redeemed by books, movies, and horror comics. He began drawing at a very young age. To this day, del Toro maintains his early habit of keeping a notebook at hand to record ideas, phrases, lists, and images. Resources for his films, these journals are also essential to his evolution as an artist.
Victoriana, the next gallery, references the Romantic, Victorian, and Edwardian ages, as well as latter-day interpretations of the Victorian era. Charles Dickens, the quintessential Victorian writer, inspired the name of del Toro’s personal residence, Bleak House, a curated space from which many objects in the exhibition are borrowed. Dickens’s blend of realism and fantasy, fascination with the city, sense of humor, and predilection for taxonomy, multifarious character types, and intricate plot twists resonate in del Toro’s films.
This gallery also demonstrates del Toro’s interest in the Victorian relationship to science, in which humans attempted to exert dominion over nature through meticulous categorization. As suggested by his extensive collection of insect specimens, images, and trinkets, del Toro has inherited a fascination with such creatures, although the insects in his films tend to break free of human control in spectacular ways.
 |
| Guillermo del Toro with monsters at LACMA |
The next section explores del Toro’s interest in Magic, Alchemy, and the Occult, where his
films are full of puzzles, talismanic devices, secret keys, and quests for forbidden
knowledge. Many of del Toro’s characters are scientists, contemporary successors to the
monks and alchemists who explored the boundaries between the holy and unholy. He
cites the influence of H.P. Lovecraft, the idiosyncratic American writer whose work is
considered foundational for the genres of horror and science fiction. Lovecraft’s vivid
evocations of madness, transformation, and monstrosity continue to be a major source of
inspiration; for the last decade, del Toro has been attempting to adapt Lovecraft’s novella
At the Mountains of Madness (1936) for the screen.
Movies, Comics, Pop Culture search deeply into del Toro’s obsession with cinema, from B movies and horror films to directors Alfred Hitchcock and Luis Buñuel. Del Toro’s voracious appetite for film is matched by his enthusiasm for comic books and his admiration for a wide range of illustrators such as Moebius (Jean Giraud), Frank Frazetta, and Richard Corben. He has directed several comic-book adaptions, working closely with Mike Mignola on two films based on his Hellboy series. Always, del Toro refuses to abide by the traditional hierarchies between high and low culture.
Frankenstein and Horror reveals del Toro’s lifelong love affair with the tale of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. He first absorbed the story as a child, via James Whale’s 1931 film, impressive in its Expressionist-inspired visual beauty. As a teenager, he read Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), which emphasizes the monster’s essential fragility and vulnerability. The story became a touchstone for the young del Toro, who identified powerfully with the creature’s outsider status. The filmmaker now finds in Frankenstein an analogy to his directorial approach. Like the monster, his films are amalgams of used, discarded, and diverse source materials, given new life and purpose.
Del Toro’s fascination with monsters of all types is showcased in Freaks and Monsters.
He sees some monsters as tragic: beautiful and heroic in their vulnerability and individuality, they mirror the hypocrisies of society and bring to light corrosive standards of perfection. Though he identifies with the tragic type of monster, del Toro is also adept at creating truly terrifying ones. He begins by thinking of a monster as a character, not simply an assembly of parts. It must be visually convincing from all angles, both in motion and at rest. In his notebooks, he constantly records ideas for distinguishing physical features that may come to fruition only years later. In addition to drawing the initial concepts, he is closely involved in fabrication—he entered the movie industry in Mexico as a special-effects artist—and has often expressed his preference for practical effects as opposed to computer-generated imagery.
Movies, Comics, Pop Culture search deeply into del Toro’s obsession with cinema, from B movies and horror films to directors Alfred Hitchcock and Luis Buñuel. Del Toro’s voracious appetite for film is matched by his enthusiasm for comic books and his admiration for a wide range of illustrators such as Moebius (Jean Giraud), Frank Frazetta, and Richard Corben. He has directed several comic-book adaptions, working closely with Mike Mignola on two films based on his Hellboy series. Always, del Toro refuses to abide by the traditional hierarchies between high and low culture.
Frankenstein and Horror reveals del Toro’s lifelong love affair with the tale of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. He first absorbed the story as a child, via James Whale’s 1931 film, impressive in its Expressionist-inspired visual beauty. As a teenager, he read Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), which emphasizes the monster’s essential fragility and vulnerability. The story became a touchstone for the young del Toro, who identified powerfully with the creature’s outsider status. The filmmaker now finds in Frankenstein an analogy to his directorial approach. Like the monster, his films are amalgams of used, discarded, and diverse source materials, given new life and purpose.
Del Toro’s fascination with monsters of all types is showcased in Freaks and Monsters.
He sees some monsters as tragic: beautiful and heroic in their vulnerability and individuality, they mirror the hypocrisies of society and bring to light corrosive standards of perfection. Though he identifies with the tragic type of monster, del Toro is also adept at creating truly terrifying ones. He begins by thinking of a monster as a character, not simply an assembly of parts. It must be visually convincing from all angles, both in motion and at rest. In his notebooks, he constantly records ideas for distinguishing physical features that may come to fruition only years later. In addition to drawing the initial concepts, he is closely involved in fabrication—he entered the movie industry in Mexico as a special-effects artist—and has often expressed his preference for practical effects as opposed to computer-generated imagery.
The final section is Death and the Afterlife. Growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico, in the
late 1960s and 1970s, del Toro had a number of disturbing confrontations with death,
seeing corpses in the street, in a morgue, and in the catacombs beneath the church. His
strict Catholic grandmother instilled in him the notion of original sin and even submitted
him to exorcisms in a futile attempt to eradicate his love of monsters and fantasy. The
pursuit of immortality—promised in Catholic doctrine as the reward for following the
church’s teachings—is often seen in his work as a misguided, arrogant desire, destined to
bring about the downfall of those caught up in it. Del Toro’s films often include characters
acting entirely out of self-interest alongside others who are forced to make sacrifices. His
flawed or damaged characters frequently find purpose in community: they take
responsibility for their own survival and that of the individuals and environments around
them.
Guillermo del Toro is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by Insight Editions. The 144-page volume is edited by Britt Salvesen, Jim Shedden, and Matthew Welch with contributions by Guillermo del Toro, Keith McDonald, Roger Clark, and Paul Koudounaris. The hardcover catalogue is $29.95 and is available at the LACMA Store and Art Catalogues. www.lacma.org
TALKS & MOVIES AT LACMA ABOUT GUILLERMO DEL TORO:
Guillermo del Toro is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by Insight Editions. The 144-page volume is edited by Britt Salvesen, Jim Shedden, and Matthew Welch with contributions by Guillermo del Toro, Keith McDonald, Roger Clark, and Paul Koudounaris. The hardcover catalogue is $29.95 and is available at the LACMA Store and Art Catalogues. www.lacma.org
TALKS & MOVIES AT LACMA ABOUT GUILLERMO DEL TORO:
TALKS
Artist Walkthrough of Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters with Dr. Paul Koudounaris
A contributing author to the publication accompanying the exhibition Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters, scholar and photographer Dr. Paul Koudounaris will lead a tour focusing on the cultural history and significance of monsters and the monstrous.
Thursday, August 11 | 7:30 pm
LACMA | Art of the Americas Building
Free; reservations required
NOTE: Reservations for this event are no longer available in advance. A standby line will form at 6:30 pm outside of the Art of the Americas Building on the night of this event. Guests in the standby line will be accommodated on a first-come, first-served basis, though unfortunately there is no guarantee of space being made available to guests in this line.
Artist Walkthrough of Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters with Thomas Kuntz
Join contemporary artist Thomas Kuntz on a tour of the exhibition Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters. Kuntz will speak about his experiences working with Guillermo del Toro on the film Crimson Peak (2015), and he will discuss his own process with reference to sketchbooks and prototypes. Thomas Kuntz’s work draws on arcane traditions and modern technology to create precisely engineered, haunting automata (mechanized sculptures that emulate human activity). The exhibition includes several of his works from del Toro's collection.
Thursday, August 25 | 7:30 pm
LACMA | Art of the Americas Building
Free; reservations required
NOTE: Reservations for this event are no longer available in advance. A standby line will form at 6:30 pm outside of the Art of the Americas Building on the night of this event. Guests in the standby line will be accommodated on a first-come, first-served basis, though unfortunately there is no guarantee of space being made available to guests in this line.
Artist Walkthrough of Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters with Dr. Paul Koudounaris
A contributing author to the publication accompanying the exhibition Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters, scholar and photographer Dr. Paul Koudounaris will lead a tour focusing on the cultural history and significance of monsters and the monstrous.
Thursday, August 11 | 7:30 pm
LACMA | Art of the Americas Building
Free; reservations required
NOTE: Reservations for this event are no longer available in advance. A standby line will form at 6:30 pm outside of the Art of the Americas Building on the night of this event. Guests in the standby line will be accommodated on a first-come, first-served basis, though unfortunately there is no guarantee of space being made available to guests in this line.
Artist Walkthrough of Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters with Thomas Kuntz
Join contemporary artist Thomas Kuntz on a tour of the exhibition Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters. Kuntz will speak about his experiences working with Guillermo del Toro on the film Crimson Peak (2015), and he will discuss his own process with reference to sketchbooks and prototypes. Thomas Kuntz’s work draws on arcane traditions and modern technology to create precisely engineered, haunting automata (mechanized sculptures that emulate human activity). The exhibition includes several of his works from del Toro's collection.
Thursday, August 25 | 7:30 pm
LACMA | Art of the Americas Building
Free; reservations required
NOTE: Reservations for this event are no longer available in advance. A standby line will form at 6:30 pm outside of the Art of the Americas Building on the night of this event. Guests in the standby line will be accommodated on a first-come, first-served basis, though unfortunately there is no guarantee of space being made available to guests in this line.
FILMS
*all films will be screened in LACMA’s Bing Theater
Films by Gillermo del Toro
The Devil’s Backbone (El espinazo del diablo)
Friday, July 29 | 7:30 PM
Cronos
Friday, October 21 | 7:30 PM
Pan’s Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno)
Friday, October 28 | 7:30 PM
Hellboy
Friday, November 4 | 7:30 PM
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Saturday, November 5 | 7:30 PM
Pacific Rim
Saturday, November 12 | 7:30 PM
Crimson Peak
Friday, November 18 | 7:30 PM
Fuel for Nightmares
In addition to screening films directed by Guillermo del Toro, LACMA is hosting a series inspired by the filmmaker’s inspirations, influences and favorite films:
Jane Eyre
Tuesday, August 2 | 1:00 PM
*all films will be screened in LACMA’s Bing Theater
Films by Gillermo del Toro
The Devil’s Backbone (El espinazo del diablo)
Friday, July 29 | 7:30 PM
Cronos
Friday, October 21 | 7:30 PM
Pan’s Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno)
Friday, October 28 | 7:30 PM
Hellboy
Friday, November 4 | 7:30 PM
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Saturday, November 5 | 7:30 PM
Pacific Rim
Saturday, November 12 | 7:30 PM
Crimson Peak
Friday, November 18 | 7:30 PM
Fuel for Nightmares
In addition to screening films directed by Guillermo del Toro, LACMA is hosting a series inspired by the filmmaker’s inspirations, influences and favorite films:
Jane Eyre
Tuesday, August 2 | 1:00 PM
Beauty and the Beast (La belle et la bête)
Tuesday, August 9 | 1:00 PM
The Young and the Damned (Los olvidados)
Tuesday, September 6 | 1:00 PM
The Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena)
Tuesday, September 13 | 1:00 PM
Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander)
Tuesday, September 20 | 1:00 PM
Kwaidan
Tuesday, September 27 | 1:00 PM
Shadow of a Doubt
Tuesday, October 4 | 1:00 PM
Eyes Without a Face (Les yeux sans visage)
Tuesday, October 11 | 1:00 PM
The Innocents
Tuesday, October 18 | 1:00 PM
The Night of the Hunter
Tuesday, October 25 | 1:00 PM
The Bride of Frankenstein
Monday, October 31 | 8:00 PM
The Young and the Damned (Los olvidados)
Tuesday, September 6 | 1:00 PM
The Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena)
Tuesday, September 13 | 1:00 PM
Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander)
Tuesday, September 20 | 1:00 PM
Kwaidan
Tuesday, September 27 | 1:00 PM
Shadow of a Doubt
Tuesday, October 4 | 1:00 PM
Eyes Without a Face (Les yeux sans visage)
Tuesday, October 11 | 1:00 PM
The Innocents
Tuesday, October 18 | 1:00 PM
The Night of the Hunter
Tuesday, October 25 | 1:00 PM
The Bride of Frankenstein
Monday, October 31 | 8:00 PM
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