By RAY KELLY
Edinburgh’s independent arts venue Summerhall is working with filmmaker Mark Cousins (The Eyes of Orson Welles) and Orson Welles’ youngest daughter, Beatrice, on the first-ever major exhibition of late director’s artwork.
The Drawings and Paintings of Orson Welles will be exhibited from August 2 through September 23 at Summerhall.
The Scottish exhibit, curated by Cousins, was conceived after Beatrice Welles asked him if he would make a documentary about her father, and was the first to show him the drawings. She has given her permission for her father’s works to be exhibited in Edinburgh.
In a 2014 interview with Wellesnet, Beatrice Welles talked about the discovery of the trove of artwork and plans for a never-realized art exhibit in New York.
Cousins’ critically acclaimed The Eyes of Orson Welles opened at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. The film will be released internationally on August 17 by Dogwoof.
Welles, who briefly studied at the Art Institute of Chicago as a youth, traveled and painted throughout the Irish countryside at the age of 16 in 1931. After his stage success at the Gate Theatre Dublin, Welles embarked on a career as an actor and director, first in theater and later in radio and motion pictures.
But Welles continued to draw and paint throughout his life, for his own private pleasure. When he died in October 1985, he left behind hundreds of character sketches, set designs, visualizations of unmade projects, illustrations to entertain his children and friends, doodles in the margins of personal letters, and portraits of the people and places that he loved. Most have been locked away since his death.
According to Summerhall, the Estate of Orson Welles is willing to sell the Welles artworks on display to a major film museum, or to individuals, as a complete collection, in individual thematic groups, or as one-off artworks.
Those interested are advised to email mark@markcousins.org for more details.
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