LOOK HERE! A PORTRAIT OF SYLVIA SLEIGH
A Documentary Work-In-Progress

Review by Mindy Weisberger December 2000

Like so many of her realist portraits, artist Sylvia Sleigh is larger than life. An integral figure of the feminist art movement of the 1960s and 1970s, her paintings address issues of sexism and artistic identity. With controversial studies of languid male nudes (often using art critics as models), she confronted head-on the traditional perception of the woman-as-muse in the arts, and celebrated the power of the woman-as-artist. But it is the humor and charisma of this woman that propels the documentary work-in-progress, Look Here! A Portrait of Sylvia Sleigh. In this lively and intimate portrayal, Sleigh offers her own unique perspective on her life and her constantly evolving art.

Producer/director Paula Ewin first became acquainted with Sleigh in 1989, and began working closely with her in 1990, following the death of Sleigh’s husband, art critic Lawrence Alloway. Ewin recalls that she was intrigued by Sleigh from the beginning. "She’s a very colorful, multi-dimensional person," Ewin says. "She’s an extremely strong woman of spirit and character; everything she does is full-blown." It was this energy that first attracted Ewin to the artist, and ultimately inspired her to capture Sleigh on video.

Though Ewin has an extensive background in theater as an actress and producer, this was her first foray into documentary production. After months of suggesting to Sleigh that someone should make a film about her, "I sort of got sick of saying it, and just went, well, I’ll do it," Ewin laughs. She had only begun exploring the body of Sleigh’s work, and had little knowledge of the art world that Sleigh inhabited. However, Ewin found that as a director, this was an unexpected asset. "I brought a little naïvete to the project," Ewin remembers. "I came to the project with a lot of innocence." This, she felt, prevented her from imposing her own perspective on Sleigh’s unfolding narrative. She found a guiding hand in her co-director and editor Diana Sutherlin, also a veteran actor and producer in the theater. Sutherlin’s additional background in film and television production made her an important part of the project, working with Ewin to bring structure and focus to the documentary.

It was Ewin’s decision to let Sleigh tell her own story, with contributions from friends, fellow artists, and art critics, to convey a fuller sense of the personality only hinted at in her work. The vibrant colors of Sleigh’s paintings, and the lovingly rendered detail of her portraits attest to her celebration of life, friendship, and love. With appearances by artists Louise Bourgeois, Nancy Spero, Leon Golub, and Nancy Grossman, and critics John Perrault, Mark Daniel Cohen, and Arlene Raven, among others, Ewin offers insights into Sleigh’s paintings and personality. "I wanted to capture the woman; yes, the artist too, but really the woman," Ewin says. Though other voices are heard, it is Sleigh’s that sets the tone for the film. According to Ewin, that was her intention from the beginning. "I wanted to see if we could get it all from her," Ewin explains. "I wanted it to be coming from Sylvia."

Part of Ewin’s attraction to Sleigh was an appreciation for the artist’s success in the face of obstacles. As an art student in England, Sleigh was told that she had no talent, and was only wasting her time until she could get married. Having emigrated to America in 1961, her unswerving devotion to realism caused her to be largely ignored by many critics who, at the time, supported the followers of abstract expressionism and minimalism. Yet Sleigh persevered, continuing to paint in the style that she learned to appreciate as a young girl, with a nod to the classics, observing and executing in her paintings the details that give all things their individuality. "I think that there’s always the work, and it can sustain you through times that aren’t easy," Ewin notes. "She kept painting. It sustains her. It feeds her. In spite of the obstacles she had to confront in her life, she managed." Sleigh’s work has always been of paramount importance, enriching her and those around her. Friends become models, and models become friends, as her affection for her subjects breaks down the barrier between her art and her life.

Today, Sleigh is universally acknowledged as an important artist in her own right. An Unnerving Romanticism, an upcoming show at the Philadelphia Art Alliance opening in the Spring of 2001, promises to be the largest retrospective of Sleigh’s paintings to date, and examines the relationship of her work with that of her late husband. She has also contributed to the art world’s increased recognition of women artists, many of who had been overlooked throughout their lifetimes. Sleigh’s large-scale portrait work has given us imposing representations of her fellow artists, depicting a society that refused to be ignored, and forcing art audiences to acknowledge the presence of women in the artistic community of the 1970s. A patron of the arts herself, she collects work by women artists, and actively encourages up-and-coming women collectors to do the same. And always, she continues to paint.

Look Here! screened at the Independent Feature Project in September 2000, and Ewin hopes that this project will continue to awaken an appreciation of Sleigh’s art, and of the artist herself. "This is a woman who’s been true to herself, as a painter and as a woman," Ewin says. "She is a person who’s found her individuality, and that has sustained her. She’s an inspiration."