Lithograph by Tim Burton, Clown with Poison Bottle, 1993, oil and acrylic on canvas.
’Tis the season of Tim Burton! The onetime Burbank, California, outsider, who spent his childhood playing in the local cemetery and directing neighborhood kids in subversive super-8 movies, is now not only one of the most popular filmmakers in the world (with Alice in Wonderland grossing more than $1 billion worldwide) but also one of the most popular artists in the world. Burton’s recent MoMA retrospective had the third-highest attendance of any exhibition in the museum’s history, trailing only Picasso (1980) and Matisse (1992). This Friday, the exhibition moves to Toronto’s new five-story film mecca, the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
For the occasion, TIFF is screening a “Burton Blitz,” 36 hours of back-to-back Burton films without so much as a popcorn break, and the Burton camp is releasing a new deluxe edition of The Art of Tim Burton (Steeles Publishing), available for just under $300. Signed by the artist, with a never-before-seen lithograph (released exclusively for VF Daily), the 434-page book offers the experience of the MoMA exhibition, only with elbow room.
Packed with pullouts and organized by type (“Misunderstood Monsters,” “Freaks, Friends, and Foes”), the more than 1,000 illustrations are extra cool, because Burton never intended for anyone to see them. As a compulsive doodler and painter, he unwittingly chronicled his 40-year film career in sketchpads and notebooks, on napkins and hotel stationery. For every character we’ve seen Burton put on film, he’s created thousands more. To see the filmmaker’s signature aesthetic develop over time is a neat study in the creative process. And, since any casual moviegoer can relate a sketch of a leather bodysuit to Michelle Pfeiffer’s costume in Batman, Burton offers access to his intentions in a way that most artists cannot.
Chief among the book’s treasures are the comments from collaborators such as Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, and Martin Landau. Chief among these are the notes from his longtime companion Helena Bonham Carter, whom Burton features prominently in his work, always with a curlicue hairdo. (In one of Burton’s watercolors, a man asks the question: “So tell me is it true that you and Helena Bonham Carter live in separate houses joined only by a tunnel?”) Bonham Carter herself offers an intimate take on the singular director, sharing memories such as: “As our obstetrician cut the cord, Tim whipped out his notebook and started drawing his first picture of his daughter.” And, of a Sweeney Todd sketch: “Tim came to my kitchen looking shocked. ‘I found the original drawing from 20 years ago,’ he said. ‘It looks like you and Johnny. I drew you before I knew you existed.’”
To purchase The Art of Tim Burton, go to timburton.com
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