QUOTES
"John Gutmann was an extremely important and influential photographer. His work is included in major collections in the United States and in Europe. Jane Reed was able to obtain quite extraordinary interviews with John and others. The material she has put together in this film is extremely relevant and important to the history of photography, and to understanding the cultural and social history of the second half of the twentieth century as seen and documented through Gutmann's eyes."
Thomas K. Seligman, Director, Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University
"Jane Levy Reed's recent film My Eyes Were Fresh: The Life and Photographs of John Gutmann is an indispensable resource on the life and work of a seminal figure in the evolution of 20th-century photography. It is an intimate portrait of the artist-photographer told by Gutmann himself in a series of filmed interviews and commentaries recorded in the years just prior to his death in 1998. Gutmann's own statements about key works in his long career help give these already iconic images an added depth and meaning. Among the bonus material on the DVD are two outstanding documentary films by Gutmann. Journey to Kunming, shot in China in 1944, is an astonishing look daily life in pre-Revolution China. Le Palais Idéal, is a colorful and evocative study of the fabulous architectural folly created by the French postman and self-taught architect-sculptor Ferdinand Cheval in the early years of the 20th century. Gutmann's evocative film was shot in 1957, before the word "outsider art" was in common use and before the place became a popular tourist destination."
David Ebony, Associate Managing Editor and News Editor, Art in America
"In 1934, John Gutmann (1905—1998), a young, German Jewish artist fleeing Nazism, saw San Francisco through the eyes of a newcomer looking for clues about life in his new land. My Eyes Were Fresh runs just under 30 minutes. Gutmann's is the only voice. Soft-spoken and gentle, he explains how an artist sees, reminiscing about the San Francisco General Strike of 1934. He also reveals how shocking it was for a refugee from fascism to see tanks and troops on the streets of an American city.
Reed met Gutmann in 1989 at SFMOMA installing his show Beyond The Document. "I spent many hours looking at prints with him and archiving negatives." Reed said. "It was a long, dear friendship. I visited him almost everyday the last year of his life. I realized that the story really needed to be told through John's vision, through John's words."
"I didn't try to inject myself at all into the picture," Gutmann says. "As a photographer, I was content to just give the message." There is nothing insistent in Gutmann's voice, and the filmmaker allows his photographs to remain on-screen long enough for us to see their quiet power."
Elizabeth Cook-Romero, Writer, Pasatiempo, The New Mexican
"Mr. Gutmann is an important example of an immigrating Jewish artist escaping Nazi Germany and discovering a new life as both a commercial and artistic photographer in America. The histories and success of Jews in other parts of the world are an important story to tell and Europe is hungry for these tales. Seen today, his work takes on a new kind of resonance that should be discovered by every generation."
Klaus Scheidsteger, Producer, Gesellschaft für audiovisuelle und akustische Communikation mbH
"I have been meaning to write to tell you how stunned I was with the excellence of the DVD. It is truly fantastic. I watched every section, some twice. The depth of information is magnificent. I know quite a bit about John, and still feel I learned a lot. Your editing and the graciousness of the interviews came through! I love this kind of serious, comprehensive scholarship. I am thrilled to have been a part of it."
Mark Johnson, Assistant Professor and Gallery Director, San Francisco State University
"John Gutmann has received important local, national, and international acclaim for his photography, especially in his later years. He was given two major solo exhibitions by this museum alone. The film by Jane Reed, My Eyes Were Fresh: The Life and Photographs of John Gutmann is a necessary and important contribution to the study of this great American artist, and one which, because of her friendship with him and the cooperation of many who knew him, provides valuable historical insight into this still understudied and under-acknowledged figure."
Dr. Sandra S. Phillips, Senior Curator of Photography, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
"Brilliant film. Foregrounding John as the elusive narrator was perfect strategy. The Kurt Weill-like music didn't hurt either. Film editing and music showed great perception and understanding of the Gutmann milieu. Good work."
Lew Thomas, Photographer, Artist, Curator and Director
"The film, My Eyes Were Fresh: The Life and Photographs of John Gutmann is a tremendous educational resource, with relevance to the history of photography, 20th-century art, and 20th-century culture and society as a whole. Reed herself is fully versed in the historical and photographic issues that Gutmann's film explores. Reed brings a deep understanding of Gutmann's work skillfully edited in his words with his images."
John Weber, Curator of Education and Public Programs, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
"When I was introduced to Gutmann's photographs, it was an astonishing discovery. Clearly Gutmann, who had been exiled from Germany in 1933, when Hitler's regime took power, had a new kind of vision that revealed his sense of wonder in the depiction of America, his new homeland. Throughout his impressive career as photographer, professor, filmmaker, and an inspiration to a generation of artists in San Francisco, Gutmann developed critical themes that captured central issues in American life and psyche. His vision polarized both the rational and the irrational, revealing a wide range of human emotions. I have noted in my writings on Gutmann that photographic history has no precise category for John Gutmann, and that he himself preferred to be linked with the "unclassifiable."
Maia-Mari Sutnik, Curator of Photography, Art Gallery of Ontario
Class (Olympic High Diving Champion, Marjorie Gestring), San Francisco, 1936; Majorette, San Francisco, 1939; Artillery on Market Street, San Francisco, 1934; Monument to the Chicken Center of the World, Petaluma, California, 1936; The Lesson, Central Park, New York, 1936
©1998 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents