New Documentary Offers Touching Portrait of Collector and Philanthropist Agnes Gund

October 9, 2020

Collector and philanthropist Catherine Gund's new documentary offers a touching portrait of herself with approval and commentary from UCLA Arts professor Catherine Opie. Catherine Opie joined the UCLA Department of Art faculty in 2001. One of the preeminent artists of her generation working with photography, Opie is known for her evocative images of contemporary America that have been featured in major museum exhibitions around the world. Opie has chosen a myriad of subjects throughout her career, including the S/M community, city buildings, domestic life, high school football players, surfers, and President Barack Obama’s first inauguration. At UCLA, Opie teaches graduate and undergraduate students in photography and was recently named the inagural Lynda and Stewart Resnick Endowed Chair in Art.

A still from Aggie, showing Agnes Gund, right, doing a studio visit with artist Xaviera Simmons, right. ©AUBIN PICTURES/COURTESY STRAND RELEASING

"Encapsulating the life story of Agnes Gund, one of the most beloved people in the art world, is no small task, but a new documentary called Aggie has set out to try. Long considered one of the world’s top collectors, and formerly the president of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, she more recently made headlines when she decided to sell a major artwork by Roy Lichtenstein to fund a new initiative that aims to end mass incarceration in the United States. A hero to many, she has now been memorialized by her daughter, Catherine Gund, a well-regarded documentary filmmaker who has turned her lens on her mother for a newly released feature-length film.

It’s clear that Agnes Gund is a bit of an unwilling subject. Just after the opening credits, Catherine asks Agnes from offscreen, 'What do you think of this film?' Agnes replies, 'I hope the film will not be seen by too many people.' Unfortunately for Agnes, the film is likely to have widespread appeal, no doubt because of the all-star lineup of interviews it contains, from artists like Julie Mehretu, Teresita Fernández, Glenn Ligon, John Waters, Catherine Opie, as well as Whitney Museum curator Rujeko Hockley, Ford Foundation director Darren Walker, and Thelma Golden, the director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem. (Agnes’s grandchildren also provide wonderful commentary.)

Much of the film is comprised of people singing her warranted praises, in particular the many artists with whom she has developed close relationships. 'Aggie has always been there for the new kind of art. She doesn’t question it. She gets behind it,' says Waters, whose controversial film Pink Flamingos was placed in MoMA’s collection thanks in part to Gund. Opie later adds, 'Aggie’s been a champion for myself and many, many artists'." — Maximilíano, Oct. 9, 2020

This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Art News website.
Read more about Catherine Opie.

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