Widely known as one of the most imaginative artists and as a director capable of creating the most bizarre visual effects, Tim Burton has reinvented Hollywood genre cinema according to his very personal vision, along the way winning an international fan base and influencing a generation of young artists working in film, video and graphic design.
This coming October, Turin, the esoteric capital of Italy, will play host to the wondrous American director, artist and visionary Tim Burton. Starting with a Masterclass featuring Burton on October 11, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. at the National Museum of Cinema in Turin and conducted by Piera Detassis. During the presentation of the Masterclass, Burton will also be presented with the Stella della Mole Award as an important recognition for his visionary and innovative contribution with his inimitable style to the history of cinema.
The evening will then continue at Turin’s Cinema Massimo where at 8:30 p.m. Burton will get to meet the audience and introduce one of his most famous films — a surprise title chosen especially for the occasion by the director.
This all coincides with the exhibition ‘The World of Tim Burton’ at the National Cinema Museum of Torino, a comprehensive show dedicated to the creative genius of Tim Burton, conceived and co-curated by Jenny He in collaboration with Burton himself and adapted by Domenico De Gaetano for the National Cinema Museum. This is the first time in Italy for this exhibition which will be staged at the Mole Antonelliana. The official opening will be on October 10th , with the exhibition then being open to the public from October 11th, 2023 to April 7th, 2024.
A journey into the visionary universe and creativity of Tim Burton, the main core of the exhibition focuses on the director's personal archive, showing the incredible variety of his creative output. Thus, the exhibition is not only made up of precious documents but also drawings and sketches with the recurring themes and visual motifs from which his cinematic worlds came to life.
"Once again the National Cinema Museum pays tribute to a great artist of international renown," stresses Enzo Ghigo, president of the National Cinema Museum. “With his great creativity and mastery he gave life to universal films, appreciated by all, fans and not. For more than 30 years he has captivated us with his stories, from Beetlejuice and Batman to the recent great success of Wednesday, the second most-watched English-language Netflix series ever." Wednesday, which Burton EP’d, became the second most watched English language Netflix series just three weeks into dropping on the streaming platform. The series is a coming of age, supernatural comedy horror based on the (mis)adventures of the character Wednesday Addams by Charles Addams. In January of 2023 it was renewed for a second season.
"Hosting Tim Burton in Turin is a dream come true," says Domenico De Gaetano, director of the National Cinema Museum. “The fantastic imagery of his films has accompanied our lives, from children to adults, and it will be wonderful to see how Tim Burton's colorful and whimsical world will fit into the magical space of the Mole Antonelliana. The exhibition has been hosted in other countries in conventional exhibition spaces, and I'm sure the National Cinema Museum will be transformed to combine architectural madness and creative genius, as well as fit into our institution's strategic internationalization project."
This large immersive exhibition is a kind of exclusive journey into the mind of a creative genius, the ultimate exploration of Burton's artistic production, inimitable style and specific perspective. Divided into nine thematic sections, it features more than 500 examples of rarely or never before seen original artwork, from his early days to his most recent projects, including sketches, paintings, drawings, photographs, concept art, storyboards, costumes, moving works, sculptor’s models, puppets and life-size sculptural installations. An atmospheric setting will lead visitors and fans to immerse themselves in Tim Burton's extraordinary universe, experiencing an in-depth exploration of his sensibility, and there will be a chance to explore the exact replica of the artist's personal studio along with a special sneak peek of current or unrealized projects.
The exhibition traces the footsteps of the filmmaker and the evolution of his unique visual imagination as a multidimensional postmodern artist, in a kind of autobiography told through his limitless creative process. By uniquely presenting Burton's oeuvre, his unique vision transcends mediums and formats, making it clear how ideas, themes, and even some specific images of his art ended up in the most iconic films we now associate with his cinematic legacy.
Long before critical and commercial success in the live-action and animation genres, Burton was inspired by films on television, animations, comic strips in newspapers, myths and fairy tales told in school, and other forms of popular culture, incorporating these lifelong influences into his art and films. Sketches from his childhood demonstrate Burton's diversity and recall the work of his predecessors, including classic cartoonists and illustrators such as Edward Gorey, Charles Addams, Don Martin, and Theodore Geisel. The impact of Japanese monster movies, expressionist cinema, Universal Studios' horror catalog, and suspense masters William Castle and Vincent Price also permeate his work.
Personally, I can’t use a pair of kitchen scissors, ever, without thinking of Edward Scissorhands, and Johnny Depp’s tragic looking face. That’s how powerful Burton’s legacy is.
Timothy Walter Burton was born in 1958 and grew up in Burbank, California, a homologous small town in the American suburbs that prompted him to flee his meekness and seek respite elsewhere. Widely known as one of the most imaginative artists and as a director capable of creating the most bizarre visual effects, he reinvented Hollywood genre cinema according to his very personal vision, winning an international fan base and influencing a generation of young artists working in film, video and graphic design. He studied at CalArts to become a pioneer of a dreamlike, grotesque and beautiful film genre that had never existed before. His iconic filmography over the past three decades includes Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Ed Wood (1994), Big Fish (2003), The Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Dumbo (2019), and Wednesday, where he served as Executive Producer. He created an artistic style called "Burtonesque," and although he is widely known as a filmmaker, Tim Burton is also a prominent artist, talented in various artistic areas, including fine art, photography and sculpture, working in the spirit of Pop Surrealism.
All images courtesy of the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Torino, used with permission.