#shanghaiexpress — Public Fediverse posts

Over the Christmas holidays I finished a large drawing that I had been working on since the summer, on and off, but then life took over and I didn't find time to publish it.

It is a scene from Joseph von Sternberg's 1932 movie "Shanghai Express", featuring Anna May Wong and Marlene Dietrich.

For the story of behind this scene please read my (long) blog post https://quickandtastycooking.org.uk/articles/shanghai-express/.

It is the most complex large drawing I have attempted so far.
As usual, it is the expressions on the faces of both characters that interested me. I wanted to show their watchfulness and apprehension.

I used the rough watercolour paper I like (Fabriano Artistico, 300 g/m² cold pressed “not”), 56 cm x 76 cm. I set up the drawing in ordinary HB pencil and Tombow MONO 100 graphite lead pencils (2B, 4B and 5B). I used a Chinese ink stick and applied the ink using calligraphy brushes.

#drawing #fediart #TraditionalArt #ShanghaiExpress #AnnaMayWong #MarleneDietrich

#Westfront1918, #GWPabst, 1930 is the root of #PathsOfGlory, #ComeAndSee, and #SavingPrivateRyan, among so many others.

It covers a lot and must have been overwhelming to many audiences at the time.

I could have done without a lot that's in the opening, including learning a new racist slur as a term for coffee (in German, and hard "r").

Like with #ShanghaiExpress earlier today, so many older films are blatantly and uncaringly racist, misogynistic, homophobic; just bad in so many ways.