Nominated for Best Director at the Oscars, UH alumnus Julian Schnabel has risen to the top of filmmakers everywhere with his third film. After winning the Best Director and Best Foreign Film awards at the Golden Globes for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, many were surprised at Schnabel’s rapid rise to fame in this field, but not Professor William Hawes.
It was obvious to him when he met Schnabel in the fall of 1969 in his History of Cinema class.
"At that young age he was concerned about being ego-centric, because he thought he was going to be great," Hawes said.
He has taught History of Cinema and Broadcast and Film Writing since 1965, and was present when Schnabel received his bachelor of fine arts from UH in 1973.
"He’d entered my class because he said he really wanted to be a film director," Hawes said. "I was surprised that at such an early age he had identified what he would become, and has been so successful in both expressionist painting and now in filmmaking."
Schnabel wrote an essay for Hawes titled "Super Jew," telling about his young life. Even as a child he did sketches and paintings that raised eyebrows. Anticipating that he would become a great painter, he invited Hawes to visit his home to see the paintings firsthand. Hawes became attached to one called "Palm Tree Soup," and he purchased it for $100.
"The painting is of two dudes sitting in a cafe looking like they are out of it, and they are sharing a bowl of palm tree soup," Hawes said. "If you look closely at the palm trees it seems to me they could also be interpreted as marijuana plants. It’s done in brilliant blues, blacks and reds."
Hawes said he considers it a treasure from a former student and hopes to pass it on to his son one day. Though Schnabel now lives in New York, he returned to the Blaffer Gallery with his artwork in June 1988.
Schnabel’s first film Basquiat focused on the life of Jean Michel Basquiat, and his shocking rise from street artist to gallery sensation.
School of Art Director John Reed said Basquiat was a creative person eaten alive by the fame of commercial art world – the same world in which Schnabel’s art exists.
"I think what you have with both of them is a reflection on that strange part of the commercial art world," Reed said. "A part of the art world that I am not interested in."
Reed said this is because of the public’s narrow-minded view of what art can be.
"They think it is a painting or a sculpture you can buy in a gallery," said Reed.
Despite his lack of interest toward Schnabel’s art in the 80’s, Reed would like to him to return for a discussion about his films.
"I think Schnabel has decided to do some challenging films and topics, and it would be interesting to have him discuss his work," he said.
