The Stanley Kubrick Archives

Front Cover
Taschen, 2008 - Performing Arts - 544 pages
The first book to explore Stanley Kubrick's archives... ...and the most comprehensive study of the filmmaker to date   "The Stanley Kubrick Archives showed up one morning in our offices, where my editor and I circled it like curious apes." - Time Out, New York

This is the first book to explore Stanley Kubrick's archives and the most comprehensive study of the filmmaker to date. In 1968, when Stanley Kubrick was asked to comment on the metaphysical significance of 2001: A Space Odyssey, he replied: "It's not a message I ever intended to convey in words. 2001 is a nonverbal experience.... I tried to create a visual experience, one that bypasses verbalized pigeonholing and directly penetrates the subconscious with an emotional and philosophic content." The philosophy behind Part 1 of The Stanley Kubrick Archives borrows from this line of thinking: from the opening sequence of Killer's Kiss to the final frames of Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick's complete films are presented chronologically and wordlessly via frame enlargements. A completely nonverbal experience.

The second part of the book brings to life the creative process of Kubrick's filmmaking by presenting a remarkable collection of mostly unseen material from his archives, including photographs, props, posters, artwork, set designs, sketches, correspondence, documents, screenplays, drafts, notes, and shooting schedules.

Accompanying the visual material are essays by noted Kubrick scholars, articles written by and about Kubrick, and a selection of Kubrick's best interviews.

About the author (2008)

Stanley Kubrick was born in the Bronx, New York, and became a skilled photographer before he went into directing. He achieved fame with the fine antiwar film Paths of Glory in 1957, and his output since then has been extremely diversified. Through it all, however, runs a deep vein of pessimism. Dr. Strangelove (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and A Clockwork Orange (1972) express his vision of an apocalyptic future, while Spartacus (1959) and Barry Lyndon (1975) reveal his dark view of futility in the past. Kubrick has been able to work independently for most of his career, enjoying the rare right to make the final cuts of his films without studio interference. Some of his other notable films are Lolita (1954), based on Vladimir Nabokov's novel, and Full Metal Jacket (1987), about troops in the Vietnam War.

Alison Castle received a BA in philosophy from Columbia University and an MA in photography and film from New York University (NYU/International Center of Photography masters program). She is the editor of titles on photography, film, and design, including Some Like it Hot, The Stanley Kubrick Archives, Linda McCartney: Life in Photographs, and Marc Newson: Works.

Christiane Kubrick has lived in England teaching and exhibiting her paintings and drawings since 1961.

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