Product Details

• Directors: Cherry Duyns
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New River Media
• VHS Release Date: July 1, 1998
• Run Time: 72 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 6304896735
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #260,514 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The back of the tape case for this 1996 documentary asks up front, "How does he do it?" Pose Weimaraner dogs in people clothes doing people things, that is. It turns out it's not that difficult with well-trained, trusting dogs. But when asked why he puts the dogs in human clothes, William Wegman responds that, somehow, it just seems wrong--and that therefore he must do it. "Why does art have to be so serious?" he asks. "Why can't art be funny?"

Good point.

This video is proof that you can grow up to be anything you want to be in America--and there is indeed something satisfying about Wegman being a fairly well-known artist who is probably as outside the tradition of the "great masters" as can be; Picasso, Reubens, Klee, Rembrandt, and Adams have nothing on this guy. Here we have a fundamentally American phenomenon, the collapse of the abyss between kitsch and art, between serious and funny, between photography and paint. To Wegman, these distinctions mean very little anyway, and the photographs he engineers remind us, gleefully, that there should be something more complex going on in art history and art appreciation courses than austere respect for tradition. But we do have to wonder: Is this man sane?

Originally a production of VPRO Television in Amsterdam, Wegman's World has been dubbed with an effective English voiceover--and of course Wegman's words are original, surprising, soft. It is a casual video, deriving its energy from the artist himself--and the humor of the scenes he tries to photograph. It is slow at times, but always engaging.

It turns out the tape case is not asking the real question that Wegman's World begs. The question is not "How does he do it?" Nor is the question "Is this art?" The question is more important: "What is art generally?" View this tape to inform and amuse, but don't forget to ponder that issue, too. --Erik Macki

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holey Moley! What a joy!, November 27, 1999

By 

Josh Saitz "negcap-com" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wegman's World [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is one of the most charming and fascinating videos in my entire collection. It's a documentary about William Wegman, an artist known mostly for his pictures of his Weimaraners. It's a great profile of a truly gifted artist. There's plenty of great footage of his Maine home, the dogs just being dogs and not international superstars, and of course, Wegman just being himself. A must have!