Arts & Culture
by jack cashill

Art Across the Decades

Mary Kemper and Freddie Brown celebrate after the
advance screening of Kemper’s documentary at the GEM Theatre.

Mary Barton Kemper prefers the phrase “advance screening” to “premiere.” But the 400 interested people who showed up at the Gem Theater on 18th Street on Feb. 9 were less interested in semantics than in watching Kemper’s debut documentary, 120 Wooster Street.

Among those in attendance was artist Frederick Brown, who just happened to live at 120 Wooster Street in New York City’s Soho district for 30 years. The documentary focuses on his life and work.

Ms. Kemper, now just 25, got interested in Brown’s story when she wrote a student thesis on his art. He was kind enough to submit to an interview and in the course of their conversation, he told her about “a project waiting to happen,” one that just might interest her.

The project involved a veritable treasure cache of art history in the making—250 hours of High 8 video on all elements of Brown’s life and career. With a keen nose for the future, Brown’s friend, Tony Ramos, had lovingly recorded these images over a long period of years.

Although not technically a film student, Kemper, a William and Mary alum, believed that her own background in writing and in art history prepared her well for the project. Perhaps more importantly, Brown believed in her as well. Kemper considers 120 Wooster Street not only “her graduate work” but also a “labor of love.”

The documentary was three years in the making. In that Brown traces his primary influences more to jazz musicians than to other artists, Kemper paid particular attention to the documentary’s score, a critical part of any documentary but even more so on this project. Brown’s affection for jazz made the Gem screening all the more appropriate.

To frame the edited video clips of Brown’s life, and to give them context, Kemper invited seven of his old friends and colleagues to reminisce together about the curious twists and turns in Brown’s career.

One of the more intriguing moments of his career was his trip to China in the 1970’s. After the country had been “reopened,” Brown emerged as the first Westerner to be invited to stage a one-man exhibit. Because Brown is a muralist who works on large surfaces—a style well understood in communist China—he had to charter two 747s to deliver his work to Beijing. Although the Chinese loved him, the expense of it all bankrupted Brown. Still, the art triumphed.

What Kemper most appreciates about Brown’s career is that early on he made a promise to himself to maintain his artistic energy, and he kept it. As the China effort made clear, this required a good deal of sacrifice, but Brown has not relented. In his mid-50s, he continues his strenuous efforts to this day.

Recently, UMB Bank unveiled a large indoor mural by Brown in its downtown St. Louis branch called “Spirits of St. Louis.” The mural is a 100-foot-long, three-dimensional visual depiction of the St. Louis region’s history ranging from the Cahokia Indians to the St. Louis Rams. The mural is featured in the UMB Annual Report.

Kansas Citians with an interest in Brown’s art should check out his permanent exhibition at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. So impressed were the Kempers by Brown and his family that they named the Museum’s restaurant after Brown’s daughter Sebastienne.

As for an official premiere, Mary Barton Kemper hopes to find a home for 120 Wooster Street in one or more of the film festivals to which she has submitted it. She has also been in negotiations with PBS as to its broadcast debut.