Wide Awake Films is teaming up with the Friends of Arrow Rock to chronicle the life and times of Missouri native and self-taught painter George Caleb Bingham.
During his 45-year career, Bingham became known throughout the United States as "The Missouri Artist" for his portrait depictions of well-known Missourians of the 19th century. Bingham's paintings and drawings offer a genuine and first-hand account of an artist who lived and observed daily life in one of the newly settled territories of the West. In his later years, Bingham moved beyond merely recording life and began directly affecting it through numerous appointments in state and local politics. Today, Bingham's realistic paintings continue to allow the public at large to catch a storied glimpse of the 19th century world.
Production is already underway. We've captured on-camera interviews with art historians and curators across the country, including Betsy Kornhauser of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Melissa Wolfe of Saint Louis Art Museum, Stephanie Fox-Knappe of Kansas City's Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, as well as Missouri historian Dr. Joan Stack.
