Stone Lifting. A Self Portrait in Progress [Films in Progress]

A diaristic, autobiographical essay film, Stone Lifting collages together images chronicling Lassnig’s time in new York between 1971 and 1974. the film highlights aspects of the artist’s multifaceted approach to image making, in which she questions what it means to translate her bodily sensations through the mediums of painting, drawing, and film. She labors before her canvases in the privacy of her studio, vulnerably stripped down, and yet strongly confronting the images she makes. Later, the film concludes with a public presentation of these paintings at SOHo’s Green Mountain gallery. As her images journey from the containment and intensity of her mind and body to the public arena of the gallery, Lassnig performs a metaphoric gesture for the camera. She lifts a large stone aloft, holding it triumphantly above her, only to drop it, letting it come crashing down onto her head or feet. The viewer is deprived of the moment of contact between hard rock and human flesh; we never see the consequence of this blunt, sudden, and self-inflicted force, which suggests allegories of artistic struggle. (Jocelyn Miller)

Rough cut by Maria Lassnig. Color correction and final cut completed posthumously in accordance with Lassnig’s original editing concept by Mara Mattuschka and Hans Werner Poschauko. Soundtrack: “Finger-bustin’ Ragtime” by Dave Jasen, from the artist’s own music collection.

Digitization by the Austrian Film Museum. This film was preserved and restored by the Maria Lassnig Foundation in collaboration with the Austrian Film Museum.