Press Release Summary = For 50 years, art has been the secret inspiration behind Tony Curtis' life. This is part of three of a three part article where Tony Curtis discusses life, art and box
Press Release Body = Curtis was born in The Bronx, NY, as Bernard Schwartz, to Hungarian Jewish immigrants. His father, Emanuel, was a tailor; his mother, Helen, was a homemaker.
"Having been raised in a Hungarian-speaking home, I had difficulty making myself understood as a child," he confides. "Art was a great outlet for my frustration-it is a universal language."
Curtis\' family moved around quite a bit when he was a child and every time they moved, he\'d throw items he\'d collected, such as skate keys or baseballs, into shoeboxes and cigar boxes. "That\'s how my assemblages started," the actor-artist explains.
It\'s easy to try to search for the meaning in the myriad boxes on display in Curtis\' studio. At first, he denies that they contain any reflections of himself, saying he prefers to "let objects speak for themselves." However, after showing a few more boxes and talking about their meanings in detail, Curtis reveals otherwise.
"All have a little sense of reality," he mentions.
He shows one of the boxes that he created during the Vietnam conflict; in it is a picture of a man being drawn apart by horses. Curtis explains that the horses represent not only the divided Vietnam, but more.
"It\'s a symbol of what war does to all of us," he confesses.
Curtis recently taught box-making classes at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In these classes, he told students about Joseph Cornell, a shy, eccentric box artist who dedicated much of his life to caring for his cerebral palsy-afflicted brother, Robert. In particular, he shared with them the story of how Cornell created a special box for his brother, a delicate work that contained a "thimble forest" within, seen through a skylight-like opening.
"He created a whole sense of art out of his love for his brother," Curtis explains, a tiny smile growing on his face.
The students, inspired by the story, recreated Cornell\'s box as a gift for Curtis, who was greatly moved by their gesture of thanks.
What a rare privilege for students to meet and learn from one of this generation\'s greatest actors and artists.
This article is reprinted by kind permission of Jeff Marinelli, Publisher of Art and Living Magazine. For more information please go to http://www.artandliving,com
About Tony Curtis Tony Curtis, Hollywood legend and star of over 150 movies including "Some Like It Hot", is also an accomplished artist. His work may be found in public and private collections worldwide. For more information about Tony Curtis art please call him at 702-736-1767 or visit his online gallery at http://www.TonyCurtis.com
Web Site = http://www.TonyCurtis.com
Contact Details = Keith Hunt 8190 Orchard Street Alta Loma , 91701 $$country