BIG EYES: THE FILM, THE ART Book Review

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Whether you enjoy the paintings of Margaret Keane or not, there’s no denying her impact on the art world. Her bizarre portraits of creepy girls with freakishly large eyes became a phenomenon in sixties and gave birth to the concept of mass-produced, commercial art.

Although Margaret was the sole creator of these works, her husband, Walter, took all the credit until she finally took him to court and proved he was a fraud. Tim Burton’s film Big Eyes delves into this story, and provides an entertaining and poetic look at the life and career of Ms. Keane.

Leah Gallo’s companion book, Big Eyes: The Film, The Art, takes the heartfelt story of the film and translates it into book form by giving us an inside look into the filmmaking process as well as the life of Margaret Keane. Moreover, just about half of this hard-cover coffee table book is dedicated to showcasing dozens of Keane’s paintings from her decades-long career. For someone such as myself who is familiar with her work but hasn’t been exposed to much of it, this was a welcome addition and acted as a fitting tribute to Keane herself.

Rather than just filling the pages with random pictures and captions, Gallo takes the time to detail the process of creating the film from start to finish, allowing the photos to supplement the words and not vice versa. Learning that Tim Burton has a strong personal relationship with Margaret Keane, and that he has been wanting to create this film for years, somehow makes me appreciate it more and yearn to actually rewatch the film, about which I initially had mixed (but mostly positive) feelings.

Like all of Titan’s film companion books, this one has some top-notch quality and doesn’t feel like a needless cash-grab just trying to piggyback off a successful film. The book itself is made up of nearly 200 thick, glossy pages including a foreword by Tim Burton.

In the latter half, the Keane prints are all contained individually on their own page, with the opposite side dedicated to giving the year, title and size of the piece. This section alone should be a selling point for fans of Keane’s work, as it’s extremely well done and includes some of her very early work, as well as some of her newest paintings.

I’ll say the same thing about this book that I say with almost all of these reviews I publish: If you’re a huge fan of the film, the book is a no-brainer. Also, if you’re a fan of the work of Margaret Keane, this is worth picking up, as it doesn’t just focus on the film. Unfortunately, this was not the book for me; I find her paintings intensely creepy and have had those haunting images stuck in my head for days since reading this.