Actually, Iconic: Richard Estes

On Tuesday, February 9, family and friends of Miss Hall’s School joined current filmmaking students and award-winning documentary producer Olympia Stone, daughter of Clare Chester Stone ’58, to watch and discuss her film Actually, Iconic: Richard Estes.

As part of our Second Tuesday series, this virtual gathering was an opportunity to come together, to pick the brain of an independent documentary filmmaker, and to gain insight into the life and art of one of the founders of the international photo-realist movement.

So convincing are Estes’s paintings of urban landscapes and city dwellers that his canvases are sometimes confused with the photographs on which they are based. Actually, Iconic chronicles his life and work, walking with him through the streets of his beloved New York and the landscapes of Prout's Neck, Maine, where he continues to paint. His longstanding relationship with the Stone family -- Olympia's father Allan Stone was Estes's gallerist -- made possible this intimate view into the inspiration and process of this giant of contemporary art.

After the screening, Elizabeth Gatchell Klein Expressive Arts Chair Sophie Lane ’96 moderated a discussion with Ms. Stone. Students and adults peppered her with questions about becoming a filmmaker, what draws her to explore the lives of artists, and the challenges and joys of making documentaries. She offered our aspiring young woman filmmakers great insight into the what, why, and how, of her creative career.

Thank you, Olympia Stone!