Maria Lassnig, At Last

Maria Lassnig waited all her life. Born in 1911, the late Austrian contemporary artist only began to receive widespread recognition well into her 60s, despite her extensive career spanning over 50 years. Even less acknowledged was Lassnig’s experimental film practice, which she tended to alongside her paintings.

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But now, 10 years after Lassnig’s death, the avant-garde pioneer is being immortalized in a feature-length film titled Sleeping with a Tiger by director and screenwriter Anja Salomonowitz. Premiering at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival the film follows Lassnig—played by Austrian actress Birgit Minichmayr—in her journey of self-discovery and her lifelong pursuit of artistic expression in a male-dominated art world. Alongside the premiere, 10 of Lassnig’s short films will be shown as part of the festival’s Forum Special section, including her one-minute-long stop-motion film Encounter (1970) based on her paintings as well as the short film Art Education (1971) which explores the status of women in art history.

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Salomonowitz’s film, more fittingly described as a poetic portrait of the Austrian artist than a biographical representation, depicts Lassnig throughout all of the titles she has held over the course of her life: from gifted child to abandoned daughter, determined woman to a lonely artist, and, finally, celebrated painter. Evoking the visceral and often lurid motifs present in Lassnig’s works, Salomonowitz’s film is evocative and striking, illustrating the late artist’s state of mind and emotional states through a sequence of picturesque scenes that reaffirm the medium of film as an extension of visual art—in other words, a moving painting.

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The movie also challenges the boundaries of a traditional biopic by exploring space irrelative to time, as Minichmayr depicts Lassnig at every age, from 6 to 94 years old. The artistic decision was based of Lassnig’s timelessness: She had the wisdom of an older woman when she was young, and she possessed a youthful exuberance even when she was nearing the end of her life.

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The title of the film is derived from a 1975 self-portrait of the same name, in which Lassnig depicts herself, quite literally, sleeping with the wild animal. Her mouth is parted in either pleasure or pain, and it is this uncertainty that pervades most of Lassnig’s works, and the undoubtedly fierce life that inspired them.

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