Las Vegan Magazine of Las Vegas

Throughout one’s lifetime we struggle to be the ultimate leader of our profession, the one others look up to, admire and try to emulate. These people are referred to as "Masters." In the "World of Art" in this century, we had Picasso, Chagall, Dali, Renoir, and Monet. In the motion picture industry, while no one has ever been called a "Master," over the decades a few have been called the greatest of their time.

By Bob Rind

e had Chaplin, Welles, Barrymore, Tracy, Bogart, Wayne, Brando, Pacino, De Niro, Hanks, Taylor, Crawford, and more.
Never has there been one person to acclaim to both the "Master" title and one of the greatest actors of his time, except the living legend, "Celebrity Master" Mr. Anthony Quinn.
Mr. Quinn will be in Las Vegas October 21-31 for an exhibit of his artworks. It will be held at The Resort at Summerlin. All receipts from the sale will be going to many charitable

and non-profit community services and organizations in Las Vegas. On display will be many of his well known art and sculpture works, plus 65 pieces never before shown to the public. It is my guess that most of Mr. Quinn’s movie fans know little or nothing of his art background, which started when Mr. Quinn was just a child of seven living with his impoverished family, and continues today in Mr. Quinn’s 84th year.

Q) During your early years while working to support your family, then your formative teen years, and early 20s working and attempting to break into the movies, and later while raising a family and working at acting, how did you find time to work on your art?

A) "When I feel like painting, I do so. It is not an 8-4 job. When I first started making movies I always took with me a sketchpad and in-between takes and scene changes, I would do portraits of the other actors or sketches of whatever inspired me. I still do. I didn’t do shows because of lack of time."

Anthony Quinn, best known as the Academy Award-winning star of over 300 movies, stage, and TV production, also has been proclaimed the "Fine Art Discovery of the Decade" for his outstanding creation of some of the finest paintings and sculptures of his generation. His bold mind and spirit have been inspiring for more than 60 years through his brilliant and moving portrayal of hundreds of fascinating, complex characters. His concern for a troubled world and its needy people is the lesser-known, private, personal side of his life that now inspires him.

Q) What inspires your art works, are they well planned or are they spontaneous?

A) "Anything planned is not creative, creating at the moment is creative. That’s the difference between an artist and an artisan. An artisan has to plan on what to do, an artist doesn’t. I think I am speaking for my fellow artists. We don’t plan the work, we can’t. We can say it is going to be 4 by 5 and that’s the only planning we can do. But the artwork itself we can’t plan."

Q) What is your favorite art medium? Which is more gratifying to you, acting or art?

A) "I have a great love for painting on wood, I love the grain of wood, I love to paint with the grain, and I Iove the things that result from it. Right now I’m painting on a piece of sculpture that was done on wood. It’s wonderful; I’m learning from it. Sometimes I put a color on it and it doesn’t look right. I respect that. Art is more gratifying. I don’t have a script or I’m not working by a man’s concept, but by my concept. It is much more gratifying for me to paint and sculpt."

Anthony Quinn was born in 1915 under the gun-fire of the Revolution in a hut in Chihuahua, Mexico, to a half-Irish father and Mexican Indian mother. Both parents marched under the banner of Pancho Villa and were driven north to Texas in search of peace and freedom. Their journey took them from cardboard box hovels in El Paso, to migrant worker shacks in California, and the impoverished barrio of East Los Angeles. The barrio was just a few miles from Hollywood, but light years away from the glittering, glamorous world of movie stars that would one day bestow upon him their highest honors.

Q) As a child your father called you by a pet name "Elephant." Do you have or had similar pet names for your children?

A) "Well, my 3-year old son is a wonderful "Bullfighter" so I call him that. My daughter Toni is great as a dancer; she is 6 years old and very talented. I am teaching them now about brush strokes, to do it and leave it, and not go over to correct it. I also have a son Lorenzo who is in Spain and doing interesting work as a sculptor."

Q) Your grandmother was very instrumental in your life. What was the reason for this?

A) "My grandmother was a great human being, she was a daring human being, she was my father’s mother who gave her life to me. I’m very grateful. She was a nice woman."

After the bitterness and harsh reality of his early youth, it was understandable that he would be attracted to the fantasy world created by the newly emerging film industry where his father worked as a cameraman at the old Selznick Studios. In order to help generate additional income for his family, young Anthony would wander around the studio, drawing portraits of the star he admired most, then presenting them with his efforts for some reward or recognition. He sometimes received a few pennies or even possibly a quarter. His models ranged from the sultry Rudolph Valentino and the Latin lover Ramon Navarro, to the swash buckling Douglas Fairbanks, who was so flattered by young Anthony’s portrayal of him that he awarded the princely sum of $25 and an artistic career was launched. In later years, when Quinn started making movies doing bit parts, he and Fairbanks struck up a longtime friendship.
In addition to the beautiful drawings he created as a child, he was a talented sculptor, winning his first statewide California competition with his sculpture of Abraham Lincoln. By his junior year in high school, his love of art and architecture had taken yet another turn. He won a contest with his architectural plan for a market place, and received a scholarship to study with one of the greatest American architects of all time, Frank Lloyd Wright.

Q) Do you ever think back to the time when you really wanted to be an architect and study under Mr. Wright, and feel that you would have been as successful as your tutor? What changed your mind from pursuing that career?

A) "No, I probably would not have been a successful architect. I am fond of math but not to the extent needed to be an architect. I might have grown into it, but I don’t feel I could have lived in that tight atmosphere."

Mr. Quinn has always had the burning desire to create beauty with his own hands. If he were left alone on an island, he would reconstruct the rocks: he has a need to leave his imprint, to say, "I was here."
By age 18, Mr. Quinn had worked at many jobs, among them as a welterweight boxer making $5-$10 a fight, and a sparring partner for then heavyweight contender Primo Carnera. Through those experiences, he got to know fighters as poets with something to prove: a way to work out of poverty and hunger through strength, a real spokesman for the have-nots. Eventually his hard work resulted in dreams coming true, as he became an actor.

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Q) When you were 15-16 years old and fighting as a professional, was this your awakening to life in the real world and did this help you for your part in Requiem of a Heavyweight?

A) "I was awakened to life when I was 11. After my father died, I became a man. No, fighting was just a way to earn money. When you’re hungry and feeding a family, you’ll do anything to keep alive. I had many jobs. Remember this was during the depression. The boxing experience was extremely helpful in the role of the fighter."

Q) In your late teens and early 20s, you were busy finding work in LA, when you stumbled into acting. During this period, were you involved in your art, and if so, in what capacity?

A) "I was a floor cleaner once. I worked for a display company in Los Angeles and I tried to be the best floor cleaner there was, so I went to acting school, to learn how to talk. I decided to be the best I could be. I fell in love with acting, it was an art form, I wasn’t really an artist, I just tried to do the best I could. Art was more of a hobby for me. It was just a way of life."

On stage Quinn speaks the words of the author, to the movements of the director, in the costumes of the wardrobe department, behind the mask of make-up, against the backdrop of set designers. In his art, he is king. Every shade of color, every stroke of his brush, every contour of his sculptures is his own personal statement. Anthony Quinn is a master of his artwork. He answers to no one, a true Renaissance man free to explore the limits of his own imagination. He is fed by incredible worldly experiences, becoming a man who has risen from pain and suffering to wealth, power and fame.

Q) With your busy acting career, how do you find the time for your art?

A) "I’m constantly sketching and when I have some periods of time off, I go to my studio and work, either finishing a piece or starting something new."

The wealth of styles, colors and techniques that he displays in his art could be the greatest life works of a dozen different artists; all different facets of the rare gem that is the multi-talented genius of Anthony Quinn. The colors of his painting gleam with the purest fire and clarity of emeralds, rubies and sapphires. The bold decisive lines of his sculptures are sinuous and powerful, hard-edged and flowing.

Q) Do members of your family assist you in your art? If so who and in what capacity?
A) "I do not want them to help me. My dear wife comes in and asks if she can help, and I say you can clean the brushes, but that’s it. I feel my youngsters might want to be artists of a sort and I would like that. My son is doing a painting with me and I think it will be an interesting one."

In Quinn’s first years as an artist, he signed his art with his mother’s name, Oaxaca, and had a sellout showing. In 1982 at his Hawaiian exhibit of paintings and graphics, critics, fans, and serious collectors from around the world became aware of his extraordinary fine art talents. This situation still continues to this day. He sold more than $2 million of his art on opening night, and advanced requests from the showing kept him busy the next two years. Since that extraordinary beginning, Mr. Quinn has shown his artwork at major exhibitions throughout the world, and he has been eagerly sought after and collected by presidents and kings, and is now hosted by the United Nations whom he designed a stamp for in 1988.

Q) With your busy acting and art exhibit schedules and your devotion to your family, when do you find time for them? Do they travel with you?

A) "They always travel with me. We just came back from Spain and they had a wonderful experience there. My little ones always get a part in my movies."

Q) You maintain several homes internationally. Which ones are you most comfortable in for just relaxation, for your artwork?

A) "My home in Rhode Island is my favorite. It’s detached from Hollywood, New York. It’s away from the entertainment world. I find the quiet times there, especially when I’m reading scripts."

Q) Do you still bicycle for relaxation and to collect your thoughts?

A) "Yes, just the other day I bicycled with my kids 10 miles. We had lunch and bicycled back."

Q) Do you have any plans for retirement from either of your careers or both?

A) "Never, I could never be inactive. When you retire, you are preparing for that other world."

Mr. Quinn has just completed another film and is set to embark on a worldwide tour to exhibit his extraordinary talent with his stop in Las Vegas.

Q) What do you think of Las Vegas? Will you be back again?

A) "I remember Las Vegas way, way back. I was a good friend of Ben Siegel. In fact, I wanted to work at building the Boulder Dam, but never got the job. It’s a wonderful place to be when you’re not involved in your artwork."

I’m sure many of your movie fans are interested in that career, so just a few questions.

Q) This past TV season, you guest starred on the Bill Cosby show. Was this segment well received by the critics and viewers, and do you plan or wish to do more?

A) "I love Bill Cosby. Great friend, I’m fond of him. He only has to ask me and I’ll be there. I’ve been asked to do more TV shows, but I like my life and what I’m doing."

Q) Any acting plans for the future?

A) "I’m reading four scripts right now. They’re all wonderful and I’ll probably pick one soon."

Q) Do you feel honored that because of your role in Zorba, you are thought of as being of Greek ancestry? Your thoughts on being honored by the Greek Church in Las Vegas.

A) "I’m honored by that. They’re helping me with some problems I’ve had with Greece. Most people feel that I’m Greek."

Q) What do you personally feel is the reason for your longevity and appeal as an actor?

A) "The other day they came and offered me a script. They asked me to do something I couldn’t see myself doing. They said to the director that you couldn’t ask me to play someone that does something I wouldn’t do. At my stage of the game, I could only play in a picture doing the things that are pieces of me. So I have that personal identification with the part offered to me." LVN

For information as to the current availability of Mr. Quinn’s art work, or a schedule of the exhibition while in Las Vegas, from October 21 through 31, contact Audrey Roberts at ARTV at 1-877-717-2788 / 702-242-8811 or Las VegaN at 1-800-299-2113/702-792-4036. A special thank you to Audrey Roberts of ARTV for supplying Las VegaN Magazine with all photos of Mr. Quinn and his artwork.