Film Review: ‘Tim’s Vermeer’ is a Lovingly Rendered Obsession

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CHICAGO – One of the fabulous subsets of human success is the person who evolves beyond collecting material goods and uses the bounty for pursuits of utter usefulness, which cannot be mastered unless that wealth buys the time and resources. Case in point, the subject of “Tim’s Vermeer.”

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Tim is Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor with a large war chest. For years, he had been mesmerized by 17th century Dutch master artist Johannes Vermeer – think “Girl with a Pearl Earring” – and how that painter was able to create photo realistic canvases 150 years before photography. This documentary goes with Jenison on that pursuit, from Europe to his home state, as he breaks down the science of creation using what was available to Vermeer in this time. The result is extremely provocative and fascinating portrait – both of Tim and Vermeer’s techniques – and is a treat for art buffs, engineering buffs and eccentricity buffs.

Tim Jenison’s background is one of curiosity and inventiveness. As the founder of NewTek in the 1980s, he helped revolutionize desktop video production and animation with the Video Toaster. Flush with success and the dollars associated with it, Jenison became an experimenter for different interests and adventures. One of the pursuits had to do with the Johannes Vermeer paintings.

Jenison was convinced that Vermeer used a series of projector mirrors – often called a “Camera Obscura” – to create his intensely lit realistic paintings. Using this technology, Jenison manufactures a similar set-up, with technology only available in Vermeer’s time. To prove his theories, he sets out to exactly replicate one of Vermeer’s most famous paintings, “The Music Lesson.”

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of ”Tim’s Vermeer”

Tim Jenison (right) Demonstrates Technique to Penn Gillette in ‘Tim’s Vermeer’
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of ”Tim’s Vermeer”