Peter Wollen, Film Scholar and Artist, Dies at 81

Peter Wollen, a central figure in film studies and visual culture, died on 17 December 2019 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. His seminal book 'Signs and Meaning in the Cinema' (1969) established him as a key thinker, but he was also an art critic, curator, political theorist, and filmmaker who collaborated with Laura Mulvey. Wollen co-directed films such as 'Penthesilea: Queen of the Amazons' (1974) and 'Riddles of the Sphinx' (1977), and wrote important essays like 'The Two Avant-Gardes' (1975). As a curator, he organized groundbreaking exhibitions including 'Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti' at Whitechapel Gallery (1982), 'Ballad of Sexual Dependency' by Nan Goldin at Fruitmarket Gallery (1985), and 'On the passage of a few people...' on the Situationist International at Centre Pompidou (1989). His essays are collected in 'Paris Manhattan' (2004) and 'Raiding the Icebox' (1993). Wollen's work bridged academia and art, testing film's aesthetic and theoretical boundaries.