Greenaway, Peter (1942-…), is a British motion-picture director noted for controversial and disturbing films that explore such issues as sex, death, and decay. Greenaway’s movies focus on cinematic techniques and visual imagery. Instead of employing conventional character development and narrative, his films encourage audiences to draw their own conclusions as to the meaning of what they see on the screen. Greenaway writes the screenplays for all his films.
Peter Greenaway was born on April 5, 1942, in Newport, Wales, and trained as a painter at Walthamstow College of Art, in London. In 1964, he held his first exhibition at the Lord’s Gallery in London. From 1965 to 1976, he worked for the Central Office of Information, initially as a movie editor. He began making short documentaries and publicity films before working on a number of experimental movies, including A Walk Through H (1978) and The Falls (1980).
Greenaway gained international attention with the feature film The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982), a tale set in the 1600’s with a score by the British composer Michael Nyman. Among Greenaway’s later movies, most with music by Nyman, are A Zed and Two Noughts (1985), The Belly of an Architect (1986), Drowning by Numbers (1988), The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1989), Prospero’s Books (1991), The Baby of Macon (1993), The Pillow Book (1996), 8 1/2 Women (1999), and Eisenstein in Guanajuato (2015).
