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 De Niro, 70, who won Oscars for his lead role in "Raging
Bull" and his supporting turn in "The Godfather: Part II",
attended the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Sunday
to premiere "Remembering the Artist Robert De Niro, Sr.," a HBO
documentary about his father, who emerged alongside
contemporaries including Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.
Robert Sr. grew up in a conservative Italian-American family in
New York and married fellow artist Virginia Admiral, with whom
he had one child, De Niro. The marriage did not last very long
and the couple made an amicable split.
Abstract expressionism came about in post-World War II and was
the first notable American artistic movement to define a
stylistic era. While Robert Sr.'s works emerged during that time
period, his style was not described as abstract expressionist
but instead as figurist, often depicting still life "in simple
set-ups with no pretension," as described in the half-hour
documentary.
Robert Sr. strived to achieve the success of some of his
contemporaries throughout his career and worked hard to hone his
own craft and style.
He became increasingly disconnected from the abstract
expressionist movement, inspired more by early 20th century
French artists such as George Roux, Pierre Bonnard and Henri
Matisse. Robert Sr.'s works included vibrant and intense color
palettes and fluid silhouettes.
"He was very clear about what he thought was art and what he
liked, and yet at the same time he was generous, people can
appreciate things, it doesn't matter if the aesthetic can be
different from yours," De Niro told Reuters at the film's
premiere.
"He didn't feel that certain things art-wise were art. It was
another thing that wasn't enough for him, and his own style as
you see was always the same. It varied some but not a lot," he
added.
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 De Niro delved into his father's path as an artist though Robert
Sr.'s journals, which revealed the artist's struggles with his
relationship with God and his attempts at coming to terms with
being homosexual. De Niro said his father, who died in 1993 from prostate cancer,
may never have resolved those issues.
De Niro founded the TriBeCa Film Festival in New York, a
showcase for independent films, but he wanted to bring the
documentary to Sundance, the top U.S. independent film festival,
to make sure the spotlight was fully on the works and memory of
his father.
"We were really thrilled that it was chosen for Sundance because
it separates from having it at Tribeca and we see Bob's father's
works on its own in a different setting than you would in New
York," producer Jane Rosenthal said.
The documentary explores Robert Sr.'s career as well as his role
as a loving father, with whom De Niro said he had a very close
relationship with. But as De Niro's acting career took off, he
felt his father was somewhat resentful that his own work had
never been recognized by a bigger audience.
For De Niro, the documentary, scheduled to air on HBO this
summer, serves as an homage to his father, whose paintings are
still shown in galleries around the world, and also as a memory
for his own children.
"I realized how important it is for children to appreciate
certain things (their parents) want to share with them," an
emotional De Niro says in the film.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy;
editing by Meredith Mazzilli)
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