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WASSILYKANDINS
KY
Wagner's Lohengrin, which hadstirred Kandinsky to devote his life
to art, had convinced him of theemotional powers of music. Theperformance conjured for himvisions of a certain time in Moscowthat he associated with specificcolors and emotions. It inspired in
him a sense of a fairy-tale hour ofMoscow, which always remained thebeloved city of his childhood. "All mycolours were conjured up before myeyes. Wild, almost mad lines drew
themselves before me. It was quiteclear to me that painting wascapable of developing powers ofexactly the same order as thosemusic possessed." Above, Moscow 1, 1916. Below,
Composition No. 8, 1923
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THECO
LOURORGAN
Synaesthesia has a long history in
human art. Greek philosophers
debated whether colour, like pitch,could be considered a quality of
music. The Jesuit, Father Louis
Bertrand Castel, built an Ocular
Harpsichord around 1730, which
consisted of a 6-foot square frameabove a normal harpsichord; the
frame contained 60 small windows
each with a different coloured-glass
pane and a small curtain attached by
pullies, so that each time a key
would be struck, the curtain would
lift briefly to show a flash of color.
Enlightenment society flocked to his
Paris studio for demonstrations
Alexander Rimington and his Colour
Organ, 1893. Sarah Tooley, a journalist
of the time, wrote that Rimingtons
Colour Organ would "bring music to the
soul of those cultivated to receive these
impressions"
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MUSIC
TOCOLOUR
Rimingtons Colour Music ideaprobably grew from discussions foundin late Victorian magazines, namely
that colour and sound were twoaspects of the same reality, i.e. themusic of rhythm of the universe. Hismachine used mains electricity andincandescent bulbs. Coloured keyswere arranged above a conventionalkeyboard, connected to a lens-and-filters system, allowing colours to beplayed. Various pedals changed thequality of light, allowing dissolve-likeeffects. Rimington went on topublished Colour Music: The Art ofMobile Colour in which he argued that
the standard repertoire might beperformed in colour. He subsequentlyexpressed a wish that musicians wouldbegin to write dual scores, one forcolour and one for music.
Above, musical notes and colours. Below,
God Save The King for the colour organ.
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ALEXAN
DERSCRIABIN
The Russian composer Alexander Scriabin
aspired for the Wagnerian idea of the
'Gesamtkunstwerk. His magnum opus was
"Preparation for the Final Mystery. He
started his plans in 1903. He wanted a
great temple for a mixture of rite and
drama to last for seven days and this
would transform the human race. The
work requires special people, specialartists and a completely new culture.
There would be orchestra, a large choir, an
instrument with visual effects, dancers, a
procession, incense, and rhythmic textural
articulation. The temple would continually
change, with the aid of mists and lights, to
modify the architectural contours. He
added that after the grand performance
the world would come to an end with the
human race replaced by nobler beings.
Let us be born in vortex! Let us wake up
into the sky! Let us merge our feeling into a
common wave! And in the luxurious glitter
of the last flourishing, appearing to each
other in a naked beauty of sparkling spirits,
we will disappear we will melt away...
Scriabin wanted to create a symphony for
the end of the world.
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COLOUREDRHYTHM
Painter, designer, and illustrator
Leopold Survage sought to transcend
the "immobility" of abstract painting by
animating forms through film. He was a
student at Moscow's School of Fine
Arts when he discovered French
modernism and he moved to Paris in
1908. Contemporary developments in
abstract painting propelled his
experiments with rhythm-colour
'symphonies', resulting in a series of
hand-drawn coloured abstractions
(produced between 1912 and 1913),
which he intended to transform into
pulsating rhythmic forms using a teamof animators and a three-color camera.
Survage considered the series an
autonomous art form analogous to
music. He presented his ideas to the
Gaumont Film Company to ask for
support. He was turned down.
I will introduce rhythm into the concrete
action of my abstract painting, born of my
interior life; my instrument will be thecinematographic film, this true symbol of
accumulated movement. It will execute the
'scores' of my visions, corresponding to my state
of mind in its successive phases. I am creating a
new visual art in time, that of coloured rhythm
and rhythmic colour."
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THECLAVILUX
Thomas Wilfred was a Danish musician who
turned to the medium of light, which he
manipulated into dreamlike compositions of
varying colours and intensities. He called this
practice 'Lumia'. He wrote, 'The lumia artist
conceives his idea as a three-dimensional
drama unfolding in infinite space. In order to
share his vision with others he must
materialize it. This he may do by executing it
as a two-dimensional sequence, projected
on a flat white screen by means of a specially
constructed projection instrument
controlled from a keyboard. He didnt like
the term colour organ and coined the term
clavilux.
The first Clavilux was constructed in
1919, in a studio on Long Island. View
Lumia animations and read more at
http://www.wilfred-lumia.org/
http://www.wilfred-lumia.org/http://www.wilfred-lumia.org/http://www.wilfred-lumia.org/http://www.wilfred-lumia.org/8/7/2019 Visual Music2
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HANSRICHTER
The cinematic avant-garde that
emerged after World War I originated
in Germany. Composed of modern
painters and photographers, the
international experimental film
movement mounted a sustained effort
to extend the formal strategies of the
various strands of post-war modernism
to the cinema. In deliberate opposition
to the naturalizing, indexical format of
the popular cinema, the films of the
first avant-garde emphasized the
medium-specific properties of cinema,
drawing attention to its capacity for
spatio-temporal transformation. The
focus was on the nature, properties
and functions of the camera, film strip
and screen. Foremost among these
early pioneers was Hans Richter, who
played a pivotal role in the
development of the avant-garde film.
After a brief career as a Cubist and six
months of military service, Richterbecame, with Tristan Tzara and Hans
Arp, one of the founding members of
Zurich Dada. Richter was committed to
Dada ideas, but his paintings were less
concerned with anarchic revolt than
with the dissolution of natural objects
into pure forms.
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RHYTHM
US21,1921
Rhythmus 21, is completed by usingstop motion and forward and backwardprinting in addition to an animation
table. The film consists of a continuousflow of rectangular and square shapesthat move forward, backward,vertically, and horizontally across thescreen. Syncopated by an unevenrhythm, forms grow, break apart andare fused together in a variety ofconfigurations.
Richter was able to concentrate on thearrangement of the essential elementsof cinema: movement, time and light.
Disavowing the beauty of form for itsown sake, Rhythmus 21 insteadexpresses emotional content throughthe mutual interaction of forms movingin contrast and relation to one another.
(Senses of Cinema)
Rhythm expresses something different
from thought. The meaning of both is
incommensurable. Rhythm cannot be
explained completely by thought nor canthought be put in terms of rhythm, or
converted or reproduced. They both find
their connection and identity in common
and universal human life, the life
principle, from which they spring and
upon which they can build further.
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VIKING
EGGELING
Viking Eggeling shared a studiowith Hans Richter in the Swisscountryside. In 1920 Eggeling
and Richter wrote the pamphlet'Universelle Sprache' in whichthey likened abstract art to akind of universal language. WithRichter, he created assortedelaborately arranged scroll
paintings. These scrolls seemedto naturally lead them toexperiment with animation.Between 1921 and 1924,Eggeling worked steadily on theintricate drawings that wouldform his classic, highly influentialabstract short DiagonalSymphony. Eggeling made twosimilar films, Parallel andHorizontal before he died ofheart failure at age 45
Born in Sweden, Eggeling
moved to Paris in 1911 and
became acquainted with Arp,
Modigliani, Richter and others.
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UNIVER
SALLANGUAGE
Richter wrote: This pamphlet elaborated our thesis
that abstract form offers the possibility of a
language above and beyond all national languageabove and beyond national language frontiers. The
basis for such language would lie in the identical
form perception in all human beings and would offer
the promise of a universal art as it had never existedbefore. With careful analysis of the elements, one
should be able to rebuild mens vision into a
spiritual language in which the simplest as well as
the most complicated, emotions as well as thoughts,
objects as well as ideas, would find a form.
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SYMPHONIEDIAGON
ALE
It was with persistent energy thatEggeling set out to work...in an entirelynew area. There were a few pioneers
here and there who wanted toaccomplish the same thing but did notknow of one another's work. There wereno experiences, no technicalinstitutions, no method, and no model.They all had to create everything ontheir own. With no means at his disposalother than extreme effort and deepconviction, and without onceabandoning the way of the artist,Eggeling neared his goal step by step. Tobe sure, his Diagonale Symphonie hadnot yet solved all the problems of anabsolute film
Adolf Behne. Zehn Jahre Novembergruppe,special issue of Kunst der Zeit, 1927, p. 32
Eggeling used abstract forms that
corresponded, in his mind, to
movement. He insisted that his filmsbe screened in absolute silence. This
film comprised of 6,720 drawings.
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WALTERRUTTMANN
Walter Ruttmann was both a
successful representational and
abstract painter and an amateurmusician before he began
examining the possibilities of film
technology for the realization of
his pursuit of Malerei mit Zeit(painting with time). He
subsequently constructed a
simple animation table which was
patented in 1920 as a method
and device for the production of
cinematographic images
Ruttman later went on to work
with Leni Riefenstahl, Hitlers
propagandist cinematographer.
He edited "Olympiad" in 1936,
and was killed during World War II
while making a newsreel.
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LICHTSP
IELOPUSI
Lichtspiel Opus I was the firstabstract film to be shown inpublic, in 1921. Ruttmann was
trained in painting and music,both of which show up clearly.Ruttmann painted on small glassplates and photographed eachdrawing one frame at a timebefore modifying or adding and
finally hand-coloring. He calledhis animations "opticalsymphonies" with a "puritycomparable to music. When hewrote in the invitation to theworks premiere of the
beginning of a trulyindependent art of film. Criticswrote of a new motion art,and said "Painting and musichave wed".
On the screen one sees various moving
forms, a swimming, fish-like object,
aggressive triangles that thrust into the
image, and searching cones of light a
battle between the forms seems to be
taking place.
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MONTA
GE1
Rhythm 21 (1921)
Hans Richter
Diagonale Symphonie (1924) Viking Eggeling
Lichtspiel: Opus I (1921) Walther Ruttmann
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OSKAR
FISCHINGER
In 1921, Oskar Fischinger was
thrilled by the first
performance of WaltherRuttmann's Lichtspeil Opus
No.1 and vowed to devote
himself to absolute cinema,
which could best combine hisskills at music and graphic art.
At first, he experimented with
cutting through shapes of wax,
shooting a frame for each cut.He was influenced by Tibetan
Mandala shapes.Oskar Fischinger working in
his studio in Los Angeles
(c.1942)
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CIRCLES
In 1933 Fischinger made
a film called Circles. Only
at the close was it
apparent that this play
of form and colour was a
commercial for an adagency. The film evaded
the usual Nazi
censorship restrictions
against "degenerate"art.
Made with Gaspar Colour (a 3-color
process pre-dating Technicolor) whichFischinger helped to invent, Circles was
one of the first European color films.
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ALLEGRETTO
Eventually branded a degenerate
by the Nazis, Fischinger fled to the
US. He worked for ParamountPictures and started ideas which
developed into Disney's 'Fantasia'.
He worked on one sequence but
left abruptly when his styles were
simplified. In Allegretto (1936),
radiating concentric circles pulse
while rhomboids and diamonds
dance and shimmer suggestively
across what look like radio waves,all synched perfectly to the score.
"It was like a different language
that I didn't know existed," says
Pete Docter, director of the Pixar hitMonsters Inc. "Here's a guy who's
doing something completely
different with animation."
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MONTA
GE2OSKA
RFISCHINGE
R
Wax Experiments (1923-1927)
Circles(1933)
Allegretto (1936)
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LENLYE
Len Lye was a New Zealand-
born filmmaker, painter,
kinetic sculptor, writer and
genetic and experimental
theorist. He became a
leading avant-garde artist inLondon and New York. After
initial experiments with stop
frame animation, he joined
the GPO film unit in 1935.
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HECOM
ESINCOLOU
RS...
Lye, was convinced from an
early age that motion
should be part of the
language of art. Lye made
several animations, using
hand-painting on the film.Curiously his work was used
as a form of advertising for
parcel post and to remind
customers to Post early forChristmas
Lye experimented with new colour
processes such as Dufaycolor andGasparcolor
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LENLYEFILMS
Color Cry
After the war Lye moved to New Yorkand played a part in the upsurge of
experimental film making in the US.Color Cry was a direct film made by the'rayogram' or 'shadow cast' method:strips of 16 mm film were laid out in adark room, covered with stencils,colour gels, and objects such as fabrics,string and saw blades, and thenexposed. The strips of film were editedto Fox Hunt by blues musician SonnyTerry, which Lye interpreted as thefeelings of a black slave fleeing aSouthern lynch mob. This is one of Lye'sgreatest films and its imagery is unique.
Rainbow Dance
Dancer Rupert Doone appears as asilhouette performing various
actions against stylisedbackgrounds; and cartoon drawingsare combined with live action. Thefilm was shot in black and white -using black and white backdrops -then "colourised" in the laboratoryby manipulating the three separatestrips of Gasparcolor film. At thetime this was an astonishinglyoriginal way to make a colour film -and Lye saw it as an opportunity totransform "realism" into colour"hieroglyphics" The film, sponsored
by John Grierson's G.P.O. Film Unit,had an enthusiastic premiere at the1936 Venice Film Festival and itsimagery has been often imitated.
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MARYELLENBUTE
During a 25-year period, from 1934until about 1959, the abstract filmsMary Ellen Bute made played in
mainstream movie theatres around theUS, usually as the short with a first-runfeature, such as Mary of Scotland, TheBarretts of Wimpole Street, or HansChristian Andersen. Millions saw herwork, many more than most otherexperimental animators. She was
drawn into filmmaking by acollaboration with the musician JosephSchillinger, who had developed anelaborate theory about musicalstructure, which reduced all music to aseries of mathematical formulae.
Schillinger wanted to make a film toprove that his synchronization systemworked in illustrating music with visualimages, and Mary Ellen undertook theproject of animating the visuals. Thefilm was never completed.
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ABSOLU
TEFILM
We view an Absolute Filmas a stimulant by its own
inherent powers ofsensation, without theencumbrance of literarymeaning, photographicImitation, or symbolism.
Our enjoyment of anAbsolute Film dependssolely on the effect itproduces: whereas, inviewing a realistic film, theresultant sensation is basedon the mental imageevoked.
From Butes film Tarantella. Her ideas
are remininiscent of Richard Wagners
term, Gesamtkunstwerk , first used in1849, for a total, integrated or complete
artwork.
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MONTA
GE3MAR
YELLENBUT
E
Parabola (1936)
Synchrony No. 2(1936)
Tarantella (1940)
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JORDAN
BELSON
Jordan Belson studied painting
before seeing Fischinger's work
in 1946. He first animated realobjects (pavements in Bop-
Scotch [1952]). They foreshadow
his later mystical concepts.
Between 1957 and 1959, Belsoncollaborated in the historic
Vortex Concerts, which
combined the latest electronic
music with moving visual
abstractions projected on thedome of Morrison Planetarium in
San Francisco.
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SAMADHI
Samadhi (1967) supposedly
evokes the ecstatic state
achieved by the meditator
where individual
consciousness merges with
the Universal. "I hoped that
somehow the film could
actually provide a taste of
what the real experience of
samadhi might be like."Later, he added, "It is primarily an
abstract cinematic work of art
inspired by Yoga and Buddhism. Not a
description or explanation of
Samadhi."
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MONTA
GE4JORD
ANBELSON
Bop Scotch (1952)
Allures (1951)
Samadhi (1962)
Epilogue (2005)
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