Nonobjective Films, 1920s-1950s
A program of artists supported by Hilla Rebay
Friday Nov 6, 2pm, and again on Nov 20, in New York
An accompanying program to the Guggenheim's KANDINSKY exhibition.
Organized by the Center for Visual Music
In the 1940s, curator and founding director Hilla Rebay planned to establish a film center at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, which later became the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, to collect and promote nonobjective films. She awarded grants to artists and presented programs of short experimental films. With the help of Oskar Fischinger, an elaborate film center was planned to include studios and planetarium-style projection capability. Although unrealized, Rebay's support enabled many filmmakers to continue their work in abstract film. This program presents short films by filmmakers whose work was screened and/or supported by Rebay, including Jordan Belson, Mary Ellen Bute, Charles Dockum, Oskar Fischinger, Norman McLaren, Hans Richter, Harry Smith, among others. Having experimented with nonobjectivity, many of these artists were familiar with the work of Vasily Kandinsky, one of its most famous practitioners, having seen his paintings at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting.
14:00 16mm films
- Symphonie Diagonale, Viking Eggeling, 1921-24
- Film Studie, Hans Richter, 1926
- Tarantella, Mary Ellen Bute, 1940
- Film no. 7, Harry Smith, c.1952
- Mobilcolor Performance at the Guggenheim Museum, Charles Dockum, 1952
- Séance, Jordan Belson, 1959
14:30 35mm films
- Studie no. 7, Oskar Fischinger, 1931
- Loops, Norman McLaren, 1940
- Allegretto, Oskar Fischinger, 1936-1943
- Radio Dynamics, Oskar Fischinger, 1942
New Media Theater, free with Museum admission (we're told you can access this via the gallery with Kandinsky's works on paper)
Nov 6 and 20, then 2 December dates; program also screens in January at the upcoming Kandinsky symposium.
Almost all are new prints; the Fischingers and Dockum are new prints from CVM's recent preservation projects. CVM also thanks Cecile Starr and Robert Haller.