Visual Music2

8/7/2019 Visual Music2

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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/


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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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