Oskar Fischinger - Volume 1

A good mix of Fischinger's films that moves through the genesis of his experiments with animated movement to his commanding later colour works.
Spiritual Construc... more >

A good mix of Fischinger's films that moves through the genesis of his experiments with animated movement to his commanding later colour works.
Spiritual Constructions is an animation produced by modelling kaolin wax on glass and follows two drunken men home from the bar. A simple starting point that is brilliantly understandable to anyone who has at anytime found the world and its objects resistant to co-operation.
Kreise (Circles) is full of radiating triumphant surging circles. Commissioned by the Tolirag company in 1933, the film was sold to several companies in different countries where they also used it for advertising by inserting their own name at the very end. The film consists of 1000 paintings, each a commanding abstract study by itself.
Allegretto is an exuberant work, the first Fischinger made in America. Radiating circles are overlaid with the stars, diamonds and comet forms familiar from his earlier black and white studies. The film builds to a triumphant and vigorous conclusion, full of the joys of arrival.
Motion Painting No. 1 was his last finished film and is a monumental work of art. An improvised piece set to Bach though not closely synchronized it is a monument both to the act and art of painting as well as to the creation of painted movement on film. Wishing to keep conditions of filming absolutely consistent he painted every day for five months without ever once seeing what the finished product would be. It is a piece that suggests countless narratives but is irreducible and remains to suggest more. It is a commanding and beautiful lesson in the uses of colour. < less

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Technical Details

• Includes a booklet of texts by William Moritz.

Film Details

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