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one of the twentieth century’s most original artists
Oskar Wilhelm Fischinger was a German-American abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter, notable for creating abstract musical animation many decades before the appearance of computer graphics and music videos. He was known as the father of visual music and the grandfather of motion graphics. He created special effects for Fritz Lang’s 1929 Woman in the Moon, one of the first sci-fi rocket films, and influenced Disney’s Fantasia. He made over 50 short films and painted around 800 canvases, many of which are in museums, galleries, and collections worldwide. Among his film works is Motion Painting No. 1 (1947), which is now listed on the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress.
PROJECTS
Spirals (1926, 6 min)
Optical Poem (1938, 7 min)
Radio Dynamics (1942, 4 min)
Allegretto (1943, 3 min)
Motion Painting No. 1 (1947, 11 min)
Experimental short film made in 35mm, which explores geometric abstraction based on black and white in conjunction with figures arranged in dynamic and hypnotizing spirals
Mental imagery of music is visualized with two-dimensional shapes dancing to the rhythm of Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.
A collage mixing film loops, oil paintings, and coloured cells into sequences of dynamic colour, rhythm and form.
Diamond and oval shapes in primary colors perform a sensual, upbeat ballet to the music of composer Ralph Rainger. The geometric dance is set against a background of expanding circles that suggest radio waves.
A film of extraordinary beauty and rhythmic power, it is an abstract work created by painting with oils on Plexiglas. Set to an excerpt from J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no. 3, it comprises an exuberant series of intricate transformations—one every twenty–fourth of a second—that explore the dynamic relationship between sound and image, and the film’s unique combination of visual and aural tonalities never ceases to amaze and charm. Motion Painting I is a testament to Fischinger’s passion for experimentation and invention.
