Early Abstractions (1946–1957)

Avant-garde filmmaker Harry Smith (c.1960). Circular Tensions: Homage to Oskar Fischinger (1950), from Early Abstractions.

Early Abstractions (1946–1957) Anthology Film Archives Harry Smith (1923-1991) was an artist and archivist whose revolutionary animation challenged traditional filmmaking. Applying a variety of iconoclastic techniques to the creation of each film, Smith would use batik, collage, or optical printing to create a tumult of shapes and images that integrates chaos with control. The National Film Preservation Foundation joined Anthology Film Archives in preserving Smith's Early Abstractions. These short studies were among over 100 films preserved through the Treasures of American Film Archives project, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Early Abstractions is comprised of six films that vary in length from 2 to 5-1/2 minutes. The works were produced over a 7-year period from 1946 to 1952. As Jonas Mekas of Anthology Film Archives has said, "You can watch them for pure color enjoyment; you can watch them for motion—Harry Smith's films never stop moving; or you can watch them for hidden symbolic meanings, alchemic signs. There are more levels in Harry Smith's work than in any other film animator I know." Inspired by Native American cultures, jazz, the Kabbala, and surrealism, Smith assembled his own cinematic universe of shape, color, light, and time. Early Abstractions reveals the whimsical, mystical side of experimental animation. To create No: 2 Message From the Sun, a film that Smith said "takes place either inside the sun or in Zurich, Switzerland," the artist applied round, removable stickers to the filmstock, painted the film, and then coated the surface with Vaseline. When the stickers were removed, the circles remained in outline and another layer of paint was applied. Thus as the film is projected, the circles' rhythmic patterns seem to travel and grow in intensity through the layering and merging of colors. Born in Portland, Oregon in 1923, Smith studied anthropology at the University of Washington before dropping out and moving to California. It was in San Francisco that Smith became involved with the experimental film scene that revolved around the Art in Cinema screenings at the San Francisco Museum of Art. Relentlessly curious, Smith was a voluminous collector. His collection of paper airplanes, one of the largest ever, is now at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. As an authority on folk music, Smith is legendary. He compiled and released Folkways Records' influential Anthology of American Folk Music. This compilation was praised by Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and helped usher in the folk revival of the 1960s. Smith earned a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1991—the year of his death—to celebrate his influential anthology. Websites about Harry Smith The Harry Smith Archives: www.harrysmitharchives.com Books about Harry Smith The American Magus Harry Smith: a Modern Alchemist. Ed. Paola Igliori. New York: 1996. Think of the Self Speaking: Harry Smith, Selected Interviews. Ed. Rani Singh. Seattle: 1998.