Viking Eggeling ( October 21, 1880 , Lund - May 19, 1925 , Berlin ) is a Swedish avant-garde artist and director whose work is associated with Dadaism , Constructivism and Abstractionism . One of the founders of absolute cinema and visual music. [2] His film Diagonal Symphony (1924) is one of the first abstract films in the history of experimental cinema.
| Viking Eggeling | |
|---|---|
| Viking eggeling | |
| Date of Birth | October 21, 1880 |
| Place of Birth | Lund , Sweden |
| Date of death | May 19, 1925 ( 44) |
| A place of death | Berlin , Germany |
| A country | |
| Occupation | artist, director |
Content
- 1 Biography
- 1.1 The early years
- 1.2 Zurich and Dada
- 1.3 Berlin
- 2 Filmography
- 3 notes
- 4 References
Biography
The early years
At 16, an orphaned Eggeling went to Germany to develop an artist's career. From 1901 to 1907 he studied the history of art in Milan , while studying, worked as an accountant. From 1907 to 1911 he taught art at a boarding school in the city of Zuoz in Switzerland. From 1911 to 1915 he lived in Paris , where his acquaintances and friends were Amadeo Modigliani , Jean Arp , Leopold Survage and other artists of this time. In 1916, Modigliani painted a portrait of a Viking Eggeling. Cubism influenced his work to a large extent, but soon Eggeling began to gravitate more toward abstractionism. In 1915-1917, under the influence of “Rhythms of color” by Survage, he began to create sketches on paper rolls, which he called “scrolls from images”, which later led him to the idea of “Horizontal-vertical symphony” (now lost) and “ Diagonal Symphony. " [3]
Zurich and Dada
In 1918, in Zurich, Eggeling reunited with Jean Arp, took part in the events of [[Dada] and became friends with artists such as Marcel Janko , Richard Hülsenbeck, Sophie Toiber-Arp and other personalities associated with Cabaret Voltaire . In 1919, he joined the New Life group, which was based in Basel and consisted of Marcel Janko, Jean Arp, Sophie Toiber-Arp , Augusto Giacometti and others. This group supported the educational approach in contemporary art, which combined socialist ideals and constructivist aesthetics. In the manifesto, the group proclaimed "the restructuring of the human community" in preparation for the end of capitalism. In the same year, Eggeling acted as the co-founder of a similar group, Radical Artists, a more politically focused offshoot of New Life. [5] In 1918, Tristan Tzara introduced him to Hans Richter. Eggeling worked closely with Richter for several years, then moved together from Switzerland to Germany. Later, Hans Richter recalled these years: "The contrast between us, which was the difference in methods and immediacy, served only to enhance mutual attraction ... for three years we marched side by side, although we fought on different fronts." [6] Here is what Russian film critic Aleksey Gusev writes about this collaboration: “In Germany, Hans Richter and Viking Eggeling experimented with trying to animate“ pure ”compositions of forms and abstract rhythms, to“ take pictures ”of music. The attention of these artists, creators of abstract works, was concentrated on the visual expression of the musical rhythm, the rhythm of lines, textures and sizes: G. Richter's paintings “The film is rhythm”, “Rhythm 23”, “Rhythm 25”, W. Eggeling “Diagonal symphony” . [7]
Berlin
In Germany, his first place of residence was Berlin, where he met Raul Hausmann, Hannah Hech and other radical artists. He also joined a radical political association called the “ November Group, ” which included many artists from Dada , the Bauhaus, and Constructivism. After that, he moved to Cologne with Richter , where he continued his experiments with "scrolls from images." These scrolls were a sequence of paintings on long rolls of paper and examined the transformation of geometric shapes. Such scrolls could be up to 15 meters in length. Since the rolls were meant to be viewed from left to right, after a while this idea was transformed into cinematic experiments with film. In 1920, Eggeling began production of his first film, The Horizontal Vertical Symphony, based on a scroll of approximately 5,000 images. In 1921, he ends his collaboration with Richter and postpones his work on the "Horizontal Vertical Symphony." In 1923, began cooperation with Erna Neimer and worked on the “Diagonal Symphony”, which is a synthesis of image, rhythm, movement and music and consists of carved geometric shapes on a black background. This film was completed and first shown in November 1924. The public premiere took place in May 1925 as part of the Der Absolute Film program, organized by the November Group. After 16 days, Eggeling passed away.
Filmography
- 1921 - "Horizontal-vertical symphony", the work on which is not finished
- 1924 - Diagonal Symphony
Notes
- ↑ artist list of the National Museum of Sweden - 2016.
- ↑ Louise O'Konor, Viking Eggeling, 1880-1925, Artist and Filmmaker: Life and Work , translated by Catherine G. Sundström and Anne Libby, Stockholm, Almqvist and Wiksell, 1971.
- ↑ Daniel Robbins, Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press, MoMA, 2009
- ↑ Dada, Nr. 4/5 (15 May 1919): [p. 8].
- ↑ Van der Berg, p. 147-148. See also Cernat, Avangarda , p. 160-161
- ↑ Hans Richter, Dada: Art and Anti-Art , translated by David Britt, London, Thames and Hudson, 1965.
- ↑ Gusev Alexey Olegovich. Active elements of composition as a factor in updating film drama in author's cinema of the second half of the 20th century, 2017
- ↑ De Stijl, vol. 4, nr. 7 (July 1921): facing p. 112.