Films by Joseph Cornell from the Flaxman Collection
Posted by | Conversations at the Edge | Posted on | February 28, 2002
Thursday, February 28, 2002, 6pm
Joseph Cornell’s film work links the tradition of early surrealism with the entire range of work produced by experimental filmmakers in the fifties, sixties & seventies in New York. The enormously influential Rose Hobart (1939) practically launched a movement by itself, after being seen by Jack Smith and Ken Jacobs. The filmmakers Rudy Burckhardt, Larry Jordan, and Stan Brakhage all worked for and with Cornell, but what is still most important about the films is the unique sensibility that permeates the work. Dreamy, highly charged in sexuality, innocent one moment, sophisticated the next. These films are an accompaniment to the themes, materials, and formal complexities of Cornell’s boxes. They are among the most important works to have been produced in American independent film and this is a rare survey of almost all the films, shown together. Includes: Rose Hobart (1939); The Children’s Party, Cotillion, The Midnight Party (1970); A Fable for Fountains (1957); Bookstalls (ca. 1930s); Cloches A Travers Les Feuilles (1957); What Mozart Saw on Mulberry Street (1954); Vaudeville Deluxe (ca. 1940s); The Aviary (1954); By Light with Torch and Spear (ca. 1940s); Mulberry Street (1957); Rednow Gnir (1955-56); Nymphlight (1957) (Daniel Eisenberg). 1939-1957, Joseph Cornell, USA, ca. 115 min, 16mm.
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Conversations at the Edge is a weekly series of screenings, performances, and talks by groundbreaking media artists.
CATE is organized by SAIC's Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation in collaboration with the Gene Siskel Film Center and SAIC's Video Data Bank.
Programs take place at the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State / Chicago, IL / 312.846.2600), unless otherwise noted.
