Robert Breer
Encyclopedia
Robert Carlton Breer was an experimental filmmaker, painter, and sculptor.
"A founding member of the American avant-garde," Breer was most well known for his films, which combine abstract and representational painting, hand-drawn rotoscoping, original 16mm and 8mm film footage, photographs, and other materials. His aesthetic philosophy and technique were influenced by an earlier generation of abstract filmmakers that included Hans Richter
, Viking Eggeling
, Walter Ruttmann
, and Fernand Léger
, whose work he discovered while living in Europe. Breer was also influenced by the concept of Neo-plasticism as described by Piet Mondrian
and Vasarely.
After experimenting with cartoon animation as a child, he started making his first abstract experimental films while living in Paris from 1949 to 1959, a period during which he also showed paintings and kinetic sculptures at galleries such as the renowned Galerie Denise René
.
Breer explained some of the reasons behind his move from painting to filmmaking in a 1976 interview:
Breer also taught at Cooper Union in New York from 1971 to 2001.
On August 13, 2011, fellow experimental filmmaker Pip Chodorov announced on the Frameworks Experimental Film Listserv that Breer had died on or around August 12, 2011. There has not been an official public confirmation of Breer's death.
Scholarly publications on Breer's work and interviews with the artist can be found in Robert Breer, A Critical Cinema 2: Interviews with Independent Filmmakers by Scott MacDonald, An Introduction to the American Underground Film by Sheldon Renan, Animation in the Cinema by Ralph Stephenson, and Film Culture magazine.
Breer won the 1987 Maya Deren Independent Film and Video Artists' Award, presented by the prestigious American Film Institute
.
His film "Eyewash" was included in Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film 1947-1986.
and distributed by The Film-Makers' Cooperative
in New York City.
"A founding member of the American avant-garde," Breer was most well known for his films, which combine abstract and representational painting, hand-drawn rotoscoping, original 16mm and 8mm film footage, photographs, and other materials. His aesthetic philosophy and technique were influenced by an earlier generation of abstract filmmakers that included Hans Richter
Hans Richter (artist)
Hans Richter was a painter, graphic artist, avant-gardist, film-experimenter and producer. He was born in Berlin into a well-to-do family and died in Minusio, near Locarno, Switzerland.-Germany:...
, Viking Eggeling
Viking Eggeling
Viking Eggeling was a Swedish artist and filmmaker. His work is of significance in the area of experimental film, and has been described as absolute film and Visual Music....
, Walter Ruttmann
Walter Ruttmann
Walter Ruttmann was a German film director and along with Hans Richter and Viking Eggeling was an early German practitioner of experimental film....
, and Fernand Léger
Fernand Léger
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of Cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style...
, whose work he discovered while living in Europe. Breer was also influenced by the concept of Neo-plasticism as described by Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Mondriaan, after 1906 Mondrian , was a Dutch painter.He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neo-Plasticism...
and Vasarely.
After experimenting with cartoon animation as a child, he started making his first abstract experimental films while living in Paris from 1949 to 1959, a period during which he also showed paintings and kinetic sculptures at galleries such as the renowned Galerie Denise René
Denise René
Denise René is a French gallerist.In 1955 she organized the exhibition Le Mouvement, which helped to popularize kinetic art.In 2001, the Centre Georges Pompidou paid homage to her with an exhibition titled "Denise René, une galerie dans l'aventure de l'art abstrait. 1944-1978".- External links :*...
.
Breer explained some of the reasons behind his move from painting to filmmaking in a 1976 interview:
Breer also taught at Cooper Union in New York from 1971 to 2001.
On August 13, 2011, fellow experimental filmmaker Pip Chodorov announced on the Frameworks Experimental Film Listserv that Breer had died on or around August 12, 2011. There has not been an official public confirmation of Breer's death.
Scholarly publications on Breer's work and interviews with the artist can be found in Robert Breer, A Critical Cinema 2: Interviews with Independent Filmmakers by Scott MacDonald, An Introduction to the American Underground Film by Sheldon Renan, Animation in the Cinema by Ralph Stephenson, and Film Culture magazine.
Breer won the 1987 Maya Deren Independent Film and Video Artists' Award, presented by the prestigious American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
.
His film "Eyewash" was included in Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film 1947-1986.
Filmography
The following films are preserved in the library of the Anthology Film ArchivesAnthology Film Archives
__notoc__Anthology Film Archives is a film archive and theater located at 32 Second Avenue on the corner of East Second Street in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City devoted to the preservation and exhibition of experimental film. It is the only non-profit organization of its...
and distributed by The Film-Makers' Cooperative
The Film-Makers' Cooperative
The Film-Makers' Cooperative aka The New American Cinema Group is an artist-run, non-profit organization which was founded in 1962 in New York City by Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, Stan Brakhage, Gregory Markopoulos, Lloyd Michael Williams and other filmmakers to distribute avant-garde films through...
in New York City.
- Form Phases I (1952)
- Form Phases II (1953)
- Form Phases III (1954)
- Form Phases IV (1956)
- Un Miracle (1954)
- Recreation (1956)
- Motion Pictures No. 1 (1956)
- Jamestown Baloos (1957)
- A Man and His Dog Out for Air (1957)
- Le Mouvement (1957)
- Eyewash (1959) – both versions
- Blazes (1961)
- Breathing (1963)
- Fist Fight (1964)
- 66 (1966)
- 69 (1969)
- 70 (1971)
- 77 (1970)
- FujiFuji (film)Fuji is a 1974 art film which explores director Robert Breer's artistic rendition of a train ride past Japan's Mt. Fuji, using line drawings, rotoscope and live action....
(1974) - Swiss Army Knife with Rat and Pigeon (1981)
- Bang! (1986)