
Lawrence Jordan (born 1934) is an American independent
filmmaker
Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...
who is most widely known for his animated
collage film
Collage film is a style of film created by juxtaposing Found footage (appropriation), found footage from disparate sources (archival footage, excerpts from other films, newsreels, home movies, etc.). The term has also been applied to the physical ...
s. He was a founding member of the
Canyon Cinema
Canyon Cinema is an American nonprofit organization for distributing independent, avant-garde, and artist-made films. After starting in the 1960s as an exhibition program, it grew to include a nationwide newsletter and a distribution cooperative. ...
Cooperative and the Camera Obscura Film Society, and was also a
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
director.
Biography
Jordan was born in 1934 in
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
, Colorado.
He attended
South High School with
Stan Brakhage
James Stanley Brakhage ( ; January 14, 1933 – March 9, 2003) was an American experimental filmmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th-century experimental film.
Over the course of five decades, Brakhage cr ...
.
He attended
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
from 1951 to 1953, where he was active in the film society.
Jordan moved to
Central City, where he put on plays with friends from high school. Both he and Brakhage began making films during this period, with Jordan appearing in Brakhage's ''
Unglassed Windows Cast a Terrible Reflection'' and ''Desistfilm'' and Brakhage appearing in Jordan's ''The One Romantic Venture of Edward'' and ''Trumpit''.
While the two were in New York, Jordan met artist
Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell (December 24, 1903 – December 29, 1972) was an American visual artist and filmmaker, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. Influenced by the Surrealists, he was also an avant-garde experimental filmma ...
at his show at the
Stable Gallery
The Stable Gallery, originally located on West 58th Street in New York City, was founded in 1953 by Eleanor Ward. The Stable Gallery hosted early solo New York exhibitions for artists including Marisol Escobar, Robert Indiana and Andy Warhol.
His ...
. He described Cornell's work as "like an anchor" for him, aligning with his own "sensibility of delicate magic".
In 1955, Jordan settled in the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
. He appeared as Faust in
Robert Duncan's play ''Faust Foutu'', and
Jess introduced him to collage novels by
Max Ernst
Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...
, which became a major influence on his filmmaking. He taught
Bruce Conner
Bruce Conner (November 18, 1933 – July 7, 2008) was an American artist who worked with assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography.
Biography
Bruce Conner was born November 18, 1933, in McPherson, Kansas. His w ...
how to edit films, and in 1957 the two founded the Camera Obscura Film Society, which was active until 1962. Jordan made several voyages as a
Merchant Marine during this period.
During the 1960s, Jordan was one of the founding members of the Canyon Cinema Cooperative.
He was inspired by ''
The Tibetan Book of the Dead'' when creating his 1969 film ''
Our Lady of the Sphere'', now one of his best-known works.
In 1970 he received a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
to make ''Sacred Art of Tibet''.
In 2008
Facets Multi-Media released the ''Lawrence Jordan Album'', a DVD collection with 25 of his films.
The Camera Obscura Film Society was re-established in 2015, and Jordan's films are screened as part of its annual report in
Petaluma, California
Petaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...
.
Legacy
''Our Lady of the Sphere'' was inducted into the
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...
in 2010.
Filmography
* ''Man Is in Pain'' (1954)
* ''Undertow'' (1955)
* ''The One Romantic Adventure of Edward'' (1956)
* ''Three'' (1956)
* ''Trumpit'' (1956) with
Stan Brakhage
James Stanley Brakhage ( ; January 14, 1933 – March 9, 2003) was an American experimental filmmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th-century experimental film.
Over the course of five decades, Brakhage cr ...
* ''Waterlight'' (1957)
* ''Spectre Mystagogic'' (1957)
* ''Triptych in Four Parts'' (1958)
* ''Minerva Looks Out into the Zodiac'' (1959)
* ''Hymn in Praise of the Sun'' (1960)
* ''The Season's Change'' (1960)
* ''The Soccer Game'' (1960)
* ''The 40 and 1 Nights (or Jess's Didactic Nickelodeon)'' (1961)
* ''Pink Swine'' (1963)
* ''Portrait of Sharon'' (1963)
* ''Rodia-Estudiantina'' (1963)
* ''Duo Concertantes'' (1964)
* ''Ein Traum Der Liebenden'' (1964)
* ''Jewel Face'' (1964)
* ''Johnnie'' (1964)
* ''The Dream Merchant'' (1965)
* ''Gymnopédies'' (1965)
* ''Hamfat Asar'' (1965)
* ''Big Sur: The Ladies'' (1966)
* ''The Old House Passing'' (1967)
* ''Hildur and the Magician'' (1969)
* ''
Our Lady of the Sphere'' (1969)
* ''Sacred Art of Tibet'' (1972)
* ''Orb'' (1973)
* ''Once Upon a Time'' (1974)
* ''The Apparition'' (1976)
* ''Cut-Out Animation: Larry Jordan (1977)
* ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' (1977)
* ''Ancestors'' (1978)
* ''Cornell, 1965'' (1978)
* ''Visions of a City'' (1978)
* ''Moonlight Sonata'' (1979)
* ''Finds of the Fortenight'' (1980)
* ''Carabosse'' (1980)
* ''Adagio'' (1981)
* ''Masquerade'' (1981)
* ''In a Summer Garden (Part 2)'' (1983)
* ''The Grove'' (1983)
* ''Winter Light'' (1983)
* ''Sophie's Place'' (1986)
* ''The Visible Compendium'' (1991)
* ''The Black Oud'' (1992)
* ''Star of Day'' (1994)
* ''Postcard from San Miguel'' (1996)
* ''Chateau/Poyet'' (2004)
* ''Enid's Idyll'' (2004)
* ''Poet's Dream'' (2005)
* ''Blue Skies Beyond the Looking Glass'' (2006)
* ''Silent Sonatas'' (2007)
* ''The Miracle of the Don Cristobal'' (2008)
* ''Circus Savage'' (2009)
* ''Beyond Enchantment'' (2010)
* ''Cosmic Alchemy'' (2010)
* ''Moments of Illumination'' (2010)
* ''Solar Sight'' (2011)
* ''Solar Sight II'' (2012)
* ''Solar Sight III'' (2013)
* ''After the Circus'' (2013)
* ''Entr'acte'' (2013)
* ''Driving Demons'' (2014)
* ''Inferno'' (2014)
* ''The Apoplectic Walrus'' (2015)
* ''Entr'acte II'' (2015)
* ''Night Light'' (2016)
* ''Entr'acte III'' (2017)
* ''Time Travel'' (2017)
* ''Delirium'' (2018)
* ''Oz'' (2019)
* ''The Ogre's Garden'' (2019)
* ''Alchemy'' (2021)
* ''Belle du Jour'' (2021)
* ''Harper's Bazar'' (2022)
References
External links
*
Lawrence Jordanat
Canyon Cinema
Canyon Cinema is an American nonprofit organization for distributing independent, avant-garde, and artist-made films. After starting in the 1960s as an exhibition program, it grew to include a nationwide newsletter and a distribution cooperative. ...
Larry Jordanat
the Film-Makers' Cooperative
The Film-Makers' Cooperative (a.k.a. The New American Cinema Group, Inc.) is an artist-run, non-profit organization founded in 1961 in New York City by Jonas Mekas, Andy Warhol, Shirley Clarke, Stan Brakhage, Jack Smith (film director), Jack Smit ...
Camera Obscura Film Society*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, Larry
1934 births
Living people
Artists from California
American contemporary artists
American animated film directors
Collage filmmakers
Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area
American experimental filmmakers