Robert Carlton Breer (September 30, 1926 – August 11, 2011) was an American experimental filmmaker, painter, and sculptor.

Life and career

Born in 1926, Breer began his artistic career as a painter after studying at Stanford University and Paris.
"A founding member of the American avant-garde,"Harvard Film Archive
/ref> Breer was best known for his films, which combine abstract and representational painting, hand-drawn rotoscoping, original 16mm and 8mm film footage, photographs, and other materials.Carnegie International Museum of Art Website
Artist's bio. 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 (born Denise Bleibtreu; June 1913 – 9 July 2012) was a French art gallerist specializing in kinetic art and op art. Life and work Denise René believed that art must invent new paths in order to exist. The first exhibitions organ ...

., "Screening Room with Robert Breer (1976)"Australian Center for the Moving Image
"Robert Breer: Master of the 4 inch x 6 inch."
Artist's Bio. 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.
Artist's Bio. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1978.
"Guggenheim Foundation Announces 1978 Awards." Breer died on August 11, 2011, at his home in Tucson.Frameworks Listserv
/ref>Movie City News
"Experimental Filmmaker Robert Breer Dies at 85."

Influences

His aesthetic philosophy and technique were influenced by an earlier generation of abstract filmmakers that included Hans Richter,

Viking Eggeling Viking Eggeling (21 October 1880 – 19 May 1925) was a Swedish avant-garde artist and filmmaker connected to dadaism, Constructivism, and abstract art and was one of the pioneers in absolute film and visual music. His 1924 film '' Diagonal-S ...

Walter Ruttmann Walter Ruttmann (28 December 1887 – 15 July 1941) was a German cinematographer and film director, an important German abstract experimental film maker, along with Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling and Oskar Fischinger. He is best known for dir ...

, and

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

, whose work he discovered while living in Europe. Breer was also influenced by the concept of

Neo-plasticism Neoplasticism or neo-plasticism, originating from the Dutch , is an avant-garde art theory proposed by Piet Mondrian in 1917 and initially employed by the De Stijl art movement. The most notable proponents of this theory were Mondrian and anoth ...

as described by

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, , ), was a Dutch Painting, painter and Theory of art, art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He w ...

and Vasarely.

Legacy

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 Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sas ...

, ''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

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

. His film ''Eyewash'' was included in '' Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film 1947-1986''.

Archives

The following films were preserved by

Anthology Film Archives Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the film preservation, preservation, film studies, study, and film distribution, exhibition of film and video, with a particular focus on independent film, independent, experimental film, ex ...

:Anthology Film Archives Collections
/ref> *''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) *'' Fuji'' (1974) *''Swiss Army Knife with Rats and Pigeons'' (1981) *''Bang!'' (1986) The following films were preserved by the

Academy Film Archive The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of mot ...

: *''Form Phases #4'' (1954, preserved 2019) *''Sunday Morning Screenings'' (1960, a trailer for Cinema 16) *''Time Flies'' (1997, preserved 2018) *''Atoz'' (2000, preserved 2018)

References

External links