Walter Ruttmann (28 December 1887 – 15 July 1941)
was a German
cinematographer
The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the c ...
and
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, ...
, an important German
abstract
Abstract may refer to:
* ''Abstract'' (album), 1962 album by Joe Harriott
* Abstract of title a summary of the documents affecting title to parcel of land
* Abstract (law), a summary of a legal document
* Abstract (summary), in academic publishi ...
experimental film
Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...
maker
Maker(s) or The Maker(s) may refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Maker'' (film), a 1997 American drama film
*'' Makers: Women Who Make America'', a 2013 American TV documentary, a 2014 TV series, and related media
*Maker Studios, now part of D ...
, along with
Hans Richter,
Viking Eggeling
Viking Eggeling (21 October 1880, Lund – 19 May 1925, Berlin) was a Swedish avant-garde artist and filmmaker connected to dadaism, Constructivism (art), Constructivism, and abstract art and was one of the pioneers in absolute film and ...
and
Oskar Fischinger
Oskar Wilhelm Fischinger (June 22, 1900 – January 31, 1967) was a German-American abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter, notable for creating abstract musical animation many decades before the appearance of computer graphics and music vi ...
. He is best known for directing the semi-
documentary '
city symphony'
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...
, with orchestral score by
Edmund Meisel, in 1927, ''
Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis''. His audio montage ''Wochenende (Weekend)'' (1930) is considered a major contribution in the development of
audio plays
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...
.
Biography
Ruttmann was born in
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...
, the son of a wealthy mercantilist.
[
] He graduated "high school" in 1905, then began in 1907, architectural studies in
Zürich
, neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon
, twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco
Zürich () i ...
, later, in 1909, painting in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
(later in
Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approx ...
) where he befriended
Paul Klee
Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...
and
Lyonel Feininger
Lyonel Charles Feininger (July 17, 1871January 13, 1956) was a German-American painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He also worked as a caricaturist and comic strip artist. He was born and grew up in New York City, traveling to Ge ...
.
Ruttmann was conscripted into the army in 1913, first serving in Darmstadt, and shortly after the outbreak of the
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
was he sent to the
Eastern Front, where he served as an artillery lieutenant and a gas defense officer. After spending 1917 in a hospital, for
post traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
, he began making films.
Ruttmann had the financial means to work independently of the major German studios of the time.
He founded Ruttmann-Film S.R.O. in Munich and patented an animation table, in June 1920.
His first productions were the first fully animated German cartoons, and abstract animated films.
''Lichtspiel: Opus I'', produced between 1919 and 1921, premiered on 27 April 1921 at the
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
Marmorhaus
The Marmorhaus (English: Marble House) is a former cinema located on the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin. Opened in 1913, it takes its name from a large marble façade. Designed by the architect Hugo Pál, the walls of the foyer and auditorium were de ...
, and released for German theatrical distribution in 1922, is the "oldest fully abstract motion picture known to survive, using only animated geometric forms, arranged and shown without reference to any representational imagery".
''Opus I'' and ''Opus II'', were experiments with new forms of film expression, and the influence of these early abstract films can be seen in some of the early work of Oskar Fischinger. Ruttmann and his colleagues of the avant garde movement enriched the language of film as a medium with new formal techniques.
In 1926 he worked with
Julius Pinschewer
Julius Pinschewer (15 September 1883 Inowroclaw – 16 April 1961 Berne) was a German film producer who specialised in advertising films.
During the First World War, he recognised the potential of propagandistic film use and produced several fi ...
on ''Der Aufsteig'', an experimental film advertising the
GeSoLei
The GeSoLei (german: Große Ausstellung Düsseldorf 1926 für Gesundheitspflege, soziale Fürsorge und Leibesübungen) was the largest trade fair in Germany during the Weimar Republic. It attracted 7.5 million visitors. The name was constructed fro ...
trade fair
A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and ...
in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...
.
In 1926, Ruttmann licensed a Wax Slicing machine from
Oskar Fischinger
Oskar Wilhelm Fischinger (June 22, 1900 – January 31, 1967) was a German-American abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter, notable for creating abstract musical animation many decades before the appearance of computer graphics and music vi ...
to create special effects for ''
The Adventures of Prince Achmed
''The Adventures of Prince Achmed'' (known as ''Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed'' in German) is a 1926 German animated fairytale film by Lotte Reiniger. It is the oldest surviving animated feature film; two earlier ones were made in Argentin ...
'', an animated fairy tale film, for
Lotte Reiniger
Charlotte "Lotte" Reiniger (2 June 1899 – 19 June 1981) was a German film director and the foremost pioneer of silhouette animation. Her best known films are '' The Adventures of Prince Achmed'', from 1926, the first feature-length animated fi ...
, making the moving backgrounds and magic scenes.
[
][
]
Ruttmann was a prominent exponent of both avant-garde art and music. His early abstractions played at the 1929 Baden-Baden Festival to international acclaim despite their being almost eight years old. Together with
Erwin Piscator
Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator (17 December 1893 – 30 March 1966) was a German theatre director and producer. Along with Bertolt Brecht, he was the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio-political content of ...
, he worked on the film ''
Melody of the World
''Melody of the World'' () is a 1929 German film directed by Walter Ruttmann. It is also known as ''World Melody''. The film is structured like a symphony and consists of documentary footage from all over the world, contrasted and juxtaposed to s ...
'' (1929), though he is best remembered for ''
Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt'' (''Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis'', 1927).
''Weekend'' (Wochenende), commissioned in 1928 by Berlin Radio Hour, and presented on 13 June 1930, is a pioneering work of
musique concrète
Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic, wit ...
, a montage of sound clips, recorded using film optical sound track from the
Tri-Ergon
The Tri-Ergon sound-on-film system was developed from around 1919 by three German inventors, Josef Engl (1893–1942), Joseph Massolle (1889–1957), and Hans Vogt (1890–1979).
The system used a photoelectric recording method and a non-standar ...
process. Ruttmann recorded the streets sounds of Berlin with a camera, but without images, this was before
magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use mag ...
.
Hans Richter called it “a symphony of sound, speech-fragments, and silence woven into a poem.”
A pacifist, he traveled to Moscow in 1928 and 1929. During the Nazi period he was replaced by
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda.
A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...
as director of the documentary which eventually became ''
Triumph of the Will
''Triumph of the Will'' (german: Triumph des Willens) is a 1935 German Nazi propaganda film directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl. Adolf Hitler commissioned the film and served as an unofficial executive producer; his n ...
'' (1935), supposedly because Ruttmann's editing style was considered too "Marxist" and Soviet influenced. He died in
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
15 July 1941 due to an embolism after leg amputation.
Culture and Media
Segments from Ruttmann's experimental films ''Lichtspiel: Opus II'' (1923) and ''Lichtspiel: Opus IV'' (1925) are used in the credits of the German
neo-noir
Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating s ...
television series ''
Babylon Berlin
''Babylon Berlin'' is a German neo-noir television series. Created, written, and directed by Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries, and Hendrik Handloegten. It is loosely based on novels by German author Volker Kutscher.
The series premiered on 13 ...
''.
Select filmography
* ''Lichtspiel: Opus I'' (1920)
[
][
][
]
* ''Der Sieger'' (1922)
* ''Das Wunder'' (1922)
* ''Lichtspiel: Opus II'' (1922)
[
][
]
* ''Lichtspiel: Opus III'' (1924, with Lore Leudesdorff)
[Heinz Steike in ''Film als Film 1910 bis Heute'', Kölnischer Kunstverein, 1977][
]
* ''Lichtspiel:
Opus IV'' (1925, with Lore Leudesdorff)
[
]
* ''Das wiedergefundene Paradies'' (1925)
* ''Der Aufstieg'' (1926)
* ''Spiel der Wellen'' (1926)
* ''Dort wo der Rhein...'' (1927)
* ''
Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt'' (1927)
* ''
Melody of the World
''Melody of the World'' () is a 1929 German film directed by Walter Ruttmann. It is also known as ''World Melody''. The film is structured like a symphony and consists of documentary footage from all over the world, contrasted and juxtaposed to s ...
'' (''Melodie der Welt'') (1929)
* ''
Wochenende'' (1930)
n experimental film with sound only, no image
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
* ''
Feind im Blut
''Feind im Blut'' (English: ''Enemy in the Blood'') is a 1931 Swiss-German drama film directed by Walter Ruttmann. It tells three stories about people who become infected with syphilis. There are also documentary parts with information about the ...
'' (1931)
* ''
In der Nacht
IN, In or in may refer to:
Places
* India (country code IN)
* Indiana, United States (postal code IN)
* Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN)
* In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast
Businesses and organizations
* In ...
'' (1931)
* ''
Steel'' (1933)
* ''
Blut und Boden - Grundlagen zum neuen Reich
Atrocity is a German heavy metal band from Ludwigsburg that formed in 1985.
History
First started in 1985 as Instigators and playing grindcore, Atrocity arose as a death metal band with their debut EP, ''Blue Blood'', in 1989, followed soon b ...
''
* ''
Altgermanische Bauernkultur'' (1934)
* ''
Metall des Himmels
Since the debut of the first ''Mega Man'' video game in 1987, numerous characters have been introduced into the series.
Overview
Key:
= Does Not Appear
List indicator(s)
* A dark grey cell indicates that the character was not in the prope ...
'' (1935)
* ''
Schiff in Not
''Ship in Distress'' (German: ''Schiff in Not'') is a 1925 German silent drama film directed by Fred Sauer and starring Gustav Fröhlich and Jenny Jugo.Krautz p.32
The film's sets were designed by the art director Willi Herrmann. It premiere ...
'' (1936)
* ''
Mannesmann
Mannesmann was a German industrial conglomerate. It was originally established as a manufacturer of steel pipes in 1890 under the name "Deutsch-Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG". (Loosely translated: "German-Austrian Mannesmann pip ...
'' (1937)
* ''
Henkel, ein deutsches Werk in seiner Arbeit'' (1938)
* ''
Waffenkammern Deutschlands'' (1940)
* ''
Deutsche Panzer
Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to:
*''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places
*''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym
*Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic ve ...
'' (1940)
* ''Krebs'' (1941)
Further reading
* Cowan, Michael. ''Walter Ruttmann and the Cinema of Multiplicity: Avant-garde-Advertising-Modernity''. Amsterdam, NL: Amsterdam University Press, 2014.
* Dombrug, Adrianus van. ''Walter Ruttmann in het beginsel''. Purmerend, NL: J. Muusses, 1956.
* Goergen, Jeanpaul. ''Walter Ruttmann: Eine Dokumentation''. Berlin: Freunde der deutschen Kinemathek, 1989.
* Rogers, Holly and Jeremy Barham ''The Music and Sound of Experimental Film''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
* Quaresima, Leonard, editor. ''Walter Ruttmann: Cinema, pittura, ars acustica''. Calliano (Trento), Italy: Manfrini, 1994.
References
External links
*
*
*
Walter RuttmannUnion List of Artist Names
The Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) is a free online database of the Getty Research Institute using a controlled vocabulary, which by 2018 contained over 300,000 artists and over 720,000 names for them, as well as other information about artist ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruttmann, Walter
German experimental filmmakers
Film people from Frankfurt
Abstract animation
Visual music artists
1887 births
1941 deaths
Articles containing video clips
Deaths from embolism
German amputees