Willard Maas (June 24, 1906 – January 2, 1971) was an American

experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that does not apply standard cinematic conventions, instead adopting Non-narrative film, non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many e ...

maker and poet.

Personal life and career

Maas was born in

Lindsay, California Lindsay is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 12,659 at the 2020 census. Lindsay is located southeast of Visalia and north of Porterville and is considered part of the Visalia-Porterville Metropolitan Ar ...

and graduated from State Teachers College at San Jose. He came to New York in the 1930s and continued his education at Long Island College and

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He was the husband of filmmaker

Marie Menken Marie Menken (born Marie Menkevicius; May 25, 1909 – December 29, 1970) was an American experimental filmmaker, painter, and socialite. She was noted for her unique filming style that incorporated collage. She was one of the first New York fil ...

. The couple, married in 1937, achieved some renown in New York City's

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

world from the 1940s through the 1960s, both for their experimental films and for their salons, which brought together artists, writers, filmmakers and intellectuals.Electronic Arts Intermix
/ref> Maas had extramarital homosexual relations, but Menken apparently did not resent them; their shouting matches were instead a kind of "exercise". According to their associate

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

, "Willard and Marie were the last of the great bohemians. They wrote and filmed and drank—their friends called them 'scholarly drunks'—and were involved with all the modern poets." In the 1960s, Maas was a faculty member at

Wagner College Wagner College is a private university in Staten Island, New York. It was established in 1883 and, as of the 2023–2024 academic year, it enrolled approximately 1,932 students, including 1,592 undergraduates and 340 graduates. Its theatre prog ...

and an organizer of the New York City Writer's Conference at the college, where

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), ''The Sandbox (play), The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), ''A Delicat ...

was a writer in residence. The filmmaker

Kenneth Anger Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, February 3, 1927 – May 11, 2023) was an American Underground film, underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and writer. Working exclusively in short films, he produced almost 40 works beginning i ...

indicates that Maas and Menken may have been a significant part of the inspiration for the characters of George and Martha in Albee's 1962 play ''

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' is a play by Edward Albee first staged in October 1962. It examines the complexities of the marriage of middle-aged couple Martha and George. Late one evening, after a university faculty party, they rece ...

''. Maas died in

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south ...

on January 2, 1971, four days after Menken had died of an alcohol-related illness. He was cremated. The Maas/Menken materials and letters are at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. A selection of them is on deposit/loan (in Trust) at the

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 ...

in New York. The Willard Maas Papers—a collection of about 500 letters, manuscripts, page proofs, photographs, drawings, play scripts, and film scripts from 1931 to 1967—is housed at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

."Willard Maas papers, 1931–1967"
John Hay Library,

Films

As director

*1943 – ''Geography of the Body'' (with Marie Menken) *1955 – ''The Mechanics of Love'' (with Ben Moore) original

zither Zither (; , from the Greek ''cithara'') is a class of stringed instruments. The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a ...

score by John Gruen *1943–48 – ''Image in the Snow'' *1956 – ''Narcissus'' (a film poem by Ben Moore and Willard Maas) *1966 – ''Andy Warhol's Silver Flotations'' *1967 – ''Orgia''

As cinematographer

*1955 – ''Dionysis'' (directed by Charles Boultenhouse, co-cinematography by Menken) *1956 – ''Narcissus''

As actor

*1965 – ''A Valentine for Marie'' (directed by John H. Hawkins)

References

External links

*
"Willard Maas (1909–1971)"

UbuWeb UbuWeb is a "a pirate shadow library consisting of hundreds of thousands of freely downloadable avant-garde artifacts." It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives. The site was created by ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maas, Willard American experimental filmmakers 1906 births 1971 deaths Artists from Brooklyn Film directors from California San Jose State University alumni Columbia University alumni American LGBTQ film directors LGBTQ people from California LGBTQ people from New York (state) American male poets 20th-century American poets Poets from California Poets from New York (state) American LGBTQ poets 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American LGBTQ people