The oeuvre of Hans Richter (1888-1976) spanned nearly seven decades. Born in Berlin, he was one of the most significant champions of modernism. Berlin, Paris, Munich, Zurich, Moscow and New York were the major stations of his life. He was a painter and draughtsman, a Dadaist and a Constructivist, a film maker and a theoretician, as well as a great teacher. His great scroll collages remain icons of art history to this day. His work is characterised by a virtually unparalleled interpenetration of different artistic disciplines. The link between film and art was his major theme. Many of the most famous artists of the first half of the twentieth century were among his friends.
“Hans Richter: Encounters from Dada to Today” is the title of one of his books, which appeared in the 1970s. In post-war West Germany it was preceded by a rediscovery of this significant artist, who was hounded by the Nazis and whose work was shown as part of the infamous “Degenerate Art” exhibition of 1937. Now, for the first time since the 1980s, an exhibition is being dedicated to this great Berlin artist in his native city. It includes over 140 works, including his major films and some fifty works by artists whom he influenced. Hans Richter worked with multimedia in an era when this term hadn’t even been invented. He regarded film as part of modern art. “The absolute film opens your eyes to what the camera is, what it can do, and what it wants.”
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art developed the exhibition in cooperation with the Martin-Gropius-Bau and the Centre Pompidou Metz. Timothy Benson is the curator. It demonstrates how Richter comprehended his working style, which bridged many disciplines, and what impact his work had on the art of the twentieth century.
Over the course of ten chapters, the exhibition describes the artist’s extensive body of work: Early Portraits / War and Revolution / Dada / Richter and Eggeling / Magazine “G” / Malevich and Richter / Film und Foto (FiFo) / Painting / Series / Confronting the Object. Significant avant-garde works along with films, photos and extensive documentary materials transform this exhibition into an important art event.
The exhibition shows 150 works by Richter and some 50 works by his internationally esteemed colleagues of both sexes, thus reflecting the ground covered by these artistic personalities. The following films by Hans Richter will be shown:
Rhythmus 21 (1921); Rhythmus 23 (1923); Die Malerei und die Probleme der Architektur / Painting and the Problems of Architecture (1927/1970); Animation Film with parts Storyboard I-II and VII-IX (1927/1970); Making of Malevich's Die Malerei und die Probleme der Architektur (1927/70); Inflation (1928); Filmstudie / Filmstudy / Etude filmique (1928); Vormittagsspuk / Ghosts before Breakfast (1928); Rennsymphonie / Race Symphony (1928); Alles Dreht Sich, Alles Bewegt Sich / Everything Turns, Everything Revolves (1929); Zweigroschenzauber (1929); Every Day (1929/69); Die neue Wohnung / The new Dwelling / New Living Place (1930); Hello Everybody (1933); Van Bliksemschicht tot Televisis / Vom Blitz zum Fernsehbild / From Lightning tot Television (1935/36); Hans im Glück / Hans in Luck (1937/38); Wir leben in einer neuen Zeit / We live in a New World (1938); Die Eroberung des Himmels / Conquest of the Sky (1938); Die Geburt der Farbe / The Birth of Color (1939); Die Börse / The Stock Exchange (1939); Dreams That Money Can Buy (1944-1947); 6 Modern Artists Make a Film (1948); 8 X 8. A Chess Sonata in 8 Movements (1952-1957); Dadascope (1956-61); Chesscetera (Chess: Passionate Pastime: The Story of Chess over 5,000 years, 1956/57).
Excerpts from films by the following artists will also be shown: Vertov, Ivens, Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray, Duchamp, Strand, Sheeler, Clair, Eisenstein, Eggeling and Ruttmann. A recent documentary film by David Davidson about Hans Richter complements the exhibition: “Hans Richter. Everything Turns, Everything Revolves”.
Publication : The extensive catalogue contains not only numerous illustrations but also contributions by Timothy Benson, Philipe-Alain Michaud, Edward Dimendberg, Yvonne Zimmermann, Doris Berger and Michael White.
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