Hans Richter (artist)

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Hans Richter (April 6, 1888 - February 1, 1976) was a painter, graphic artist, avant-gardist, film-experimenter and producer. He was born in Berlin and died in Minusio, near Locarno, Switzerland.

His first contacts with modern art were in 1912 through the "Blauen Reiter" and in 1913 through the "Erster Deutsche Herbstsalon" gallery "Der Sturm", Berlin. In 1914 he was influenced by cubism. Contributed to the periodical "Die Aktion" in Berlin. First exhibition in Munich, 1916. "Die Aktion" published as a special edition about Hans Richter. In the same year he went to Zürich and joined the Dada movement. Richter propounded the thesis that the artist's duty was to be actively political, opposing war and supporting the revolution. First abstract works in 1917. Friendship with Viking Eggeling in 1918, the two experimented together in Film. Was co-founder, in 1919, of the Association of Revolutionary Artists ("Artistes Radicaux") at Zürich. In the same year he created his first "Prélude" (orchestration of a theme developed in eleven drawings). In 1920 he was a member of the November group in Berlin and contributed to the Dutch periodical De Stijl.

Throughout his career, he claimed that his 1921 film, "Rhythmus 21," was the first abstract film ever created. This claim is not true; he was preceded by the Italian Futurists Bruno Corra and Arnaldo Ginna between 1911 and 1912 (as they report in the Futurist Manifesto of Cinema), as well as fellow German artist Walter Ruttmann who produced Lichtspeil Opus 1 in 1920. Nevertheless, Richter's film "Rhythmus 21" is considered an important early abstract film.

About Richter's woodcuts and drawings Michel Seuphor wrote: "Richter's black-and-whites together with those of Arp and Janco, are the most typical works of the Zürich period of Dada." From 1923 to 1926, Richter edited, together with Werner Gräff and Mies van der Rohe, the periodical "G. Material zur elementaren Gestaltung." Hans Richter wrote of his own attitude of films: "I conceive of the film as a modern art form particularly interesting to the sense of sight. Painting has its own pecular problems and specific sensations, and so has the film. But there are also problems in which the dividing line is obliterated, or where the two infringe upon each other. More especially, the cinema can fulfill certain promises made by the ancient arts, in the realization of which painting and film become close neighbors and work together."

He moved to the United States in 1940 and became an American citizen.

While living in New York, Richter directed 2 feature films, "Dreams That Money Can Buy" and "8x8: A Chess Sonata" in collaboration with Max Ernst, Jean Cocteau, Paul Bowles, Fernand Leger, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp and others.

In 1957, Hans Richter finished a film named "Dadascope" with original poems and prosa spoken by their creators: Hans Arp, Marcel Duchamp, Raoul Hausmann, Richard Huelsenbeck, and Kurt Schwitters.

Richter was also the author of a first-hand account of the Dada movement titled Dada: Art and Anti-Art.

[edit] Filmography

Dadascope (1961)

8 x 8: A Chess Sonata in 8 Movements (1957)

Dreams That Money Can Buy (1947)

Vom Blitz zum Fernsenhbild (1936)

Keine Zeit für Tränen (1934)

Hallo Everybody (1933)

Europa Radio (1931)

Neues Leben (1930)

Alles dreht sich, alles bewegt sich (1929)

Everyday (1929)

Rennsymphonie (1929)

The Storming of La Sarraz (1929)

Zweigroschenzauber (1929)

Vormittagsspuk ("Ghosts Before Breakfast", with music by Hindemith) (1928)

Inflation (1927)

Filmstudie (1926)

Rhythmus 25 (1925)

Rhythmus 23 (1923)

Rhythmus 21 (1921)

[edit] References

• Stephen C. Foster, Hans Richter: Activism, Modernism and the Avant-Garde. [MIT: 1998]