"Early Abstractions" (1946-57), Pt. 1

[PlzEnjoiSkating]

was harry smith also a musician?

[cmoss420]

Any1 know a way to download these videos?

[moxie96]

why can't you be sober or unassisted to watch these films? Is it some unwritten law that when you see something like this you gotta say one was or should be on something to take it as something great? Somebody please either say I'm crazy or explain it to me. I love all these kinds of films and I'm happily watching it unaided in any form!

[weaselidiotu]

@moxie96 you're not crazy moxie, chill out..

[Eyegooth]

@moxie96

hey, you bring up a good point, You don't need to be under drugs to appreciate these types of films. They're surreal and amazing without any influences. And the amount of work put into them is phenomenal. however, the director and creator of these films, Harry Smith, was supper high making them. The creator was high, and made these films as a result. they were born under the influence of drugs and alcohol, so it only does the films and the director justice to watch them high. try it.

[sclogse1]

I know this is hand painting directly on film, but how Harry got continuity, the evolution of forms and movement from cell to cell is just a huge mystery to me....

[Thissiteisapain]

Amazing abstract!

[chrril1976]

Fuggin' hell. This stuff sells for £25 a pop at The Baltic. James Alley Blues to follow...

[sietenova]

HARRY SMITH???

[hectorbacan2008]

is there any data about the music on those works?

[earinsound]

@hectorbacan2008

the films are originally silent...

the music on here is by Teiji Ito (husband of filmmaker Maya Deren)

[annapinksecret]

amazing to watch when your blasted out of your mind

[SABRENOSE]

Just found out about this guy today and Kenneth Anger...great goodness

[bpwonderkid]

@SABRENOSE If you don't already know who Stan Brakhage is you might like him too.

[SABRENOSE]

@bpwonderkid Yea I know him but Dog Star Man is a little dense for me

[zerojeanli]

You can see #3 Interwoven by Harry Smith on a fine DVD compilation called Treasures of the American Archives IV

[PrincessZelda613]

Are there any general interpertations of what films 1-3 mean? I believe that they are all parts of a single story, it seems to be showing a dream in which the sun sent a message, saying that it felt neglected and taken for granted, and giving a reminder that we are all interwoven, interconnected with one another, not only the people, but in the sense that the both the sun and the Earth are needed for there to be life in this solar system. Is my interpertation common or is it unique?

[SiCKPiGproductions]

@PrincessZelda613

Unique. As most anyone's would be.

My own interpretation is that it is beyond explanation in words. It is a visual/audio experience designed to evoke a sense of the sublime and wonder. Putting it into words imo is the opposite of it's intended purpose IE: a syntax-less dare to follow

[PrincessZelda613]

Harry Smith's films in general do a wonderful job of opening the screen, so to speak, forcing you to pay attention to everything happening at once. Rather than a single focal point in the traditional continuity style, these films evoke emotion and deep thought by giving us no true focal point, in a way, encouraging us to do as we should do in life and look at everything around us and take notice of each important piece of the giant jigsaw puzzle in the grand scheme of things.

[EGI313]

Thats very nice.

[Dtchmastrkilla7]

Does anyone know the music selection for this particular edition of there videos? I know that the soundtracks were changes on numerous occasions...

[suenomundo]

teiji ito...i don't know where to find the audio tracks

[Nathan007able]

@Dtchmastrkilla7 All I know is that H used "Meet the Beatles" for his initial showings and then was warned to unuse them by Beatle people who warned he'd be sued. I recall at a screening he explained, "I was talked into using the Beatles and I regret it". This was in the mid-seventies at the Anthology.

[jaredsammR]

Anyone know where you can find Harry Smith's stuff on dvd? I found a VHS but it was $400!!

[SAROOOOOHE]

if you enjoy abstract videos, i would love if you checked out mine! thanks =)

[orsaandy1]

the mind is beautiful

[peter3866]

i knew harry smith, but i never saw his films...thanks

[dejff444]

i'm impressed

[MightySaturn5]

Obviously Marijuana was obtainable if needed in 46'

[MVillani1985]

@MightySaturn5 I know this was meant as a joke but actually it was. In the 20s a lot of people smoked weed, they called them "party cigarettes" and were sold in brighty coloured wrappers, but it's not a psychedelic drug, so it wouldn't have resulted in a video like this.

[MightySaturn5]

@MVillani1985 I agree however Marijuana does increase imagination, determination and patience so from that vantage point it might have been used however it seems most creative types are wired that way, anyway I appreciate the information and have a wonderful day/evening.

[sterlingroswell]

watch Jeff Keen GAZWRX !! the BEST British Film Maker EVER !!!

[dogshit71]

great!!

[texpeare]

This movie is part of the National Film Archive in Washington and is now in the public domain. Parts 6, 8, & 9 were lost due to neglect. Not sure if you can buy it on dvd. Amazon doesn't have it.

[Rizomantico]

With this things on the net Stan B can start to cry. xD

[ciscornBIG]

Wow. Really enjoyed this. Thanks for posting!

[annemarie326]

does anybody know where to get these on vhs or dvd?

[dusteroo]

@annemarie326

download the youtube file

[TheSilentAstronaut]

@annemarie326 harrysmitharchives 'com

[bakagaigin]

@annemarie326

vhs please woah that would look so good

[epimage09915]

i'm a freshmen film major at ithaca, and we watched this in our intro to film class. i'm addicted

[germboy123]

is this the original sound track ment for all the films?

[sayhitoderty]

harry smith is a genius. i wish i could find this on dvd. ive searched everywhere and cant find it :[

[januklatushka]

it exists only on VHS

someone made a digitized copy but didnt share!

[alpswissart]

great the combination of sound and visualisation in abstraction.

[MaurizioB89]

Amazing!

[bambicloud]

Rad! Sight/Sound perfection!

[hissflash]

who made the music for this film, does anybody know about it. besdides i am truly amazed of how harry smith used his inspiration from the 20s experimental cinema movement in europe, by the way i am a big fan of richter, eggeling and ruttmann, really interesting to see the symbolism and his interest for the occult. the narration is fabalous as well.

[GhengisJung]

Teiji Ito made the music for this. He also made the music for Maya Deren's film Meshes in the Afternoon - the soundtrack of which is (or was) available on CD.

[iannagoski]

by all means, turn off the sound and put on Meet the Beatles. Teiji Ito's soundtrack is wonderful, but Meet the Beatles is so much better.

[slobomotion]

Yes, I worked for AFA distributing this and the Beatles worked best. I loved Harry.

[acetremendous]

Harry Smith is a filmmaker totally oriented to music (this is after all the man who gave the world the American Anthology of Folk Music) so his films follow rules just like music. Glass was one of the people who played a live soundtrack at memorial screenings of Smith's films. BTW the original soundtrack was not the Beatles, it was Dizzy Gillespie, but Smith sometimes played the Beatles, or other records, or even the radio during screenings. He did cut a version of #5 to fit Meet The Beatles.

[elron404]

I highly recommend watching this video while listen to Phlip Glass's "Music in Fifth" or any Glass for that matter. Syncs up perfectly.

[Dreamcube017]

This is quite strange. So this is where we get all our REZ type stuff. Hm.

[ednaelectro]

the original sound on the reel is the Beatles. Where did you get this?

[frank77n]

How can that happen if this is from 1946-57?

[friendsofthefruitsof]

It can happen because you dont know your dates in art history. this is a great piece, but not as breakthrough as you might want it to be.

[seintzeit]

oh thanks, an art professional...just what harry loved.

[friendsofthefruitsof]

dates are dates and pesky things when trying to fudge precedence. Check out the Bauhaus and the Russian Constructivists, or the Italian Futurists. The problem with many near artists is that they want to be called artists but don't want the criticism that goes along with it. I was just pointing out the dates issue and not the quality of this work. take an art history class you might be pleasantly surprised, BTW Its John Cage not Phillip Glass

[seintzeit]

there are historical precedents to what harry was doing of course in Russian and Italian modernisms, but it was also something very different; think of forrest bess and his (non)relation to surrealism or to what the abstract expressionists were doing in their

[seintzeit]

early years with automatism and so forth its very unique (these days every serious young painter in new york knows who forrest bess is); think alfred jensen; also, a good deal of what is being done in abstract painting after modernism relates more to what harry was doing than to early modernism; contemporary painters like chris martin and so forth; also, what's rather wonderful these

[seintzeit]

days is that the prevailing narratives of modernism (traditional art historical ones) are sort of breaking open and marginal figures (at least as far as the narratives go) are suddenly refiguring into a new

[seintzeit]

days is that thse traditioanl narratives are kind of breaking open these days and so called outsiders like harry are forming a new precedence; harry produced a huge body of interdisiplinary work; his scholarly work on

[friendsofthefruitsof]

yes Bess is great and was not an abstractionist at all but a visionary who was painting his visions at life size. a recorder of what he saw not a maker or creator of what he thought. But his images in no way were advanced ahead of their time in a pictorial manner. Currently there is a fellow here in JApan who is drawing newspapers and chicken wire in the most amazing detail. Not trying to be On Kawara, John Cage or any of the Dada or 50s-70s conceptualists

[KevinBrownsvideos]

REALLY COOL!

[Rumbleminz]

Huge fan of H. Smith...thanks a million don

[Photophobia]

lsd as film. great.

[Bobiloco]

You could use that for any music video

[SeanBoke]

Everyone should check out the website for the Harry Smith Archives. If you have a chance to see any of his films on film... do it.

[smartboy10]

Thank you for posting this brilliant video. I have now just discovered Harry Smith!

[emtube]

Harry was really out there, or really in there, whichever.

Thanks for uploading this. Mighty impressive.