Motion Painting No. 1
Encyclopedia
Motion Painting No. 1 is a 1947 short animated film in which film artist Oskar Fischinger
put images in motion to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach
's Brandenburg Concerto no. 3, BWV 1048. It is a film of a painting (oil on acrylic glass
); Fischinger filmed each brushstroke over the course of 9 months. In 1997, this film was selected for inclusion in the United States National Film Registry
by the Library of Congress
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Oskar Fischinger
Oskar Fischinger was a German-American abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter. He made over 50 short animated films, and painted c. 800 canvases, many of which are in museums, galleries and collections worldwide. Among his film works is Motion Painting No. 1 , which is now listed on the...
put images in motion to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's Brandenburg Concerto no. 3, BWV 1048. It is a film of a painting (oil on acrylic glass
Acrylic glass
Poly is a transparent thermoplastic, often used as a light or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. It is sometimes called acrylic glass. Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate...
); Fischinger filmed each brushstroke over the course of 9 months. In 1997, this film was selected for inclusion in the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
External links
- IMDB profile
- Excerpts from Fischinger's writings about this film are at the Center for Visual Music's Fischinger Research Pages. See their Fischinger bibliography for many other texts.
- Fischinger Archive
Further References
- The original acrylic glassAcrylic glassPoly is a transparent thermoplastic, often used as a light or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. It is sometimes called acrylic glass. Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate...
panels are at the Deutsches Filmmuseum in Frankfurt, Germany. - The film itself can be purchased on CVM's Oskar Fischinger: Ten Films DVD
- William MoritzWilliam MoritzWilliam Moritz , film historian, specialized in visual music and experimental animation. His principal published works concerned abstract filmmaker and painter Oskar Fischinger...
, Optical Poetry: The Life and Work of Oskar Fischinger (London: John Libbey & Company Ltd., and Bloomington: Indiana University PressIndiana University PressIndiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. It was founded in 1950. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana....
, 2004)