James Stanley Brakhage (January 14, 1933 – March 9, 2003), better known as
Stan Brakhage, was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
non-narrative filmmaker who is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th century
experimental filmExperimental film or experimental cinema describes a range of filmmaking styles that are generally quite different from, and often opposed to, the practices of mainstream commercial and documentary filmmaking. "Avant-garde" is also used to describe this work, and "underground" has been used in the...
.
Over the course of five decades, Brakhage created a
large and diverse body of workOver the course of more than five decades, the American experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage produced a large body of work. The following attempts to be a comprehensive filmography....
, exploring a variety of formats, approaches and
techniques- Cinematography :Cinematographic techniques such as the choice of shot, and camera movement, can greatly influence the structure and meaning of a film.- Size of shot :The use of different shot sizes can influence the meaning which an audience will interpret....
that included handheld camerawork,
painting directly onto celluloidDrawn on film animation, also known as direct animation or animation without camera, is an animation technique where footage is produced by creating the images directly on film stock, as opposed to any other form of animation where the images or objects are photographed frame by frame with an...
,
fast cuttingFast cutting is a film editing technique which refers to several consecutive shots of a brief duration . It can be used to convey a lot of information very quickly, or to imply either energy or chaos...
, in-camera editing, scratching on film and the use of
multiple exposuresIn photography, a multiple exposure is when two or more individual exposures are made to create a single photograph. The exposure values may, or may not be identical to each other.- Overview :...
. Interested in
mythologyMythology is the study of myths and or of a body of myths. For example, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece. The term "myth" is often used colloquially to refer to a false story;...
and inspired by music, poetry and visual phenomena, Brakhage sought to reveal the universal in the particular, exploring themes of birth, mortality, sexuality and innocence.
Brakhage's films are often noted for their expressiveness and lyricism.
Biography
Born Robert Sanders in
Kansas City, MissouriKansas City is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties. It is one of two county seats of Jackson County, the other being Independence, just to the city's east...
on January 14, 1933, Brakhage was adopted and renamed three weeks after his birth by Ludwig and Clara Brakhage.
As a child, Brakhage was featured on
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
as a boy
sopranoA soprano is a singing voice with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music...
and sang in church choirs and as a soloist at other events. He was raised in
Denver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the state of Colorado, in the United States. Denver is a consolidated city-county located in the South Platte River Valley on the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, where he attended high school with the filmmaker
Larry JordanLarry Jordan is an independent filmmaker who has been working in the Bay Area in California since 1955, and making films since 1952. He has produced some 40 experimental and animation films, and three feature-length dramatic films. He is most widely known for his animated collage films. In 1970 he...
and the musicians
Morton SubotnickMorton Subotnick is an American composer of electronic music, best known for his Silver Apples of the Moon, the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch...
and
James TenneyJames Tenney was an American composer and influential music theorist.-Biography:Tenney was born in Silver City, New Mexico, and grew up in Arizona and Colorado. He attended the University of Denver, the Juilliard School of Music, Bennington College and the University of Illinois...
. Together, Brakhage, Jordan, Tenney and Subtonick formed a drama group called the Gadflies.
Brakhage briefly attended
Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College," it is a member of the Ivy League and one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution...
on a scholarship before dropping out to pursue filmmaking. He completed his first film,
Interim, at the age of 19; the music for the film was composed by his school friend James Tenney. In 1953, Brakhage moved to San Francisco to attend the San Francisco School of the Arts, then called the California School of the Arts. He found the atmosphere in San Francisco more rewarding, associating with poets
Robert DuncanRobert Duncan was an American poet and a student of H.D. and the Western esoteric tradition who spent most of his career in and around San Francisco. Though associated with any number of literary traditions and schools, Duncan is often identified with the New American Poetry and Black Mountain poets...
and
Kenneth RexrothKenneth Rexroth was an American poet, translator and critical essayist. He was among the first poets in the United States to explore traditional Japanese poetic forms such as haiku...
, but did not complete his education, instead moving to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
in 1954. There he met a number of notable artists, including
Maya DerenMaya Deren , born Eleanora Derenkowsky, was an American avant-garde filmmaker and film theorist of the 1940s and 1950s. Deren was also a choreographer, dancer, poet, writer and photographer....
(in whose apartment he briefly lived),
Willard MaasWillard Maas was an American experimental filmmaker and poet.He was the husband of filmmaker Marie Menken. The couple achieved some renown in New York City's modern art world of the 1940s through the 1960s, both for their experimental films and for their salons, which brought together artists,...
,
Jonas MekasJonas Mekas is a Lithuanian filmmaker, writer, and curator who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals across Europe and America.-Biography:In 1944 Mekas left Lithuania to attend university in Vienna...
,
Marie MenkenMarie Menkevicius was an American experimental filmmaker and socialite.-Early life:The daughter of Catholic-Lithuanian immigrants, she grew up in Brooklyn.-Personal life:...
,
Joseph CornellJoseph Cornell was an American artist and sculptor, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage...
, and
John CageJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war...
. Brakhage would collaborate with the latter two, making two films with Cornell (
Gnir Rednow and
Centuries of June) and using Cage's music for the soundtrack of his first color film,
In Between.
Brakhage spent the next few years living in near poverty, depressed about what he saw as the failure of his work. He briefly considered suicide. While living in Denver, Brakhage met Mary Jane Collom, whom he married in late 1957. Known as Jane Brakhage, she became his first wife. Brakhage tried to make money on his films, but had to take a job making industrial shorts to support his family. In 1959, Jane gave birth to the first of the five children they would have together, an event Brakhage recorded for his 1959 film
Window Water Baby MovingWindow Water Baby Moving is a short film by Stan Brakhage, filmed in November 1958 and released in 1959, which documents, in a very loose and poetic but also frank way, the birth of his first child. The film shows the birth of the child in extremely graphic detail...
.
The 1960s and Beginning of Recognition
When Brakhage's early films had been exhibited in the 1950s, they had often been met with derision, but in the early 1960s Brakhage began to receive recognition in exhibitions and film publications, including
Film Culture, which awarded several of his films, including
The Dead, in 1962. The award statement, written by
Jonas MekasJonas Mekas is a Lithuanian filmmaker, writer, and curator who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals across Europe and America.-Biography:In 1944 Mekas left Lithuania to attend university in Vienna...
, a critic who would later become an influential experimental filmmaker in his own right, cited Brakhage for bringing to cinema "an intelligence and subtlety that is usually the province of the older arts."
From 1961 to 1964, Brakhage worked on a series of 5 films known as the
Dog Star ManDog Star Man is a series of short experimental films, all directed by Stan Brakhage:* Prelude: Dog Star Man * Dog Star Man: Part I * Dog Star Man: Part II * Dog Star Man: Part III...
cycle. The Brakhages moved to Lump Gulch,
ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. It may also be considered to be part of the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States. Colorado entered statehood in 1876 and was nicknamed the “Centennial State”...
in 1964, though Brakhage continued to make regular visits to New York. During one of those visits, the 16mm film equipment he had been using was stolen. Brakhage couldn't afford to replace it, instead opting to buy cheaper 8mm film equipment. He soon began working in the format, producing a 30-part cycle of 8mm films known as the
SongsThe Songs are a cycle of silent color 8mm films by the American experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage produced from 1964 to 1969. They are seen as one of Brakhage's major works and include the feature-length 23rd Psalm Branch, considered by some to be one of the filmmaker's masterworks and...
from 1964 to 1969. The
Songs include one of Brakhage's most acclaimed films,
23rd Psalm Branch, a response to the Vietnam War and its presentation in the mass media.
Brakhage began teaching film history and aesthetics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1969, commuting from his home in
ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. It may also be considered to be part of the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States. Colorado entered statehood in 1876 and was nicknamed the “Centennial State”...
.
1970s and 1980s
Brakhage explored further approaches to filmmaking in the 1970s. In 1971, he completed a set of three films inspired by public institutions in the city of Pittsburgh. These three films--
Eyes, about the city police,
Deus Ex, filmed in a hospital, and
The Act of Seeing with One's Own EyesThe Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes is a 1971 American experimental film by Stan Brakhage. It was filmed on 16mm without synchronized sound in a Pittsburgh morgue. The title is based on a literal translation of the term autopsy...
, depicting autopsy--are collectively known as "The Pittsburgh Trilogy." In 1974, Brakhage made the feature-length
Text of Light, consisting entirely of images of light refracted in a glass
ashtrayAn ashtray is a receptacle for ash and butts from cigarettes and cigars of tobacco and cannabis. Ashtrays are typically made of fireproof material such as glass, heat-resistant plastic, pottery, or metal....
. In 1979, he experimented with Polavision, a format marketed by
PolaroidPolaroid is the name of a type of synthetic plastic sheet which is used to polarize light.-Patent:The original material, patented in 1929 and further developed in 1932 by Edwin H. Land, consists of many microscopic crystals of iodoquinine sulfate embedded in a transparent nitrocellulose polymer...
, making about five 2 1/2 minute films. The whereabouts of these films are now unknown. He continued his visual explorations of landscape and the nature of light and thought process, and through the late 70's and early 80's produced filmic equivalents of what he termed "moving visual thinking" in several series of photographic abstractions known as the Roman, Arabic, and Egyptian series.
In 1979, Brakhage began teaching at the
University of ColoradoThe University of Colorado at Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the University of Colorado system and was founded five months before Colorado was admitted to the union in 1876...
in Boulder. In 1986, Brakhage separated from Jane, and in 1989 he married his second wife, Marilyn. The two would have two children together. In the late 1980s, Brakhage returned to making
sound filmsA sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before reliable synchronization was made commercially...
, with the four-part
Faustfilm cycle, and also completed the hand-painted "Dante Quartet."
1990s - 2000s and death
Brakhage remained extremely productive through the last two decades of his life, sometimes working in collaboration with other filmmakers, including his University of Colorado colleague
Phil SolomonPhil Solomon is an American experimental filmmaker noted for his work with both film and video. Recently, Solomon has earned acclaim for a series of films that incorporate machinima made using games from the Grand Theft Auto series...
. Several more sound films were completed, including "Passage Through: A Ritual," edited to the music of Philip Corner, and "Christ Mass Sex Dance" and "Ellipsis No. 5," both with music by James Tenney. He also produced the major meditations on childhood, adolescence, aging and mortality collectively known as the "Vancouver Island Quartet," as well as numerous hand-painted works.
Brakhage was diagnosed with
bladderIn anatomy, the urinary bladder is the organ that collects urine excreted by the kidneys prior to disposal by urination. A hollow muscular, and distensible organ, the bladder sits on the pelvic floor...
cancerCancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis...
in 1996, and his bladder was removed. The surgery seemed successful, but the cancer eventually returned. He retired from teaching and moved to
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 2002, settling with his second wife Marilyn and their two sons in
Victoria, British ColumbiaVictoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada. Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria is a major tourism destination seeing more than 3.65 million visitors a year who inject more than one billion dollars into the local economy. Victoria is a cruise ship port where...
. Brakhage died there on March 9, 2003, aged 70. The last footage Brakhage shot has been made available under the title
Work in Progress. At the time of his death, Brakhage was also working the
Chinese Series, made by scratching directly on to film.
Though not a practicing
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
during his adulthood, Brakhage requested a traditional Anglican service. The funeral was attended largely by family members, as well as a few friends from the filmmaking world, and included a performance of J.S. Bach's
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.
Influence
Brakhage is revered as one of the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, and his work has had some small impact on mainstream cinema. The credits of the film
SevenSeven is a 1995 American crime film directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. The story follows a retiring detective and his replacement , jointly investigating a series of ritualistic murders inspired by the seven deadly sins.-Plot:In an unidentified city of near-constant...
, with their scratched emulsion, rapid cutaways and bursts of light are in Brakhage's style. The concluding credits to
The JacketThe Jacket is a 2005 psychological thriller, directed by John Maybury partly based on the Jack London novel, The Star Rover. Massy Tadjedin wrote the screenplay based on a story by Tom Bleecker and Marc Rocco...
are an homage, the background imitating his
Mothlight.
Among Brakhage's students were
Eric DarnellEric Darnell is the co-director of Antz and Madagascar, and directed Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. He attended Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, Kansas, where he was a writer for the school newspaper the Harbinger. He studied broadcast journalism at the University of Colorado at...
, the director of
AntzAnts is a CGI film produced by DreamWorks. It is the first animated film, as well as the first CGI-animated film, by DreamWorks Animation and the second American computer-animated film after Toy Story...
, as well as the creators of
South ParkSouth Park is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become infamous for its crude, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
,
Matt StoneMatthew Richard "Matt" Stone is an American screenwriter, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of South Park along with creative partner Trey Parker. He is married to Angela Howard....
and
Trey ParkerTrey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
, and he is featured in their student film
Cannibal! The MusicalCannibal! The Musical, also known as Alferd Packer: The Musical, is a student film directed by future co-creator of South Park, Trey Parker, while studying at the University of Colorado at Boulder...
. The work of contemporary film and video artist
Raymond Salvatore HarmonRaymond Salvatore Harmon is an American cross-genre media artist, painter, filmmaker, sound artist, and record producer. His work in new media and experimental film touches aspects of anthropological study, philosophic discourse, and contemporary art...
is often compared to Brakhage's abstract films. The opening track of
StereolabStereolab were an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes. Other long-time members include Andy Ramsay and Mary Hansen...
's album
Dots and LoopsDots and Loops is an album by the band Stereolab, released in September 1997. Jan St. Werner of Mouse on Mars contributes to several tracks...
, "Brakhage", is also named after him.
The films of Stan Brakhage are distributed in their original format by
Canyon CinemaCanyon Cinema is a San Francisco based filmmakers' cooperative specializing in the distribution of avant-garde and experimental film. The organisation was instigated in about 1960 by Bruce Baillie as an exhibition outlet for independent film, and was formally established as a non-profit...
http://www.canyoncinema.com in San Francisco.
Filmography
The Brakhage films, comprising his edited originals, intermediate elements, and other original material, are housed at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Archive, where a long-term project is underway to preserve and restore his entire film output.
Writings
Brakhage wrote a number of books about films, including
Metaphors on Vision (1963),
A Moving Picture Giving and Taking Book (1971), and the posthumously published
Telling Time: Essays of a Visionary Filmmaker (2003).
External links