Regarding Motion Painting No. 1:
Hilla Rebay, Director, Museum of Non-Objective Painting. Excerpt from letter to Oskar Fischinger, May 12, 1948
"...it has no artistic worth -- no rhythm -- just dull pattern decoration, like wall paper. It has no rhythmic spiritual inbetween, but is cheap and easy -- so all you told me was untrue. It is as stuck together and disorderly as can be, and nothing in it proves that you ever understood what I have been trying to teach you. It is unrhythmic, and I am even beginning to think the films that you had formerly made of rhythmic precision, were never done by yourself.....I told you to send the original film because we do not wish the film to be sold to anyone else, although you did not keep our name on it, which is fortunate because it is almost valueless from the artistic point of view -- and you should not spread such trash!"
Edward Steichen, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Telegraph to Oskar, January 16, 1952
"Abstract evening unqualified success. Your Motion Painting received tremendous ovation by packed auditorium. Would like to propose permanent acquisition set [of] your films if feasible."
Regarding Allegretto:
Oskar Fischinger, letter to Paramount in resignation, 1936, after discovering that Paramount would not approve the printing of Allegretto in color. In 1941, Fischinger was able to purchase for $500 the rights and the film's original materials back from Paramount.
Excerpts from various correspondence
About the word experimental.
First it is nothing but a word and all words mean the same. My own feeling about that word is somehow mixed with hesitation. It is something of a stumbling block - frankly I did not like it too much. I tried hard to avoid it whenever possible. I would rather prefer the expression Avantgarde-film.
My very early films from 1919 til 1928 I used to call Experiments - Then after I found that most simple, most concentrated Technic [sic] as used in the Studies - from then on I called my films Studies - Later with the coming of the Color into the films a new searching for a simplified technik began which resulted in Motion Painting No. 1. For this film the world Experimental is not a very fitting expression. definitely not....
If one searches for a Method or technic of expression he may be still experimenting.
If one has established a way to doing then he may Studie the application of it.
If the technical difficulties are overcome and the Studies had led to a point where techic can be forgotten and the more essential things of Art-creation Art revelation the listing of the Voice of the unknown becomes important than one is out of the field of experimentation and one becomes whatever one may call such creative artist like composers - painters, sculptors etc..
...Van Gogh did not paint experiments. Neither did Beethoven write Experimental Symphonies....
Besides that word experiment has that nasty meaning of testing and fooling around with a million things like crossing cats with rabbits and lemons with potatoes, etc. etc...ad infinitum...
(from letter to Rene Micha, 1949. Collection Fischinger Archive)
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Manuscripts, correspondence and typescripts are from the collections of The Fischinger Archive and The Center for Visual Music. (c) Elfriede Fischinger Trust, all rights reserved.
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