Ed Emshwiller
1925-1990
Ed Emshwiller (1925-1990) studied painting both in the U.S. and Paris. In the 1950s, his abstract expressionist canvases received praise at art galleries, while his hyper-realistic cover illustrations for science-fiction magazines such as Galaxy (signed merely EMSH) delineated the surrealistic landscapes of imaginary planets and exotic creatures in fine detail. He began filmmaking in order to document his paintings, but in 1959 produced Dance Chromatic, in which animation of his abstract painting is superimposed on a dancer. His own skills as a cameraman -- which included a dancer-like ability to move gracefully while carrying a camera, thus allowing him to execute steady, complex pans and "zooms" in limited space -- made him much in demand for films documenting dance performances. In the 1963 Totem, he wholly re-conceptualizes the Alwin Nikolais dance in cinematic terms, superimposing different viewpoints of the dancers, as well as such symbolic counterpoint as rings and fire. The 1962 Thanatopsis, more remarkably, created the dance choreography itself in camera, by superimposing multiple single exposures of the same gesture, causing an eerie blur of the figure representing the…
Films