Harry Everett Smith

December 8, 2006 8:42 PM

Harry Everett Smith was a, "20th-century Renaissance man, working as an abstract film-maker, painter, musicologist, anthropologist, theoretician, self-mythologizer and connoisseur of arcana". His Anthology of American Folk Music was hugely influential on American music, while his alchemical, synæsthetic films were to have a similar impact on experimental film and animation. Enjoy his mesmerising and astonishing "Early Abstractions" on Youtube [part 1 or 4], hear Harry lecture, or listen to some tracks from The Anthology.
posted by MetaMonkey (9 comments total)

Partly via dataisnature.
posted by MetaMonkey at 8:48 PM on December 8, 2006

Oops, here is the video (film and animation fans, don't miss it!).
posted by MetaMonkey at 8:52 PM on December 8, 2006

harrysmith
posted by y2karl at 8:58 PM on December 8, 2006

Hot damn, no idea how I missed that. Well its worth it for the video alone.
posted by MetaMonkey at 9:01 PM on December 8, 2006

The word on the street: Google is buying y2karl for 1.6 billion.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:03 PM on December 8, 2006

Next stop: Where's jonson ?
posted by y2karl at 9:18 PM on December 8, 2006

Thanks for this. Harry Smith is one of my patron saints.

Thought I must admit I found it incredibly difficult to remain conscious during a screening of the restored Mahagonny
posted by treepour at 10:19 PM on December 8, 2006

Thought I must admit I found it incredibly difficult to remain conscious during a screening of the restored Mahagonny

Yeah, me too ... it's an amazing & beautiful work of art, but seeing it in a darkened theater put me into a pretty strong trance after about 10 minutes. (And it's long!) I had to keep shaking myself to keep focused on the screen (which was often split into two or four sections). It seemed like many of my fellow audience members were having similar reactions. I'd still recommend it, though, perhaps with some really strong espresso beforehand.
posted by lisa g at 11:21 AM on December 9, 2006

I have a copy of Ginsburg's photo of Harry turning milk into milk on my fridge. It never fails to improve my mood.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 12:24 PM on December 9, 2006