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HANS RICHTER
Dreams That Money Can Buy
February 5, 2004- February 28, 2004
New York, NY- Maya Stendhal Gallery is proud to showcase three films by the renowned
avant-garde artist Hans Richter (1888-1976). Richter is considered one of the
early Dadaists, a form of art that was marked by nonsense and travesties as it
opposed current aesthetic art standards.
Richter’s three astounding experimental films, Dreams That Money Can Buy
(1947), Eight by Eight "A Chess Sonata in 8 Movement" (1957) and Dadascope
(1961), all explore revolutionary approaches in filmmaking. Dreams That Money
Can Buy is collaboration with Max Ernst, Fernand Leger, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp
and Alexander Calder. This first feature-length avant-garde American film contrives
seven dreams that are offered for sale by Joe, a poor young poet with a rich imagination.
Each dream episode is shaped by one of the contributing visual artists.
Eight by Eight “A Chess Sonata in 8 Movement”, with music by John
Latoche and Oscar Brand, is the second of Richter’s elaborate cinematic
collaborations. Richter pays homage to Lewis Carroll’s use of chess in Through
the Looking Glass. Using humor and chance, Richter creates a heavily symbolic,
surreal world where kings, queens, and other players on the chess board act out
some of life's episodes. Included are sculptor Alexander Calder constructing mobiles
and setting them to motion, painter Max Ernst pursuing his wife, Dorothea, through
the canyons of lower Manhattan and a rocky western landscape in an overplayed
domestic struggle, and writer Jean Cocteau playing a pawn who whimsically becomes
a queen. Eight by Eight is an imaginative journey through the symbols and satire
of Surrealism.
Dadascope is a comprehensive portrait of the Dada movement with its specific techniques
of sound and visual clash, word puns, chess, dice and other games of chance. Richter
stated, “There is no story, no psychological implication except such as
the onlooker puts into the imagery. But it is not accidental either, more a poetry
of images built with and upon associations. In other words the film allows itself
the freedom to play upon the scale of film possibilities, freedom for which Dada
always stood - and still stands.”
Hans Richter (1888-1976), painter, graphic artist, filmmaker, and producer was
one of the founders of the Dada movement. Richter opposed traditional approaches
to art. His avant-garde style to filmmaking and art paved the way for many artists
to come.
The opening reception will take place on Thursday, February 5th, 6-9pm.
For additional information, or to receive a press kit, please contact Maya Stendhal
Gallery.
Maya | Stendhal | Gallery
545 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011
T 212.366.1549
F 212.366.1531
www.mayastendhalgallery.com
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