HANS
RICHTER
Dreams
That Money Can Buy
FEB 5 – FEB 28, 2004
–
PRESS RELEASE
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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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