Hans Richter
(1888-1976)
Painter, graphic artist, avant-gardist, film-experimenter and producer. First
contacts with modern art in 1912 through the "Blauen Reiter" and in 1913
through the "Erster Deutsche Herbstsalon" gallery "Der Sturm", Berlin. In 1914
he was influenced by cubism. Contributed to the periodical "Die Aktion" in
Berlin. First exhibition in Munich, 1916. "Die Aktion" published as a special
edition about Hans Richter. In the same year he went to Zürich and joined
the Dada movement. Richter propounded the thesis that the artist's duty was to
be actively political, opposing war and supporting the revolution. First
abstract works in 1917. Friendship with Viking Eggeling in 1918, the two
experimented together in Film. Was co-founder, in 1919, of the Association of
Revolutionary Artists ("Artistes Radicaux") at Zürich. In the same year
he created his first "Prélude" (orchestration of a theme developed in
eleven drawings). In 1920 he was a member of the November group in Berlin and
contributed to the Dutch periodical "De Stijl." In 1921 he made the first
abstract film, "Rhythme 21," which today is considered a classic among
avant-garde films. About Richter's woodcuts and drawings Michel Seuphor wrote:
"Richter's black-and-whites together with those of Arp and Janco, are the most
typical works of the Zürich period of Dada." From 1923 to 1926, Richter
edited, together with Werner Gräff and Mies von der Rohe, the periodical
"G. Material zur elementaren Gestaltung." Hans Richter wrote of his own
attitude of films: "I conceive of the film as a modern art form particularly
interesting to the sense of sight. Painting has its own pecular problems and
specific sensations, and so has the film. But there are also problems in
which the dividing line is obliterated, or where the two infringe upon each
other. More especially, the cinema can fufill certain promises made by the
ancient arts, in the realization of which painting and film become close
neighbors and work together."
In 1957, Hans Richter finished a film named "Dadascope" with original poems
and prosa spoken by their creators: Hans Arp, Marcel Duchamp, Raoul Hausmann,
Richard Huelsenbeck, and Kurt Schwitters.
Works by Richter:
- Gegen Ohne Für Dada
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