An Optical Poem by Oskar Fischinger and Harry Smith’s Early Abstractions pt.3
Written by Joe D on January 26th, 2015
I’m in an animation frame of mind these days. Here’s Oskar Fischinger’s onlyHollywood Studio comissioned film. An Optical Poem. It’s pretty amazing cosidering it’s cut out paper circles and other shapes moved along wires frame by frame. Fischinger was a pioneer in creating visual music, abstract visual music and a huge influence on many animators like Harry Smith, Jordan Belson, the Vortex group, light shows etc. I knew Harry Smith when he lived at the Chelsea Hotel in NYC. He told me he went down to L.A. to meet Fischinger in the 50’s.They had a hamburger at a diner and were very engrossed in a discussion of abstract animation when a fed up waitress told them to “get a room” at a nearby motel. Fischinger was outraged! I guess the waitress misinterpreted their passion for Visual Music for something else.
Here’s Harry Smith’s homage to Fischinger.
Harry Smith outside the Chelsea