Mary Ellen Bute: Centennial
Posted by | Conversations at the Edge | Posted on | March 15, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007, 6pm
- Mary Ellen Bute, Color Rhapsody (1948).
A pioneer of visual music and electronic art, Mary Ellen Bute produced over a dozen short abstract animations between the 1930s and the 1950s. Renowned for their brilliant color, elegant design, and sprightly, dance-like rhythms, Bute’s films are at once formally rigorous and exuberantly dynamic; high modernism meets Merrie Melodies. 2006 marked the centennial of Bute’s birth and tonight’s program celebrates her artistic accomplishments with a short survey of her career, including Rhythm in Light (with Melville Webber and Ted Nemeth, 1934); Synchromy No. 2 (1935); Dada (produced for Universal Newsreel, 1936); Parabola (1937); Spook Sport (with Norman McLaren, 1939); Tarantella (1940); Polka Graph (Fun with Music) (1947); Color Rhapsody (1948); Imagination (Produced for Steve Allen, 1948); New Sensations in Sound (RCA Commercial, 1949); Pastorale (1950); Abstronic (1952); and Mood Contrasts (1953). Organized by the Center for Visual Music, in association with Cecile Starr and The Women’s Independent Film Exchange. 1934-1953, Mary Ellen Bute, US, ca. 70 min, 16mm.
About
Conversations at the Edge is a weekly series of screenings, performances, and talks by groundbreaking media artists.
CATE is organized by SAIC's Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation in collaboration with the Gene Siskel Film Center and SAIC's Video Data Bank.
Programs take place at the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State / Chicago, IL / 312.846.2600), unless otherwise noted.
