Jordan Belson (June 6, 1926 – September 6, 2011)
was an American artist and abstract cinematic filmmaker who created nonobjective, often spiritually oriented,
abstract films spanning six decades.
Biography
Belson was born in
Chicago, Illinois.
Belson studied painting at the
University of California, Berkeley. He saw the "Art in Cinema" screenings at the
San Francisco Museum of Art beginning in 1946. The films screened at this series inspired
Harry Smith, Belson and others to produce abstract films. Belson's first abstract film was ''Transmutation'' (1947), now lost. A few of his films were screened in later screenings of the "Art in Cinema" series. Following these early films, Belson made a few films with his scroll paintings.
He was the recipient of a grant from the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, which later became the
Guggenheim (
Oskar Fischinger
Oskar Wilhelm Fischinger (June 22, 1900 – January 31, 1967) was a German-American abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter, notable for creating abstract musical animation many decades before the appearance of computer graphics and music vid ...
recommended him to the MoNOP curator
Hilla von Rebay
Hildegard Anna Augusta Elisabeth Freiin Rebay von Ehrenwiesen, known as Baroness Hilla von Rebay or simply Hilla Rebay (31 May 1890 – 27 September 1967), was an abstract art, abstract artist in the early 20th century and co-founder and first di ...
). Much of Belson's work is meant to evoke a mystical or meditative experience.
In 1957 he began a collaboration with sound artist
Henry Jacobs at the
Morrison Planetarium
The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, California, that is among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 46 million specimens. The Academy began in 1853 ...
in San Francisco, California that lasted until 1959. Together they produced a series of electronic music concerts accompanied by visual projections at the Planetarium, the Vortex Concerts. Belson as visual director programmed kinetic live visuals, and Jacobs programmed electronic music and audio experiments. This is a direct ancestor of the 60s light shows and the "Laserium"-style shows that were popular at planetaria later in the century. The Vortex shows involved projected imagery, specially prepared film excerpts and other optical projections. Not just an opportunity to develop new visual technologies and techniques, the sound system in the planetarium enabled Belson and Jacobs to create an immersive environment where imagery could move throughout the entire screen space, and sound could move around the perimeter of the room.
Belson also created special effects for ''
The Right Stuff'' (1983).
His last film "Epilogue" was commissioned for the ''Visual Music'' exhibition at the Hirshhorn/Smithsonian and completed in 2005. The
New York Times described it as having "lush and misty optics."
Belson died of heart failure at his home in San Francisco on September 6, 2011. He was 85.
Filmography
*''Transmutation'' (1947) – lost
*''Improvisation #1'' (1948) – lost
*''Mambo'' (1951)
*''Caravan'' (1952)
*''Bop-Scotch'' (1952)
*''Mandala'' (1953)
*''Raga'' (1958)
*''Séance'' (1959)
*''
Allures'' (1961) 8" short
*''LSD'' (1962) Unfinished film. (According to Belson, it should not be on his filmography)
*''Re-entry'' (1964)
*''Phenomena'' (1965)
*''Samadhi'' (1967)
*''Momentum'' (1968)
*''Cosmos'' (1969)
*''World'' (1970)
*''Meditation'' (1971)
*''Chakra'' (1972)
*''Light'' (1973)
*''Cycles'' (1975) made with Stephen Beck
*''Music of the Spheres'' (1977), original version
*''Infinity'' (1980)
*''Quartet'' (1982) unfinished film
*''Fountain of Dreams'' (1984)
*''Northern Lights'' (1985)
*''Mysterious Journey'' (1997)
*''Bardo'' (2001)
*''Epilogue'' (2005)
[Keefer, Cindy. Jordan Belson (Biography). The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia. 1860–1989. Alexandra Monroe, Ed. (New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2009). Exhibition catalog.]
See also
*
Jane Conger Belson Shimané
*
Visual music
*
Laser lighting display
References
;Notes
Secondary source
*Brougher, Strick, et al. ''Visual Music: Synaesthesia in Art and Music Since 1900'' (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2005) contains little info not found elsewhere, but some good images
External links
*
BAMPFA article on Belson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belson, Jordan
1926 births
2011 deaths
American experimental filmmakers
Visual music artists