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Hans Richter was a German painter, graphic artist, avant-gardist, film-experimenter and producer. He was born in Berlin into a well-to-do family and died in Minusio, near Locarno, Switzerland.
Richter's first contacts with modern art were in 1912 through the "Blaue Reiter" and in 1913 through the "Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon (de)" gallery "Der Sturm", in Berlin. In 1914 he was influenced by cubism. He contributed to the periodical Die Aktion in Berlin. His first exhibition was in Munich in 1916, and Die Aktion published as a special edition about him. In the same year he was wounded and discharged from the army and went to Zürich and joined the Dada movement.
Richter believed that the artist's duty was to be actively political, opposing war and supporting the revolution. His first abstract works were made in 1917. In 1918, he befriended Viking Eggeling, and the two experimented together with film. Richter was co-founder, in 1919, of the Association of Revolutionary Artists ("Artistes Radicaux") at Zürich. In the same year he created his first Prélude (an 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.
Throughout his career, he claimed that his 1921 film, Rhythmus 21, was the first abstract film ever created. This claim is not true: he was preceded by the Italian Futurists Bruno Corra and Arnaldo Ginna between 1911 and 1912 (as they report in the Futurist Manifesto of Cinema), as well as by fellow German artist Walter Ruttmann who produced Lichtspiel Opus 1 in 1920. Nevertheless, Richter's film Rhythmus 21 is considered an important early abstract film.
From 1923 to 1926, Richter edited, together with Werner Gräff and Mies van der Rohe, the periodical G. Material zur elementaren Gestaltung. Richter wrote of his own attitude toward film: "I conceive of the film as a modern art form particularly interesting to the sense of sight. Painting has its own peculiar 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 fulfill certain promises made by the ancient arts, in the realization of which painting and film become close neighbors and work together."
Richter moved from Switzerland to the United States in 1940 and became an American citizen. He taught in the Institute of Film Techniques at the City College of New York.
While living in New York City, Richter directed two feature films, Dreams That Money Can Buy (1947) and 8 x 8: A Chess Sonata in 8 Movements (1957) in collaboration with Max Ernst, Jean Cocteau, Paul Bowles, Fernand Léger, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp, and others, which was partially filmed on the lawn of his summer house in Southbury, Connecticut.
Richter was also the author of a first-hand account of the Dada movement titled Dada: Art and Anti-Art.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born
Sunday, 12 January 1919
Died
Sunday, 05 October 2008
Actor Filmography
Title | Character | Year |
---|
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film | Self - Filmmaker / Himself (archive footage) | 2011 |
The Confessions of Felix Krull | Müller-Rosé | 1982 |
The Latest on Robber Hotzenplotz | Bürgermeister | 1979 |
Special Section | Le général Otto von Stülpnagel, le gouverneur militaire de Paris / Le général Otto von Stülpnagel | 1975 |
Die Feuerzangenbowle | Dr. Brett | 1970 |
Glorious Times in the Spessart | Toni | 1967 |
The Black Cobra | Inspektor Knecht | 1963 |
Unsere tollen Nichten | Dr. Heribert Wippel | 1963 |
Sing, aber spiel nicht mit mir | Gag-Man Klaus Fuchs / Komiker | 1963 |
His Best Friend | Max | 1962 |
Actor Filmography
Title | Character | Year |
---|
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film | Self - Filmmaker / Himself (archive footage) | 2011 |
The Confessions of Felix Krull | Müller-Rosé | 1982 |
The Latest on Robber Hotzenplotz | Bürgermeister | 1979 |
Special Section | Le général Otto von Stülpnagel, le gouverneur militaire de Paris / Le général Otto von Stülpnagel | 1975 |
Die Feuerzangenbowle | Dr. Brett | 1970 |
Glorious Times in the Spessart | Toni | 1967 |
The Black Cobra | Inspektor Knecht | 1963 |
Unsere tollen Nichten | Dr. Heribert Wippel | 1963 |
Sing, aber spiel nicht mit mir | Gag-Man Klaus Fuchs / Komiker | 1963 |
His Best Friend | Max | 1962 |
Dance with Me Into the Morning | Detektiv / Privatdetektiv | 1962 |
Drei Liebesbriefe aus Tirol | Peter Zwanziger | 1962 |
Geliebte Hochstaplerin | Steward Pfister / Steward | 1961 |
Davon träumen alle Mädchen | Referent Mayer | 1961 |
Ach Egon! | Behnke | 1961 |
The Haunted Castle | Jockel | 1960 |
Wenn die Heide blüht | Musician Peter / Peter | 1960 |
The Young Sinner | Müller | 1960 |
Dream Revue | Ferdy Nuschler, Pressefotograf | 1959 |
The Blue Moth | Regisseur Olten | 1959 |
The Muzzle | Maler Ali | 1958 |
Wenn die Bombe platzt | Schnecke | 1958 |
Das Herz von St. Pauli | Moses / Moses, Kellner bei Jonny | 1957 |
Zum blauen Bock | Self - Performer | 1957 |
Zwei Herzen voller Seligkeit | Franz, Chauffeur / Franz | 1957 |
Das Donkosakenlied | Karl, Chauffeur / Karl | 1956 |
Holiday am Wörthersee | Eduard, Chauffeur | 1956 |
Schwarzwaldmelodie | Aribert | 1956 |
Liebe ist ja nur ein Märchen | Fritz Keller | 1955 |
Danger Flight 931 | Fred | 1955 |
Die spanische Fliege | Dr. Gerlach | 1955 |
König der Manege | Heinz | 1954 |
The Little Czar | Boris | 1954 |
Clivia | 1954 | |
Mädchen mit Zukunft | Peter | 1954 |
Rote Rosen, rote Lippen, roter Wein | Alfred Berg | 1953 |
Whirled into Happiness | Antonio Vicente | 1953 |
Knall und Fall als Detektive | Knall | 1953 |
Die Rose von Stambul | Fridolin Müller jun. | 1953 |
Cuba Cabana | Billy | 1952 |
Am Brunnen vor dem Tore | Hans, Landstreicher | 1952 |
1. April 2000 | Reporter | 1952 |
Knall und Fall als Hochstapler | Knall | 1952 |
In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus | Hermann Busch | 1952 |
The Heath Is Green | Hannes | 1951 |
Johannes und die 13 Schönheitsköniginnen | Johannes Klettke, genannt Jonny | 1951 |
Stips | Albert Pollmann, Friseuer / Albert Pollmann | 1951 |
Schön muß man sein | Walter Schippe | 1951 |
Durch dick und dünn | Schindler | 1951 |
Auf der Alm, da gibt's ka Sünd' | Paul Wittke, Fotoreporter | 1950 |
The Black Forest Girl | Theo Patzke | 1950 |
Absender unbekannt | Dr. Alfred Braun | 1950 |
Um eine Nasenlänge | Sperling, Rennbahnbesucher / Sperling | 1949 |
Kätchen für alles | Herbert John | 1949 |
Nichts als Zufälle | Emil Patzenberger | 1949 |
Diese Nacht vergess ich nie | Dick Jaefferson | 1949 |
Die letzte Nacht | Willem, Ordonnanz | 1949 |
Blockierte Signale | Sein Assistent / Assistent | 1948 |
Arlberg-Express | 1948 | |
Junge Herzen | 1944 | |
The Punch Bowl | Rosen | 1944 |
Die Gattin | 1943 | |
Die Jungfern vom Bischofsberg | Otto Kranz | 1943 |
Der kleine Grenzverkehr | Detlef | 1943 |
Der 5. Juni - Einer unter Millionen | Norbert Nauke / Schütze Norbert Nauke | 1942 |
Unser Fräulein Doktor | Heinz Müller, Primaner | 1940 |
Herz - modern möbliert | Regissør | 1940 |
The Fox of Glenarvon | Robin Cavendish | 1940 |
Ein hoffnungsloser Fall | Student | 1939 |
Silvesternacht am Alexanderplatz | Klingenberg | 1939 |
Drei wunderschöne Tage | 1939 | |
Die Nacht der Entscheidung | Pedro | 1938 |
Storms in May | Hein Andresen | 1938 |
Under Sealed Orders | Dagor Khan - sein Bruder / Dagor Khan | 1938 |
An Enemy of the People | Walter Stockmann | 1937 |
Fremdenheim Filoda | Tom - Führer der 'Singing Boys' | 1937 |
Two Merry Adventurers | A clever boy from Berlin | 1937 |
Vor Liebe wird gewarnt | Alex Palme, Sohn / Alex Palme | 1937 |
Der lustige Witwenball | 1936 | |
Das Hofkonzert | Gefreiter der Grenzwache Veit / Gefreiter Veit | 1936 |
Violet of Potsdam Square | Fritz | 1936 |
The Girl Irene | Philip | 1936 |
Women's Paradise | Fritz, Laufbursche | 1936 |
Soldier Comrades | Kurt - sein Sohn | 1936 |
Onkel Bräsig | Triddelfitz, Volontär / Triddelfitz | 1936 |
A Hoax | Manz, Liftboy 'Hotel Kronprinz' | 1936 |
Traumulus | Graf Franz von Mettke, Gymnasiast / Primaner Franz Graf von Mettke | 1936 |
Königstiger | Hans | 1935 |
Waltz Around the Stefanstower | Fritz | 1935 |
Pygmalion | Jonny | 1935 |
Frischer Wind aus Kanada | Page | 1935 |
A Regular Fellow | Otto, ein Lehrling | 1935 |
Knockout - Ein junges Mädchen, ein junger Mann | Josef, Hilfsbeleuchter / Josef | 1935 |
Peter | Hobby, apprentice | 1934 |
Die englische Heirat | Tuck Mavis / Tuck Mavis, ihr jüngster Enkel | 1934 |
Frühjahrsparade | Fritzi / Lehrling Fritzi | 1934 |
Stupid Mama | Der Junge | 1934 |
Abenteuer im Südexpress | Max, Pikkolo im Speisewagen | 1934 |
Csibi, der Fratz | Kurt - ein 14jähriger Junge / Kurt, ein vierzehnjähriger Junge | 1934 |
The Black Whale | Ein Heizerjunge | 1934 |
Keine Angst vor Liebe | Fritz | 1933 |
The Page of the Hotel Dalmasse | Der Page Ottokar | 1933 |
Der Zarewitsch | 1933 | |
Three Bluejackets and a Blonde | Fritz, Ilses Bruder / Fritz | 1933 |
Our Flags Lead Us Forward | Franz | 1933 |
Love Must Be Understood | Hotel-Page | 1933 |
A Trip to the Country | Max | 1933 |
Hände aus dem Dunkel | Fritz, Laufbursche / Fritz | 1933 |
Manolescu, der Fürst der Diebe | (rumored) | 1933 |
The Burning Secret | Fritz, Page | 1933 |
The Blue from the Sky | Tommy | 1932 |
Die Nacht ohne Pause | Piccolo | 1931 |
Emil and the Detectives | Fliegender Hirsch | 1931 |