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Famous Like Me > Director > F > Oskar Fischinger

Profile of Oskar Fischinger on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Oskar Fischinger  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 22nd June 1900
   
Place of Birth: Gelnhausen, Germany
   
Profession: Director
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967) was an abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter. He made over 50 short films, and painted c. 900 canvases which are in museums, galleries and collections worldwide. Among his film works is Motion Painting No. 1 (1947), which is part of the United States National Film Registry.

Biography

Early life

Born Wilhelm Oskar Fischinger in the German town of Gelnhausen, he was the fourth of six children. His father ran a drugstore while his mother's family owned a combination brewery, drugstore, and bowling alley. At an early age he dabbled in painting, encouraged by the painters who came to capture Gelnhausen's scenery. Also interested in music (he played violin), he apprenticed at an organ-building firm until the owners were drafted into the war. The next year he worked as a draftsman until he himself was called to duty. He was rejected as being unhealthy, and the Fischinger family moved to west Frankfurt. There Fischinger attended a trade school and worked at a factory, eventually obtaining an engineer's diploma.

Early career

In Frankfurt he met the theater critic Bernhard Diebold, who in 1921 introduced Fischinger to the work and personage of Walther Ruttmann, a pioneer in abstract film. Inspired by Ruttmann's work, Fischinger began experimenting with colored liquids and three-dimensional modeling materials such as wax and clay. He conceptualized a "Wax Machine", which synchronized a vertical slicer with a movie camera's shutter, enabling the efficient imaging of progressive cross-sections through a length of molded material. Fischinger wrote to Ruttmann about his machine, who expressed interest. Moving to Munich, Fischinger licensed the Wax Machine to Ruttmann and began working on the first production model. Upon delivery, Ruttmann found that hot film lights often melted the wax to a serious degree. Ruttmann gave up, though during this time Fischinger shot some abstract work of his own using the Machine.

In 1924 Fischinger was hired by American entrepreneur Louis Seel to produce satirical cartoons that tended toward mature audiences. He also made abstract films of his own, trying new and different techniques, including the use of multiple projectors.

Facing financial difficulties, Fischinger borrowed from his family, and then his landlady. Finally, in an effort to escape bill collectors, Fischinger decided to surreptitiously depart Munich for Berlin in June 1927. Taking only his essential equipment, he walked 350 miles through the countryside, shooting single frames that became a film in itself.

Berlin

Arriving in Berlin, Fischinger borrowed some money from a relative and set up a studio on Friedrichstrasse. He soon was doing the special effects for various films. His own proposals for cartoons were not accepted by producers or distributors, however. In 1928 he was hired to work on Fritz Lang's space epic Frau im Mond, which provided him a steady salary for a time. On his own time, he experimented with charcoal-on-paper animation. He produced a series of abstract Studie that were synchronized to popular music. They were well-received at art theaters and his Studie Nr. 5 screened at the 1927 "Congress for Colour-Music Research" to critical acclaim. In 1931 Universal Pictures purchased distribution rights to Studie Nr. 5 for the American public, and Studie Nr. 7 screened as a short with a popular movie in Berlin. The effects Fischinger did for other movies led to his being called "the Wizard of Friedrichstrasse."

When the Nazis took power in 1933, Fischinger was working on Studie Nr. 11. The abstract film scene quickly fell apart as the Nazis instituted their policies. Fischinger found work producing commercials and advertisements, however, among them Ein Spiel in Farben (A Play in Colors), Muratti greift ein (Muratti gets in the act), and Kreise (Circles). At this time Fischinger also married his first cousin Elfriede. Though Fischinger at times ran afoul of the Nazi authorities, he nevertheless managed to get his abstract work Komposition in Blau approved in 1935. It was well-received critically, though no German distributor dared to secure the rights to it.

At this time an agent from MGM had screened Komposition and Muratti in Hollywood, and Ernst Lubitsch was impressed by the audience's enthusiastic response to the shorts. A Paramount Pictures agent telephoned Fischinger, asking if he was willing to work in America, and Fischinger promptly agreed.

Hollywood

Upon arriving in Hollywood in February 1936, Fischinger was given an office, German-speaking secretaries, an English tutor, and a weekly salary of $250. With no immediate assignment, Fischinger sketched and painted. He and Elfriede socialized with the emigré community, but felt out of place among the elites.


It is requested that this article (or a section of this article) be expanded.

See the request at Wikipedia:Requests for expansion or elsewhere on this talk page.

Further reading

  • William Moritz, Optical Poetry: The Life and Work of Oskar Fischinger, Indiana University Press, 2004. ISBN 0253216419

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Oskar Fischinger