Jack Smith 1928-2011
12 stills from Smith's experimental film, "Flaming Creatures.", 1963
Silver prints (12)
Each 4 1/2 x 6 inches, one with Smith's credit, movie information, and the Film-Makers Cooperative address on verso.
$ 12,500.00
The cut-scenes depicted showcase Smith's avant-garde style and unconventional aesthetic in 'Flaming Creatures,' which would become a hotbed of controversy shortly after its release. As a pioneer of underground cinema...
The cut-scenes depicted showcase Smith's avant-garde style and unconventional aesthetic in "Flaming Creatures," which would become a hotbed of controversy shortly after its release. As a pioneer of underground cinema and a local at Andy Warhol's factory, Smith recruited a familiar array of artists and creatives such as Piero Heliczer, Mario Montez, and Joel Markman (all depicted here) to star in his beautifully graphic montage of sexual ambiguity, and non-narrative experimentation. Following its premiere at the Bleecker Street Cinema in mid 1963, the film garnered much acclaim within the underground scene and was awarded the Independent Film Award by Film Culture, a cinema magazine founded by Jonas Mekas, in December of that year. However, as Smith's recognition blossomed, so did conservative backlash towards the "explicit" motion picture.
In March, 1964 a screening held at the New Bowery Theater was raided by New York police under the auspices that obscenity laws were being violated. The reels were seized and Mekas was arrested alongside Jerry Sims, Ken Jacobs, and Florence Karpf. While charges against the group were later dropped after the arts community came to their aid, subsequent screenings throughout the US were canceled or raided in an effort to censor Smith's masterpiece.
Smith, also a photographer, published "The Beautiful Book" in 1962 which featured 19 original photographs in a concept conceived by himself and Marian Zazeela. Smith's aesthetic revelations of this period greatly influenced the visual quality of Flaming Creatures, and similarities can be drawn between the 12 photographs here, and those present in his previous body of work.
In March, 1964 a screening held at the New Bowery Theater was raided by New York police under the auspices that obscenity laws were being violated. The reels were seized and Mekas was arrested alongside Jerry Sims, Ken Jacobs, and Florence Karpf. While charges against the group were later dropped after the arts community came to their aid, subsequent screenings throughout the US were canceled or raided in an effort to censor Smith's masterpiece.
Smith, also a photographer, published "The Beautiful Book" in 1962 which featured 19 original photographs in a concept conceived by himself and Marian Zazeela. Smith's aesthetic revelations of this period greatly influenced the visual quality of Flaming Creatures, and similarities can be drawn between the 12 photographs here, and those present in his previous body of work.