circles - tristesse engraved

how soon unaccountable i became tired and sick,
till rising and gliding out i wander’d off by myself,
in the mystical moist night-air,
and from time to time,
look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.*
capturing light - walt whitman -
when i heard the learn’d astonomer

images -
séraphine louis - fruit (frucht)
william langenheim and frederick langenheim - eclipse - 26 may 1854
susan derges - chladni figures - 1985
anders ritter von ettingshausen - section of clematis - 4 march 1840
rosalind franklin and r.c. gosling - x-ray diffraction patterns of a and b forms of sodium salt of dna - 1952
amédée guillemin - polychrome interference patterns, le monde physique - 1882
susan derges - hermetica (detail) - 1993
giuseppe pellizza da volpedo - the rising sun - 1904
alfred stevens - the milky way - 1885-1886

various image selections of mine have been included in the september issue of tristesse engraved - please take a look at it .
(many thanks to jez riley french for his generous efforts in helping to get this all out on time)

la lune des lapins, paris 1950 & eaux d'artifice, villa d'este tivoli 1953

2 great films featured on the films of kenneth anger, vol. 1
included is commentary for each film by kenneth anger.

1. kenneth anger's 3rd film rabbit's moon (la lune des lapins), 1950, or "a lunar dream utilizing the classic pantomime figure of pierrot in an encounter with a prankish, enchanted magic lantern" (anger quoted in p. adams sitneys' visionary film)

this film was shot in the films du pantheon studio in paris in 1950 and edited in 1971 (anger lived much of the 1950s in paris).

a beautiful film about love, dreams, repetition, desire, and the magick and artificiality of cinema (illusions viewed through a magic lantern).



the title partly references the japanese and their viewing of the moon, apparently they see a rabbit instead of a man.



also of interest: after shooting this film, kenneth anger started production on a film version of lautreamont's les chants de maldoror, but got no further than rehearsals.


2. kenneth anger's 4th film eaux d'artifice, 1953



filmed at the villa d'este in tivoli italy with music by vivaldi, from the winter section of the four seasons. shot using a cyan filter on ferrania inra-red film and printed on color stock, which gives it a truly other worldly quality.

images of villa d'este:



anger used different camera speeds to isolate drops of water in much of this film. these shots brought to mind 2 films by ralph steiner: h2o, 1929 and surf and seaweed, 1929/30, and also the photography of susan derges.





william c. wees said of the film: "here water is the principal medium for preternatural light, and a water witch is its personification" and "in effect, the tinting turns the strips of film into blue stream from (or through) whose surface preternatural light gleams and flashes into viewers' eyes as they follow the mysterious bright figure..."

there are also beautiful imperfections in many of the shots that give the image a subtle flicker. this, and a soft focus, give the film a similar image quality you find in silent cinema.

books:
-visionary film: the american avant-garde 1943-1978, by p. adams sitney, oxford univ. press
-light moving in time, by william c, wees, oxford univ. press
-villa d'este, by isabella pasquini barisi, de luca
-the villa d'este at tivoli, by david dernie and alastair carew-cox, academy editions