Past Exhibitions
Browse the chronological list of past exhibitions at the 老司机福利网 Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCRA), or search for a specific exhibition. Click 鈥淰iew鈥 for more information about an exhibition. If you need further information about an exhibition, please contact us.
Oskar Fischinger: Movement and Spirit
March 31, 2007 to June 24, 2007
Oskar Fischinger (1900鈥1967) was a significant figure in the early days of filmmaking, attracting attention for his technological innovations, imaginative animation techniques, and the sheer bravura of his non-objective films, many of them keyed to classical music in a way that sought to expand dimensions in both visual and auditory experience鈥攖hat is, visual music.
Fischinger鈥檚 approach to abstraction in his films and paintings bears comparison to Kandinsky, Kupka, and other early abstractionists. Fischinger鈥檚 artistic work was also a spiritual pursuit consistent with his interest in Theosophy, Buddhism, and Anthroposophy. Pressure from the Nazi regime forced Fischinger to flee to Hollywood in 1936, where he worked on the fringes of the commercial movie industry but continued to earn the appreciation of filmmakers and aficionados even after his death. Recently his work has been increasingly included in American museum exhibitions, including the blockbuster 2005 group exhibition Visual Music, held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. MOCRA is pleased to host the first exhibition of Fischinger鈥檚 work in St. Louis, a city with significant ties to modern and contemporary German art.
Movement and Spirit is guest curated by Peter Frank (art critic for LA Weekly and Senior Curator, Riverside Art Museum) and features paintings and drawings by Fischinger. It also celebrates the newly released DVD Oskar Fischinger: Ten Films. The DVD includes many of Fischinger's great film projects, including Motion Painting No. 1 (1947), which features dazzling animated patterns coordinated to Bach鈥檚 Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and received the Grand Prix at the Brussels Film Festival in 1949.
Movement and Spirit is part of MOCRA: Sources, an occasional series of exhibitions presenting those seminal artists who have influenced the development of modern and contemporary art, and whose impact is seen in the artists of our time who engage the religious and spiritual dimensions in their work.
MOCRA thanks Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Inc., Los Angeles, Barbara Fischinger, The Elfriede Fischinger Trust, and the Center for Visual Music. MOCRA also thanks the Saint Louis Art Museum for assistance in the Oskar Fischinger Tribute evening. MOCRA is grateful for financial support from the Regional Arts Commission.
Oskar Fischinger insisted on an indelible sensory relationship between color and form on the one hand and sound and motion on the other. It was music for the eyes. | Peter Frank
above:
Installation view of Oskar Fischinger: Movement and Spirit at MOCRA, 2007. Photo by Jeffrey Vaughn.
Related programming
Peter Frank: “An Oskar Fischinger Tribute”
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Erika Diettes: Sudarios |
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Adrian Kellard: The Learned Art of Compassion |
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MOCRA at Fifteen: Good Friday |
Michael Byron: Cosmic Tears |
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Oskar Fischinger: Movement and Spirit |
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Andy Warhol: Silver Clouds, an encore presentation |
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Lewis deSoto: Paranirvana |
Robert Farber: A Retrospective, 1985鈥1995 |
Bernard Maisner: Entrance to the Scriptorium |
Tobi Kahn: Metamorphoses |
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Frederick J. Brown: The Life of Christ Altarpiece |
Edward Boccia: Eye of the Painter |
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Keith Haring: Altarpiece 鈥 The Life of Christ |
Ian Friend: The Edge of Belief 鈥 paintings, sculpture, and works on paper, 1980鈥1994 |
Eleanor Dickinson: A Retrospective |
Post-Minimalism and the Spiritual: Four Chicago Artists |
Consecrations: The Spiritual in Art in the Time of AIDS |
Sanctuaries: Recovering the Holy in Contemporary Art, Part One |
Body and Soul: The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater |
Transformations: Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre |
Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre |
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Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre |
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Highlights from the MOCRA Collection: The Romero Cross |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Highlights from the MOCRA Collection |
Sanctuaries: Recovering the Holy in Contemporary Art, Part Two 鈥 Three Major Installations |
Beyond Words: Three Contemporary Artists and the Manuscript Tradition |
MOCRA: 25 |
Gary Logan: Elements |
Gratitude |
Surface to Source |
Quiet Isn't Always Peace |
Tom Kiefer: Pertenencias / Belongings |
Double Vision: Art from Jesuit University Collections |
Lesley Dill: Dream World of the Forest |
Jordan Eagles: VIRAL\VALUE |
This Road Is the Heart Opening: Selections from the MOCRA Collection |
Vicente Telles and Brandon Maldonado: Cuentos Nuevomexicanos |
Open Hands: Crafting the Spiritual |
Selections from the MOCRA Collection |