Swinging the Lambeth Walk
UK 1939, 16mm, color, 4 min.
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Much has been written about New Zealand artist Len Lye (1901–1980). Lye’s remarkable body of work as an avant-garde experimental filmmaker, animator and kinetic sculptor rightly generates much awe. He was also a brilliant painter, photographer and poet. Best known for his film and sculpture, Lye was a pioneer in multiple film-making techniques including “direct animation”—the process of drawing, painting or scratching designs directly onto celluloid film…
This was an inspired solution to the problem that he could not afford to hire a film camera. He found he could create ‘pure figures of motion’ by painting, stenciling or scratching. With the right ink and brush he could (to use Paul Klee’s phrase) “take a line for a walk” or make it dance along a strip of film. –Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
Further information:
Born in New Zealand, Lye left home as a young man in search of film activity and the stimulation that would satisfy what he called his preoccupation with art and movement. Inspired by the primitive imagery of South Sea island art and film’s power to present dance ritual and music, Lye’s experimental—and often revolutionary—camera-less techniques attracted the attention of John Grierson and Alberto Cavalcanti of the General Post Office Film Unit in London, which sponsored Colour Box and other films. Although Lye’s film-making had nearly ceased by the late 60s, he continued to speak of his belief in cinema as “the Cinderella of the fine arts. Her beauty lies in her kinesthesia… the fine art film requires urgent consideration.” –Harvard Film Archive
Above and below I have included a few of my favorite film stills and links to various Lye works from the 1920s to 1930s plus his award-winning 1958 film Free Radicals and his 1935 film Kaleidoscope can both be viewed in full—each film respectively paired perfectly with African percussion and Cuban jazz rhythms original to the work. (I admit I am not so keen on the contemporary electronica sound tracks that have littered the Lye landscape out there. In my estimation, much too much liberty has been taken without proper respect to maintaining the integrity of Mr. Lye’s vision.)
Lastly, at the end of this post you will find additional Len Lye resources. I encourage you to explore the many Lye films online. They are quite a treat to see in action.
Free Radicals
US 1958, revised 1979, 16mm, b/w, 4 min.
In arguably his greatest film, Lye reduces the medium to its most basic elements by scratching designs on black film. He used a variety of scribers ranging from dental tools to an ancient Native American arrowhead, and synchronized the images to traditional African music (a field tape of the Bagirmi tribe). The film won second prize in the International Experimental Film Competition, which was judged by Man Ray, Norman McLaren, Alexander Alexeiff and others at the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels. In 1979 Lye further condensed the film by dropping a minute of footage. Stan Brakhage described the final version as “an almost unbelievably immense masterpiece (a brief epic).” –Harvard Film Archive
Swinging the Lambeth Walk (film stills above)
UK 1939, 16mm, color, 4 min.
Lye edited together “swing” versions of the popular Lambeth Walk (including Django Reinhardt on guitar and Stephane Grapelli on violin), combining them with a particularly diverse range of direct film images, scratched as well as painted. He was particularly pleased with a final guitar solo (with a vibrating horizontal line) and double bass solo (with a stomping vertical line). For this film Lye did not have to include any advertising slogans; friends at the Tourist and Industrial Development Association, shocked to learn that Lye and his family had become destitute, arranged for TIDA to sponsor the film—to the horror of government bureaucrats who could not understand why a popular dance was being treated as a tourist attraction. –Harvard Film Archive
Tusalava (original sound score not included)
UK 1929, 16mm, b/w silent, 10 min.
This pioneer experimental film about “the beginnings of organic life” was premiered by the London Film Society in 1929. Tusalava used orthodox (camera) animation but its imagery was a unique mix of Maori, Aboriginal, and modernist influences. The film was nearly refused a certificate by the British Board of Censors who suspected that it might be about sex. The Samoan title means ‘just the same’. Music for two pianos by Jack Ellit was played live at the premiere but the score has been lost. –Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
Kaleidoscope
UK 1935, 16mm, color, 4 min.
For Kaleidoscope, which was sponsored by Churchman Cigarettes, Lye animated stenciled cigarette shapes and is said to have experimented by cutting out some of the shapes so that the light of the projector hit the screen directly. As in Colour Box Lye uses music by Don Baretto and his Cuban Orchestra. –Harvard Film Archive
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// Len Lye Resources //
- Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
Shortly before his death in 1980, Lye and his supporters established the Len Lye Foundation, to which he gave his work. The gallery is the repository for much of this collection, employing a full-time curator to ensure its preservation and appropriate exhibition. - Harvard Film Archives
The films of Len Lye. - British Film Institute’s Screenonline
- Wikipedia
- Len Lye
Biography by Roger Horrocks - YouTube
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