Hans Richter: early works

Hans Richter was a German born artist. His broad and influential position in the art world saw him connected with many movements including the Blue Rider, Cubism, De Stijl, Expressionism, Constructivism, Surrealism and most notably Dada. Richter was a painter, graphic designer and filmmaker. The pieces included in his early works on film mixes both painting and cinematography ideas placing them side by side. The organised movement of his works where space, surface and line are rhythmically arranged make use of pure visual perception. His more illustrative works see many surrealist symbols and the use of the everyday inanimate object. Familiar symbols such as eyeballs, beards, clocks and trains are used. The use of nonsense and repetition combined with film processing techniques such as multiple exposure and layering of negative and positive footage are composed to create a sense of movement and rhythm. These short exciting experimental films certainly attest to Richter’s pivotal role in the development of early twentieth century avant-garde.