Join us Thursday, November 16, at 6 pm, for a Whole Grain: Experiments in Film & Video screening of avant-garde filmmaker/mystic Harry Smith’s seminal film Heaven & Earth Magic (US, 1961, 66 min., 16mm) and Early Abstractions (US, 1946-1952, 23 min., 16mm) a collection of seven short works. William Lewis, Skidmore Professor of Philosophy, who has written on Harry Smith, will introduce the screening and lead a discussion following.

About Harry Smith

Harry Smith was an artist whose activities and interests put him at the center of the mid twentieth-century American avant-garde. Although best known as a filmmaker and musicologist, he frequently described himself as a painter, and his varied projects called on his skills as an anthropologist, linguist, and translator. He had a lifelong interest in the occult and esoteric fields of knowledge, leading him to speak of his art in alchemical and cosmological terms. Read more about him at harrysmitharchives.com.

About Whole Grain

The Tang Teaching Museum’s Whole Grain series explores classic and contemporary work in experimental film and video. Whole Grain is programmed by Assistant Director for Engagement Tom Yoshikami. All events are free and open to the public.