Shirley Clarke
A major figure of the American avant garde, Shirley Brimberg Clarke (1919-1997) was born into privilege as the daughter of Polish-Jewish immigrants who made their fortune in manufacturing. Rebelling against a repressive bourgeois upbringing, Clarke turned first to dance, and later film and video, to express her distinctive vision of the world.
Moving freely across genres and media throughout her career (and often within a single work), Clarke’s cinema explores the porous boundaries between narrative and documentary filmmaking, and film and other media, such as painting, dance, performance and video. Her 1960s features The Connection (1961), The Cool World (1963) and Portrait of Jason (1967), for which she is arguably best remembered, address issues of urban alienation, poverty, addiction and racism, focusing on lives lived at the margins of American society. Fearless in both her personal and creative life, Clarke produced a body of work that is as formally innovative as it is rooted in social protest.
Clarke initially trained as a dancer, immersing herself in New York’s vibrant post-war avant-garde dance scene. Although her dance career never quite earned her the critical acclaim she’d hoped for, it had a lasting impact on her subsequent filmmaking and video work, informing an interest in how movement is recorded formally, while introducing her to key avant-garde dancers and choreographers.
Source: https://denniscooperblog.com/shirley-clarke-day-2/
Photos
Movies (66)
Fear Flight
2016 · Director
A Short Lecture and Demonstration on the Evolution of Ragtime as Presented by Jelly Roll Morton
2016 · Director
Home Movies #20: Dance Tests
2016 · Director
Decroux Film
2016 · Director
Outtakes for 'In Paris Parks'
2016 · Director
This Is Not 'In Paris Parks'
2016 · Director
Bullfight: The C and D Rolls
2016 · Director
Rose and the Players – Part 1
2016 · Director
Rose and the Players – Part 2
2016 · Director
Shirley Clarke: The Artist with the Lens
2016 · Self (archival footage)
Alien Blood
1999 · second alien mother / MIB soldier
Happy Birthday to John
1997 · Self
Birth of a Nation
1997 · Self
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
1986 · Self (archive footage)
Ornette: Made in America
1986 · Director, Editor
As Kineastas
1986
Ornette Coleman: A Jazz Video Game
1984 · Director
Tongues
1982 · Director, Editor
Savage/Love
1981 · Director
A Visual Diary
1980 · Director
The Beats: An Existential Comedy
1980
The Modnar Machine
1980
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Trans
1978 · Director
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: One Two Three
1978 · Director
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Initiation
1978 · Director
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Mysterium
1978 · Director
24 Frames per Second
1977 · Director
Sex Stars
1976 · Self
Carl Lee on Joe Franklin Show
1973 · Director
Morris at Ornette's Art Show
1972 · Director
Yoko and John Party
1971 · Director
Up Your Legs Forever
1971 · Self - Legs(uncredited)
Makeup Magic
1971 · Director
Ricky Leacock Visit, evening, April 19, 1971
1971 · Director
Ricky Leacock Visit, daytime, April 19, 1971
1971 · Director
Ricky Leacock Visit, April 17, 1971
1971 · Director
Ricky Leacock Visit, April 15, 1971
1971 · Director
The Arrest
1971 · Director
Rome Is Burning: Portrait of Shirley Clarke
1970 · Shirley Clarke
Lions Love
1969 · Shirley
Carl Lee, Max and Friends at the Hotel Chelsea
1968 · Director
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
1968 · Self
Underground New York
1968 · Self
Portrait of Jason
1967 · Self - Interviewer (voice), Director, Producer, Editor
Butterfly
1967 · Director
For Life, Against the War
1967 · Director
Bill's Hat
1967
Galaxie
1966 · Self
The Cool World
1964 · Director, Writer, Editor
Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World
1963 · Director
The Connection
1962 · Director, Editor
A Scary Time
1960 · Director
Christopher and Me
1960 · Dialogue
Skyscraper
1959 · Director, Producer, Editor
Bridges-Go-Round 1
1958 · Director, Director of Photography, Producer
Bridges-Go-Round 2
1958 · Director, Producer, Cinematography
Brussels Loops
1958 · Director
A Moment in Love
1956 · Director, Camera Operator, Editor
Bullfight
1955 · Director, Camera Operator, Editor
In Paris Parks
1954 · Director
Dance in the Sun
1953 · Director, Editor
Home Movies #15 Shirley with Camera
1950 · Herself, Director
Home Movies #10 Wedding and Pregnancy
1943 · Herself
Home Movies #18 Florida
1943 · Herself
Shirley Brimberg Home Movies (When She Was Young)
1927 · Herself
The Tee Pee Video Space Troupe: The First Years
· Director
TV shows (0)
No credits available.