Shirley Clarke
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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/
Known for
Credits
The Connection (1962)
Director
For Life, Against the War (1967)
Director
Yoko and John Party (1971)
Director
The Cool World (1964)
Director
Ornette: Made in America (1986)
Director
Portrait of Jason (1967)
Director
Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World (1963)
Director
Ricky Leacock Visit, April 15, 1971 (1971)
Director
Ricky Leacock Visit, evening, April 19, 1971 (1971)
Director
Ornette Coleman: A Jazz Video Game (1984)
Director
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Initiation (1978)
Director
A Moment in Love (1956)
Director
Tongues (1982)
Director
Makeup Magic (1971)
Director
Brussels Loops (1958)
Director
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Mysterium (1978)
Director
Carl Lee on Joe Franklin Show (1973)
Director
Home Movies #15 Shirley with Camera (1950)
Director
Skyscraper (1959)
Director
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: One Two Three (1978)
Director
Dance in the Sun (1953)
Director
Carl Lee, Max and Friends at the Hotel Chelsea (1968)
Director
The Tee Pee Video Space Troupe: The First Years (—)
Director
Decroux Film (2016)
Director
Bridges-Go-Round 1 (1958)
Director
Ricky Leacock Visit, daytime, April 19, 1971 (1971)
Director
Bullfight (1955)
Director
Butterfly (1967)
Director
Bullfight: The C and D Rolls (2016)
Director
Home Movies #20: Dance Tests (2016)
Director
Rose and the Players – Part 2 (2016)
Director
A Visual Diary (1980)
Director
Savage/Love (1981)
Director
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Trans (1978)
Director
24 Frames per Second (1977)
Director
Morris at Ornette's Art Show (1972)
Director
Bridges-Go-Round 2 (1958)
Director
This Is Not 'In Paris Parks' (2016)
Director
Rose and the Players – Part 1 (2016)
Director
Outtakes for 'In Paris Parks' (2016)
Director
Ricky Leacock Visit, April 17, 1971 (1971)
Director
A Short Lecture and Demonstration on the Evolution of Ragtime as Presented by Jelly Roll Morton (2016)
Director
In Paris Parks (1954)
Director
Fear Flight (2016)
Director
A Scary Time (1960)
Director
The Arrest (1971)
Director