In more than fifty films over the past four decades JVDK, as he was affectionately called by his many friends and fans, successfully disregarded preconceptions about barriers between art forms and artificial subdivisions between fiction and documentary filmmaking. His filmmaking practice included "painting with sound," rehearsing his "characters," rearranging shots, looking for "the moment where the photographic image moves," and otherwise structuring his films on techniques adapted from jazz improvisation. Usually a one-man band, he worked the camera, wrote, directed, and edited his own films, often with his wife, Noshka van der Lely, as sound operator. In this way, he controlled a multilayered documentation of the world and the place of the individual within it, creating links and contradictions that encourage the viewer to look beyond the frame.

JVDK's themes reflect his interest in gaining insight into the social and political affairs of the world and their effects on the individual, group, or culture. Time, movement, and framing are always among his main concerns, thus creating fluid works of great beauty-even when he's deciphering the global economy. Van der Keuken's lyrical, subjective camerawork is full of visual information. As he refuses to privilege figurative images, the most abstract imagery often carries the most concrete clues; in the editing, antithetical elements are unified, albeit with an element of conflict maintained. In the complex sound designs of his films, music and incidental sound are integral parts of the overall concept, and are often used to create mood or meaning and occasionally even seem to determine camera movement. The link between observation and reflection is explored in all of van der Keuken's work. His lifelong fascination with seeing the world through the lens produced an astonishing body of work, most of which is exhibited in this series.

Johan van der Keuken passed away while the MoMA exhibition was in the last stage of preparation. This retrospective is offered as a memorial tribute to the artist.

Through the Lens Clearly, on view at The Museum of Modern Art from April 20 to May, 13, 2001, was organized by Jytte Jensen, Associate Curator, Department of Film and Video, with the generous assistance of Susanna Scott, Idéale Audience, Paris; Babeth M. VanLoo, Lucid Eye Films; and the Consulate General of the Netherlands, New York.