Robert Breer
- Introduction
- Robert Carlton Breer (September 30, 1926 – August 11, 2011) was an American experimental filmmaker, painter, and sculptor."A founding member of the American avant-garde," Breer was best known for his films, which combine abstract and representational painting, hand-drawn rotoscoping, original 16mm and 8mm film footage, photographs, and other materials. His aesthetic philosophy and technique were influenced by an earlier generation of abstract filmmakers that included Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling, Walter Ruttmann, and Fernand Léger, whose work he discovered while living in Europe. Breer was also influenced by the concept of Neo-plasticism as described by Piet Mondrian and Vasarely.After experimenting with cartoon animation as a child, he started making his first abstract experimental films while living in Paris from 1949 to 1959, a period during which he also showed paintings and kinetic sculptures at galleries such as the renowned Galerie Denise René.Breer explained some of the reasons behind his move from painting to filmmaking in a 1976 interview: This was 1950 or '51... I was having trouble with a concept, a very rigid notion about painting that I was interested in, that I was involved with, and that was the school of Mondrian. [...] The notion that everything had to be reduced to the bare minimum, put in its place and kept there. It seemed to me overly rigid since I could, at least once a week, arrive at a new 'absolute.' I had a feeling there was something there that suggested change as being a kind of absolute. So that's how I got into film. Breer also taught at Cooper Union in New York from 1971 to 2001.Breer died on August 11, 2011 at his home in Tucson.Scholarly publications on Breer's work and interviews with the artist can be found in Robert Breer, A Critical Cinema 2: Interviews with Independent Filmmakers by Scott MacDonald, An Introduction to the American Underground Film by Sheldon Renan, Animation in the Cinema by Ralph Stephenson, and Film Culture magazine.Breer won the 1987 Maya Deren Independent Film and Video Artists' Award, presented by the American Film Institute.His film Eyewash was included in Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film 1947-1986.
- Wikidata
- Q526954
- Introduction
- Son of an inventor and automotive engineer, Breer is known for experimentation with a range of film and animation techniques. Breer was drawn to film through painting in the early 1950s while living in Paris. His interest in geometric abstraction is evident in his first films, which explored the role of movement in the understanding of form and space. He also created kinetic sculptures, which he called 'floats' in two separate periods of his career.
- Nationality
- American
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Painter, Sculptor
- Names
- Robert Breer, Robert C. Breer, Robert Carlton Breer
- Ulan
- 500060118
Exhibitions
-
Sur moderno: Journeys of Abstraction—The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift
May 28–Sep 12, 2020
MoMA
-
Private Lives Public Spaces
Through Jun 20
MoMA
-
409: Abstract Lens
Oct 21, 2019–Sep 20, 2020
MoMA
Collection gallery
-
If Everything Is Sculpture Why Make Sculpture? Artist’s Choice: Peter Fischli
Jun 12, 2018–May 10, 2019
MoMA
-
Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends
May 21–Sep 17, 2017
MoMA
-
Robert Breer has
14 exhibitionsonline.
-
Robert Breer REcreation 1956
-
Robert Breer REcreation 1956
-
Robert Breer Hommage to Jean Tinguely's "Hommage to New York" 1960
-
Robert Breer Osaka I 1970
-
Robert Breer Float 1970
-
Lee Bontecou, Robert Breer, John Chamberlain, Walter De Maria, Mark di Suvero, Jim Dine, Öyvind Fahlström, Dan Flavin, Red Grooms, Hans Haacke, Alex Hay, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris, Louise Nevelson, Kenneth Noland, Claes Oldenburg, Nam June Paik, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Whitman, James Rosenquist, George Segal, Richard Serra, Keith Sonnier, Richard Stankiewicz, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Various Artists The New York Collection for Stockholm 1973
-
Robert Breer Untitled from The New York Collection for Stockholm 1973
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
All requests to license audio or video footage produced by MoMA should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills or motion picture footage from films in MoMA’s Film Collection cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For licensing motion picture film footage it is advised to apply directly to the copyright holders. For access to motion picture film stills please contact the Film Study Center. More information is also available about the film collection and the Circulating Film and Video Library.
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].