Guggenheim

Finding 67: Dwinell Grant Film Score for Uncompleted Composition in 4 Minor

June 22, 2011

Hilla Rebay championed the work of numerous experimental filmmakers, and nonobjective film played a critical role in her vision for the Museum of Non-Objective Painting. Her records contain correspondence with the likes of Oskar Fischinger, Dwinell Grant, Norman McLaren, and Harry Smith. Additionally, the records contain original film scores and color studies created by Grant. In the film score pictured here, Grant maps out the animation sequence and the rhythm of color and light for one of his films. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation awarded Grant a scholarship in 1944 for the purpose of writing a book on nonobjective film and producing a "three-dimensional nonobjective film, in color, of symphonic dimensions," although neither the book nor the film was completed. In a 1945 letter to Rebay, Grant warned "No one has ever done a nonobjective film of such dimensions before and it cannot be forced, nor can it be done in a month."

–Amanda Brown, Archives Assistant