James Whitney
1921 – 1982

For John and James Whitney, early twentieth-century music provided the direct inspiration for their search for a new mode of musical expression, leading them to design and construct a sound-making apparatus to accompany their films of abstract and geometric forms. The Whitneys believed that music created by conventional instruments carried “past associations and preconceptions” that would compromise the innovative imagery they had developed for their 16mm color Five Film Exercises (1943-45). They sought, as John would later write, “a restoration …

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Lapis (1963-1966)