Marie Menken

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Marie Menken (born May 25, 1909 in New York City , † December 29, 1970 in Brooklyn ) was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker.

life and work

Marie Menken is best known for her work as an experimental filmmaker . Her first film, Geography Of The Body (1943), shows naked male and female bodies in close-up to a surrealistic text by George Barker . Her second work, Visual Variations On Noguchi (1945), a rhythmic documentation of Isamu Noguchi's sculptures , is considered to be one of the first avant-garde films on plastic art. The moving handheld camera is typical of her film style .

She was married to Willard Maas , a professor of English at Wagner College in Staten Island . With her husband, she founded the Gryphon Group , which also included Stan Brakhage , Charles Boultenhouse , Gregory J. Markopoulos , Ben Moore and Charles Henri Ford . It was one of the first cooperatives to promote the production and distribution of independent films. Marie Menken lived with Maas on Montague Street in Manhattan , where they hosted salons for the New York art scene. Both gave a party in 1962 where they met Andy Warhol through Charles Henri Ford . At the same time, Gerard Malanga , Warhol's first colleague a short time later, studied literature with Maas at Wagner College. It was probably at this party that they first met.

Allegedly (based on Gerard Malanga) the play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee (who was friends with Maas) on the relationship between Maas and Menken, both of whom were known to be heavy drinkers.

Movies

Films by Marie Menken

Films with Marie Menken

  • Andy Warhol: The Life Of Juanita Castro, 1965 (as Juanita, sister of Fidel Castro )
  • Andy Warhol: Girls in Prison, 1965
  • Andy Warhol: The Chelsea Girls, 1966
  • Jonas Mekas : Diaries, Notebooks and Sketches, 1969
  • Kenneth Anger : Scorpio Rising, 1963

Biography

literature

  • Stan Brakhage : Marie Menken. Film at Wit's End: Eight Avant-Garde Filmmakers. McPherson, Kingston, NY 1989.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Menken, Marie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer, journalist and filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH December 29, 1970
Place of death Brooklyn