jun 1, 1922 - Len Lye
Description:
Leonard Charles Huia Lye is his full name.
In 1922 he moved to Sydney, working briefly as
an animator and experimenting with kinetic
sculpture.
In 1924 he moved to Samoa, but within a matter
of months was, he said, ordered to leave
because of the way he had ‘gone native’.
In 1928 he was elected to the artist collective
Seven and Five Society (Frances Hodgkins was to
join the following year).
In 1929 Lye began film-making, combining
Māori, Aboriginal, Samoan and modernist
influences in his animated works. Unable to
afford a camera he experimented with painting
directly onto film, with Colour box (1935)
winning a medal of honour at the Brussels
international cinema festival.
In 1944 Lye visited New York and he was so
impressed that he decided to stay on. He
became involved in abstract expressionism,
producing films and kinetic sculptures, earning
an international reputation.
Lye visited New Zealand in 1968 and again in
1977, during which the Govett-Brewster Art
Gallery in New Plymouth offered to build large-
scale versions of sculptures he had never been
able to realise.
Added to timeline:
2d animation
Date:
