Maker: Dwinell Grant
Original format: 16mm silent film 1.37:1
Intentionally silent
Courtesy: Dwinell Grant

Grant had been an abstract painter for five years before making any abstract films. Their titles, "Themis," "Contrathemis," and "Three Themes in Variation," illuminate his theory that the thematic structure of visuals is comparable to that of music. Therefore, Grant felt that his silent films created their own visual music. -Cecile Starr

Dwinell Grant's (1912-1991) early abstract film experiments, dating from the late 1930s, are regarded among the purest and most precise. He was the first to experiment with color field "flicker." A relatively private person, Grant had a long career as a commercial animator/illustrator of medical and science films and books. -Aram Boyajian