JOHN PROTT "DANCE STUDIES" By James E. Davis in 1972.
Filmmaker and sculptor James Davis (1901 -1974) was an immense influence on 20th Century art and film. His artistic collaborators, students and patrons included several of the most important names of Mid-Century Modern design and avant-garde film making, such as Mies Van Der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alexander Calder, Joan Miro, Peggy Guggenheim, David Rockerfeller, Laszlo Moholoy-Nagy, John Marin, Stan Brakhage – much of the French film industry of the 1950’s, the "Lumia" art movement, and his students at Princeton. The inventor of the light modulator, Davis' work appeared in the opening exhibit at MOMA in 1932, and he was one of the trio of professors who opened Princeton’s Department of Art and Architecture. Davis was one of the first American avant-garde filmmakers, and was retained by both Frank Lloyd Wright and John Marin as their sole filmographer. The celebrated director and cinematographer Stan Brakhage dedicated his first film to Davis, whose films are now in the collection of the Harvard Film Archive and the Anthology Film Archives of New York.
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Filmmaker and sculptor James Davis (1901 -1974) was an immense influence on 20th Century art and film. His artistic collaborators, students and patrons included several of the most important names of Mid-Century Modern design and avant-garde film making, such as Mies Van Der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alexander Calder, Joan Miro, Peggy Guggenheim, David Rockerfeller, Laszlo Moholoy-Nagy, John Marin, Stan Brakhage – much of the French film industry of the 1950’s, the "Lumia" art movement, and his students at Princeton. The inventor of the light modulator, Davis' work appeared in the opening exhibit at MOMA in 1932, and he was one of the trio of professors who opened Princeton’s Department of Art and Architecture. Davis was one of the first American avant-garde filmmakers, and was retained by both Frank Lloyd Wright and John Marin as their sole filmographer. The celebrated director and cinematographer Stan Brakhage dedicated his first film to Davis, whose films are now in the collection of the Harvard Film Archive and the Anthology Film Archives of New York.
