All the talk of stylization brought back a memory from 30 years ago, when a friend dragged me to a museum retrospective of Oskar Fischinger's abstract animations. For all my dislike of UPA, I have to say I loved these works on sight and still do. I'm sure the hook that got me in the door was hearing his name associated with the Bach sequence in Disney's FANTASIA (the "Soundtrack Interview" is closer to his actual work) , but I was knocked out by the breathtaking dynamism and endless invention of this artist's mind. Somewhat like Kandisnky paintings, but more spare and of course kinetic. Sometimes he used stop motion, other times paintings. The FANTASIA stuff is a far cry from his actual work so don't go by what that film shows. Art with a very capitol A. See these films if you haven't already, you won't be sorry.
After that show back in 1977 a few of us hung around to chat with Elfriede, Mr. Fischinger's widow and I will never forget how warm and informal she was--sharp, brilliant, articulate but completely devoid of affect, the antithesis of a snob. She was very down to earth and quite informal. She talked to us like kindered spirits and old neighbors, she even recalled a bit of FANTASIA for my geeky benefit. She sort of sighed and rolled her eyes, recalling how Walt wanted little clown sillhouettes and such to roll through the frame and had to be talked out of it and that her husband never looked back after his brief consultation for the film. There was no vituperative tirade, just a world apart between them and that was that. She could tell we all loved the films too, and she was obviously proud but not the least bit conceited. I wish I had gone out of my way to meet her again.
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