Len Lye : A Biography

ART (GENERAL) NEW ZEALAND

“This is the first biography of Len Lye (1901-1980), a remarkable New Zealander and a gifted innovator in many areas of the arts – film, painting, sculpture, photography, and writing. Not only his constant flow of new ideas but his exuberance, his unique taste in clothes, his quirky turn of phrase, and his freewheeling personal life made him a legendary figure – a ‘crazy, excited and exciting guy’ (as a fellow artist once described him).”.

“The eventful life of this largely self-educated young man from the working class took him to bohemian circles in Sydney and then to Samoa where he clashed with the colonial administration for identifying too closely with the Samoans. He worked his way by sea to London where leading artists and writers were fascinated by Lye, a wild man from the colonies who was creating avant-garde works of art. His films for well-known producer John Grierson won him international awards. Inventing ways to make films without a camera he became one of the pioneers of the genre later known as the ‘music video’. He worked with many famous creative people (including Robert Graves, Dylan Thomas, Alfred Hitchcock, and the Surrealists). He subsequently moved to New York’s Greenwich Village and became a leading figure in the ‘kinetic art’ movement of the 1950s and 1960s. With his belief in sexual freedom, his scorn for authority and his lifetime commitment to experiment, he never slowed down.

Lye was – in the words of poet Alistair Reid – ‘the least boring person who ever lived’. Even after his death he continues to be a controversial figure as his plans for giant moving sculptures are at last being realised in New Zealand.”

436 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 24 cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. 392-429) and index. #240723 (Name on fep)

Lye, Len, 1901-1980.  |  Artists — United States — Biography.