Film UbuWebSara Kathryn Arledge (1911-1998)
Introspection (1946) A Selection of Glass Slide Transparencies (1947-1950) What Is A Man? (1958) Interior Garden II (1978)
Sara Kathryn Arledge (1911-1998) is one of the undeservedly neglected figures in the American experimental cinema. Although her two major works, INTROSPECTION and WHAT IS A MAN?, were completed in 1946 and 1958, respectively, neither was screened with any frequency until the late 1970s. Along with Maya Deren’s A Study in Choreography for Camera, also made in the mid-’40s, Arledge’s film pioneered the genre that came to be known as “cine-dance.” WHAT IS A MAN?, her second film, was completed shortly after Arledge’s release from Napa State Hospital, where she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had undergone numerous electroshock treatments.A prolific painter, Arledge also pioneered the medium of hand painting on glass slide transparencies.