Mary Ellen Bute 1906-1983
Rhythm in Light – 1934
Duration: 5 min

By Melville Webber, Mary Ellen Bute, and Theodore Nemeth, 1934, 5 minutes
Music: „Peer Gynt Suite“ by Edvard Grieg
Courtesy: Mary Ellen Bute, Theodore Nemeth, Anthology Film Archives

Bute used Webber’s experience with making cardboard models and with photographing in soft focus and through prisms to produce multiple refractions and reflections. In addition, she used cellophane, ping-pong balls, sparklers, eggbreaters, and bracelets to create a work that, while pushing toward abstraction, does not completely leave the objective world behind. (R. Bruce Elder)