So Dreamy, So Sinister: Animation by Suzan Pitt

Though her artmaking practice began with painting, the American visual artist Suzan Pitt (1943–2019) quickly became frustrated by the medium as she felt it left her images in “a state of arrested movement.” Pitt pivoted to animation in 1968 to create the first of her surreal, exuberant, hand-made animated shorts, and found that through hand-drawn, stop-motion, and multiplane animation, she “could imagine and dramatize their stories” beyond the static canvas. Inspired by Fleischer cartoons, surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, underground comics, and the lush natural world, Pitt’s visual poetry was never confined to one mode of expression: throughout her life, she continued painting, developed stage designs for two operas in Germany, created murals, and decorated one-of-a-kind coats with distinct iconography. As a gesture toward new objects on display in our Inventing Worlds and Characters: Animation gallery, including cels and background paintings from the Suzan Pitt Estate, this program highlights her celebrated film Asparagus, preceded by works from throughout her career.

Programmed and note by K.J. Relth-Miller.

All films directed by Suzan Pitt. Total program runtime: 76 min.

Pinball
2013. 7 min. USA. Color. Digital. Restored by the Academy Film Archive.

Jefferson Circus Songs
1975. 19 min. USA. Color. Digital. Restored by the Academy Film Archive.

Crocus
1971. 7 min. USA. Color. 16mm. Restored by the Academy Film Archive.

Joy Street
1995. 24 min. USA. Color. 35mm. Restored by the Academy Film Archive.

Asparagus
1979. 19 min. USA. Color. 35mm. Restored by the Academy Film Archive.

Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.

Explore our current quarterly print Film Calendar and browse the archive.

Theater accessibility accommodations available upon request. Learn more about our accessibility initiatives.

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