Looking Again at Maya Deren

123 Pages·2015·1.3 MB·English

by  Ariele Hoffman

Looking Again at Maya Deren:

How the ‘Mother of Avant-Garde Film’ was a Socially
Conscious ‘Judaised Artist’

Alexander (Hammid) Hackenschmied, Maya Deren, nedatováno, silver gelatin print
source: http://www.artnet.com/artists/alexander-hammid-hackenschmied

Ariele Hoffman

Submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of
Master of Arts (Research)

April, 2015
School of Historical and Philosophical Studies
The University of Melbourne

Produced on archival quality paper

Abstract

Russian-Jewish filmmaker, Maya Deren, known as the ‘mother of avant-garde film’,
lived and worked in Greenwich Village, New York, from the 1930s until her death in
1961. Deren produced experimental films, wrote for a variety of magazines on her
philosophy of art and civilisation, lectured around the United States, Canada and
South America and established the Creative Film Foundation, a pioneering
organisation that supported independent film-makers in America. Beyond being an
educator and interested in film-art, Deren’s oeuvre revealed a strong social
conscience.

Leading up to her career in film, Deren’s poetry, photography, her Masters Thesis in
English Literature, and her role as assistant to anthropological dancer Katherine
Dunham and to prominent political activist and writer, Max Eastman, all evinced
strong social components. I argue therefore that Deren is more than an experimental
film-maker; she is a socially conscious artist.

Following Deren’s immigration to New York with her family at age five, to escape
anti-Semitic pogroms, she continued to spend her childhood and teenage years both
escaping forms of anti-Semitism and on a continuous search for belonging. Deren’s
work was coloured by this search and desire to navigate social and cultural alienation,
resulting in an endeavor to create and promote morally responsible art that enabled
civilisational progress and, most significantly, unity. This was to be created by the
morally responsible ‘artist’, who Deren established as being a self-constructed and
socially reflective figure that evolved with the socio-cultural context.

By exploring Deren within her early to mid twentieth century American environment,
I reveal that Deren’s use of ‘the artist’ parallels the use of ‘the Jew’ as a cultural
symbol, through which ideas of inclusion or exclusion from social and cultural life
can be navigated. Deren, I therefore argue, must be read within the wider context of
‘Judaised’
discourse in America, in which ‘the Jew’ was a symbol through which to approach
larger ideas of integration, assimilation and Americanisation.

My study explores the history of ‘Judaised’ discourse in America in the twentieth
century, its use by an array of artists, including Deren, as well as closely analysing
Deren’s theoretical texts and films in order to understand Deren and her oeuvre in a
nuanced manner and to cement a place for Deren within both ‘Judaised’ history and
twentieth-century America.
Declaration

This is to certify that:

1. the thesis comprises only my original work towards the masters

2. due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used

3. the thesis is less than 40,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps,
bibliographies and appendices.

Acknowledgments

First, I extend my grateful thanks to my supervisor, Professor David Goodman, for his
invaluable guidance, understanding and patience. Thank you also to my secondary
supervisor, Antonia Finnane, for her timely advice and direction.

Secondly, to my colleagues in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies
thank you for helping me with tasks both great and small: especially Alex Dellios for
your outstanding technical and emotional support.

Finally, my many thanks to Helene Lewit, Miriam and Steven Hoffman and Jordan
Stewart for your unwavering and unconditional support.

Table of Contents

Introduction: From ‘Mother of Avant-Garde Film’ to a Socially Conscious ‘Judaised’ Artist 9
Chapter One: Maya Deren, Working for Cultural Inclusion 27
Chapter Two: Maya Deren and ‘The Artist’ 48

Chapter Three:‘Judaised’ Art: Resolving the Tensions of Maya Deren’s Landscape 75

Conclusion: Remembering Maya Deren 106
Bibliography 110