RICHTER, HANS. (1888-1976). German-American Dada painter, graphic artist, avant-garde film producer and art historian. 33 original photographs related to his best-known film, Dreams That Money Can Buy. Arnold Eagle (1909-1992) took most of the photographs. One photo is signed on the verso by Richter (“Hans Richter”). All the photographs are black-and-white and measure 8”x10” unless otherwise noted. Richter sent these images to his journalist friend, Léo Sauvage (1913-1988), who promoted Richter’s productions via articles in various publications.

Hans Richter, born in Berlin, Germany, became one of the principal figures of avant-garde art in the 1910s and 1920s. As an art historian and pioneer of Surrealism and Dadaism (sometimes called an art movement but more accurately an anti-art movement), he was a major influence on artists in many disciplines. He is now best known for his groundbreaking surrealistic films Dreams That Money Can Buy (1947) and 8x8: A Chess Sonata in Eight Movements (1957). Richter immigrated to New York City in 1940 at age 52, and in 1943 became a professor and the director of the Institute of Film Techniques at New York’s City College, a position he held for 13 years. In 1956, Richter turned to teaching documentary filmmaking, and in 1962, he retired and moved to Locarno, Switzerland. Dreams That Money Can Buy was the very first feature-length avant-garde American film. The story involves seven dreams offered for sale by Joe, a poor young poet with a rich imagination. Each dream episode is shaped by a visual artist (Max Ernst, Fernand Léger, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Alexander Calder and Richter) and a composer (Darius Milhaud, John Cage, Paul Bowles, David Diamond, John Latouche and Louis Applebaum). Hungarian-American photographer Arnold Eagle was also known for his socially concerned documentary photographs of the 1930s and 40s. Eagle’s projects included One Third of a Nation, depicting slum conditions in New York City, and photo series on the Orthodox Jewish community of Manhattan’s Lower East Side and the vanishing elevated subway trains. He also photographed the Martha Graham Dance Company and taught filmmaking for more than three decades at the New School for Social Research. For 25 years, Léo Sauvage, the New York foreign correspondent for the Paris daily newspaper Le Figaro, reported under the byline “New York: Léo Sauvage” on American news, political and cultural events, reviewed plays and interviewed celebrities in all fields. He was also the author of nine books, the best-known of which are The Oswald Affair (1966), about the JFK assassination, and L’Affaire Lumière (1985), about Georges Méliès and the origins of cinema.

Following is a list of the 33 photographs from the film, in order of the scenes:

Max Ernst (1891-1976). German painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist and poet, and a pioneer of the Dada and Surrealism movements in Europe. From Ernst’s scene, “Desire:” Four photos. An 8x10 photo by Sheila Ward of Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning Ernst in a scene from Desire, identified (“Photo Sheila Ward”) and signed on the verso by Richter (“Hans Richter”). Also, a snapshot version of the same photo (4”x5”), an 8”x10” portrait of Max Ernst, and a snapshot photo of Ernst sitting on a throne (4”x5”). Fernand Léger (1881-1955). French painter, sculptor and filmmaker, generally regarded as a forerunner of pop art. Léger worked in a variety of media including paint, ceramic, film, theater and dance sets, glass, print, and book arts. From Léger’s scene: “The Girl with the Prefabricated Heart:” Seven photos; a 3”x5” portrait and four 8x10’s of Léger posing humorously with an undressed mannequin, and two circular 4”x4” portrait photos of the music theme’s singers, Libby Holman and Josh White. Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968). A long-time friend and collaborator of Richter, the French-born American artist was a sculptor, chess player and writer, associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. From Duchamp’s scene, “Nudes Descending a Staircase.” Two photos, one an 8”x10” of Marcel Duchamp’s cinematic version of his most famous painting, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912), and a striking 5”x9”portrait of Duchamp by Arnold Eagle. Alexander Calder (1898-1976). American artist known for his innovative mobiles and monumental public sculptures. His performance show Calder’s Circus brought him fame in Paris as he staged it for artist colleagues and friends including Piet Mondrian, Joan Miró and Marcel Duchamp. He created a complete troupe of performers – from acrobats and animals to clowns and tightrope walkers – using ordinary household materials, everything from bits of cloth, yarn, and paper to rubber tubes, buttons, and bottle caps, and introduced the kineticism that became the defining characteristic of his art from the 1930s onward. From Calder’s scene, “Circus” Three photos, two approximately 4½” snapshots of Calder working on the “Ringmaster” from his Circus show, and a 4½”x7” profile portrait. Hans Richter. Nine photographs featuring actors from his segment “Narcissus,” including Jack Bittner, Dorothy Griffith and John Latouche. Eight additional photographs from Dreams That Money Can Buy: Two portraits of Richter by Rosenblum & Shulman (one is 7½”x8”), two exceptionally rare photos of Richter and Arnold Eagle together, and four more of Richter including one with actress Valerie Tite.

In overall fine condition, many of the photos have printer’s instructions on the versos.