16 Facts About Len Lye

Leonard Charles Huia Lye was a New Zealand artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture.

Len Lye's films are held in archives including the New Zealand Film Archive, British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Pacific Film Archive at University of California, Berkeley.

Len Lye's sculptures are found in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Berkeley Art Museum.

Len Lye was one of the first Pakeha artists to appreciate the art of Maori, Australian Aboriginal, Pacific Island and African cultures, and this had great influence on his work.

Len Lye spent extended periods in Australia and Samoa, where he was expelled by the New Zealand colonial administration for living within an indigenous community.

Len Lye quickly entered modernist circles, exhibiting with the Seven and Five Society from 1927 until 1934, and becoming affiliated with the Footprints Studio.

Len Lye reinvented the technique of drawing directly on film, producing his animation for the 1935 film A Colour Box, an advertisement for "cheaper parcel post", without using a camera for anything except the title cards at the beginning of the film.

Len Lye worked for the GPO Film Unit's successor, the Crown Film Unit producing wartime information films, such as Musical Poster Number One.

Len Lye continued to experiment with the possibilities of direct film-making to the end of his life.

Len Lye was a friend of Dylan Thomas, and of Laura Riding and Robert Graves.

Len Lye was an important kinetic sculptor and what he referred to as "Tangibles".

Len Lye saw film and kinetic sculpture as aspects of the same "art of motion", which he theorised in a highly original way in his essays.

Len Lye's "Tangibles" were shown at MOMA in New York in 1961 and are now found worldwide.

In 1977, Len Lye returned to his homeland to oversee the first New Zealand exhibition of his work at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery at that time under the directorship of Ron O'Reilly.

Len Lye was a maverick, never fitting any of the usual art historical labels.

Len Lye is remembered for his colourful personality, amazing clothes, and highly unorthodox lecturing style.