
Person
Lawrence Jordan
Directing · Born 1934-01-01 · Denver, Colorado, USA
Biography
Known principally as a maverick spirit in the world of avant-garde American cinema, Lawrence Jordan played an important role in the late 1950s and early 1960s San Francisco art scene. Jordan has made over seventy experimental films, including a number of fanciful, filmic animations made from collaged cut outs of Victorian engravings. The animations extend dreamlike imagery of collaged landscape into a cinematic realm of transformation and free form symbolism. Jordan seeks to delve into the deep structures and Jungian connotations of the mythological images his films reference. His alchemical approach to imagery creates what he has called the “theater of the mind, which you construct. That is the Underworld... the realm of the imagination. You have to have a place to work with images.” Jordan founded the film department of the San Francisco Art institute in 1969 and taught there for over thirty years. He made his own box assemblages in Cornell ’s lyrically evocative style since the mid-1960s. Many feature ingenious mechanical and kinetic effects. He continues to make films and box collages at his home and studio in Petaluma where he has lived since 1978.
Known for

The Extraordinary Child
1954

Sophie's Place
Director

Spectre Mystagogic
Director

A Legend for Fountains
Co-Director

Our Lady of the Sphere
Director

Desistfilm
1954

Trumpit
Director
Cornell, 1965
Narrator (voice)

Enid's Idyll
Director

Entr'Acte
Director
Filmography
- 2024Reve d'OrDirector
- 2024HommageDirector
- 2022Harper's BazarAnimation
- 2021AlchemyDirector
- 2021Belle du JourDirector
- 2020Encounters in LightThe Filmmaker
- 2019OzDirector
- 2019The Ogre's GardenDirector
- 2018DeliriumDirector
- 2017Entr’acte IIIDirector
- 2017Time TravelDirector
- 2016Night LightDirector
- 2015The Apoplectic WalrusDirector
- 2015The Apoplectic WalrusDirector
- 2015Entr'acte IIDirector
- 2014Entr'ActeDirector
- 2014Driving DemonsDirector
- 2014InfernoDirector
- 2013Solar Sight IIIWriter
- 2013After the CircusDirector
- 2012Solar Sight IIDirector
- 2011Solar SightDirector
- 2010Beyond EnchantmentDirector
- 2010Cosmic AlchemyDirector
- 2009Circus SavageDirector
- 2008The Miracle of Don CristobalEditor
- 2008Blue Skies Beyond the Looking GlassDirector
- 2007Silent SonatasDirector
- 2005Poet's DreamDirector
- 2004Enid's IdyllDirector
- 2004Chateau/PoyetDirector
- 1996Postcard from San MiguelDirector
- 1993The GroveDirector
- 1993Star of DayDirector
- 1992The Black OudDirector
- 1991The Visible CompendiumDirector
- 1988TapestryHimself
- 1986Sophie's PlaceDirector
- 1983Winter LightDirector
- 1983AdagioDirector
- 1982In a Summer GardenDirector
- 1981MasqueradeDirector
- 1980CarabosseDirector
- 1980Finds of the FortnightDirector
- 1979Moonlight SonataDirector
- 1978Cornell, 1965Narrator (voice)
- 1978Visions of a CityDirector
- 1978AncestorsDirector
- 1977The Rime of the Ancient MarinerDirector
- 1976The ApparitionDirector
- 1973OrbDirector
- 1973Once Upon a TimeDirector
- 1972The Sacred Art of TibetDirector
- 1972Three by CornellDirector
- 1970Hildur and the MagicianDirector
- 1969Our Lady of the SphereDirector
- 1967The Old House, PassingDirector
- 1967For Life, Against the WarDirector
- 1966Rodia-EstudiantinaDirector
- 1966Big Sur: The LadiesDirector
- 1965Hamfat AsarDirector
- 1965GymnopédiesDirector
- 1965A Legend for FountainsCo-Director
- 1965The Dream MerchantDirector
- 1964Ein Traum der LiebendenDirector
- 1964Duo ConcertantesDirector
- 1964JohnnieDirector
- 1964Jewel FaceDirector
- 1963Pink Swine!Director
- 1961The Forty and One NightsDirector
- 1960Portrait of SharonDirector
- 1960Hymn in Praise of the SunDirector
- 1960The Season's ChangeDirector
- 1960The Soccer GameDirector
- 1959Minerva Looks Out into the ZodiacDirector
- 1958Triptych in Four PartsDirector
- 1957Spectre MystagogicDirector
- 1956Water LightDirector
- 1956ThreeDirector
- 1956TrumpitDirector
- 1956The One Romantic Venture of EdwardDirector
- 1955Untitled Film of Geoffrey Holder's Wedding
- 1955UndertowDirector
- 1954The Extraordinary Child
- 1954Desistfilm
- 1954Man Is in PainDirector
- 1953Unglassed Windows Cast a Terrible Reflection
- —Untitled Early FilmDirector
- —The EggDirector
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