• Explores in depth the occult and mystical side of Smith—his “heaven and earth magic”—focusing on how his varied artistic efforts were part of a comprehensive magical and alchemical practice

• Includes unpublished photos of and letters from Smith, rare interviews, one of his unpublished texts, and essays by scholars and friends

Harry Smith (1923–1991) was a legendary twentieth-century artist, filmmaker, painter, anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, and archivist. Especially well known for his Anthology of American Folk Music, innovative abstract films, and extraordinary collection of paper airplanes now housed at the Getty Research Institute, Smith also had a deep esoteric and mystical side, with experimentation in magic, Tarot, Qabalah, and other occult practices. Like the alchemists, Smith’s life mission was to create a unified work from disparate elements, a synthesis of correspondences between seemingly unrelated topics, from music, string figures, and Seminole patterns to the relationship between sound and film imagery.

Presenting the most diverse collection of writings by and about Smith, this volume explores the far-ranging esoteric themes that run throughout Smith’s art and career. It includes ­never-before-seen photos, rare interviews, personal letters, and an unpublished text by Harry Smith, The 96 Apparitions of the 96 Alchemical Formulae (1 to 36), as well as personal reminiscences from Smith’s friends and former students.

With growing scholarly interest and a substantial show in 2023–24 at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art, Smith’s groundbreaking mystical wisdom and “heaven and earth magic” are finally receiving the recognition they deserve, cementing Smith’s reputation as an artist of the extremes who rose above ordinary existence to make a profound contribution to art, music, film, and modern alchemy.

Harry Smith (1923–1991) was a filmmaker, painter, anthropologist, alchemist, and artist of the twentieth century. Peter Valente is a writer, editor, translator, and filmmaker. He was born in Salerno, Italy, in 1970 and grew up in New Jersey. The author of 12 books and the translator of several influential works, including Gérard de Nerval’s The Illuminated, he lives in North Carolina.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Heaven and Earth Magic:
Harry Smith the Alchemist at Work
Peter Valente

1 Mystic Traveler: Thoughts on Harry Smith
Raymond Foye

2 Harry Stays with Henry for a While
M. Henry Jones

3 Harry Smith and the Indians:
Teaching Film Direction in the Sixties
Marc Berger

4 Harry Smith: The Alchemy of Caprice
Scott Feero

5 Intention, Vision, and Action:
My Time with Harry Smith
Paola Igliori

6 The First Surrealist in New York City
Srijita Banerjee

7 Harry Smith on the Holy City:
From Boulder to Kathmandu
Darrin Daniel

8 Hanging out with Harry Smith at Naropa:
A Collection of Fictional Anecdotes
Rob Pacheco

9 The Women in Harry Smith’s Early World
Bret Lunsford

10 Harry Smith’s Alchemy and Magic
Charles Stein

11 Harry Smith: Cosmic Collage
Maggie Corrigan

12 The Tree with Roots: Why Harry Smith’s Anthology
Is Such a Big Deal
Mike McGonigal

13 Remembering Harry Smith: A Conversation with
Steven Taylor, Harry’s Friend and Colleague at Naropa
Interview Conducted at Naropa University
by Ariella Ruth during the Summer of 2011

14 At Naropa with Harry Smith (1989–1991)
Tom Banger

15 Automatic Synchronization:
Music and Image in the Films of Harry Smith
David Chapman

16 Backstage of a Glyph: The Structure of
Harry Smith’s Mahagonny
Rose Marcus

17 Visionary Charlatan: Harry Smith’s Way-Out Science
of Thought Forms
Ed Hamilton

18 A Yoyo Shaped Like a Hamburger, or The World
According to Harry Smith
Beth Borrus

19 The Paradoxical Life of the Artist Harry Smith
John Szwed

20 You’re the One Who Signs the Checks!:
When Harry Lived with Allen Ginsberg
Bob Rosenthal

21 Harry Smith’s Universal (Digital) String Figure
Henry Adam Svec

22 String Figures, Not Cat’s Cradles
Marc Berger

23 Like a Talisman for the Guardian Angel:
What I Learned from Studying Harry Smith’s Work
Peter Valente

24 Essays on Harry Smith’s Tree of Life
in the Four Worlds
James Wasserman and Khem Caigan

25 Harry Taught Me How to Be a Complete Human Being
Pesach Betzalel (Peter Fleishman) Interviewed by
Zia Ziprin (2022)

26 A Short History of the Installation
Harry Smith: A Re-Creation
M. Henry Jones and Friends

27 Correlating Irrationalities in The Moving Maths
of Harry Smith: Essay on Harry Smith’s
The 96 Apparitions of 96 Alchemical Formulae
(1 to 36), with the Original Text
Robert Podgurski

28 Unlocking the Secrets of the Unseen Universe:
Essays on Harry Smith’s Letter to Arthur M. Young
(August 30, 1960)
Kathy Goss and Elliot Wolfson, PhD

29 Harry Smith Live: Three Interviews with Harry Smith
Harry Smith Interviewed by Dawn-Michelle Baude
(Boulder, Colorado, 1988)

A Conversation with Harry Smith Recorded at His
Naropa Cottage on December 18, 1988

Interview from Cantrills Filmnotes, No. 19
(October, 1974)

References

Index