Critical Writing Index

Ralph Steiner's "H20": simple signficance, abstract beauty

by Scott Hammen

Afterimage, Summer 1979, v. 7, no. 1&2, pp. 10-11

This article celebrates Ralph Steiner’s early film H20, a 1929 film that gestures beautifully towards abstraction. Writer Scott Hammen finds it the most successful of Steiner’s early films and laments its lack of widespread fame, questioning how Steiner’s career may have differed had there been real support for abstract filmmaking in America.

ITEM 1979.058 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

H20Ralph Steiner

ManhattaPaul Strand, Charles Sheeler

Surf and SeaweedRalph Steiner

Mechanical PrinciplesRalph Steiner

Emak BakiaMan Ray

The Plow That Broke The PlainsPare Lorentz

A Look At LaundryRalph Steiner