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Intro: The Gesamtkunstwerk and Synesthesia As An Artistic Device 

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Intro: The Gesamtkunstwerk and Synesthesia As An Artistic Device 

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Gesamtkunstwerk, or "total work of art", is a term that became popularized by Wagner. A Gesamtkunstwerk describes an artwork that results in something greater than its individual parts. The artist (or composer) directs a piece of work so that each of its components come together to create one singular harmonious experience. Often these works would tie together visuals with either music or other sensations.  Within this timeline, I will illustrate how the concept of synesthesia has also become a type of intuition that artists use to create a new or enhanced reality (Vergo).

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Braunbridge Bishop, Alexander Wallace Rimington, Thomas Wilfred, and Mary Hallock Greenewalt are all credited with the creation of their own "color organs" - fundamentally a piano that projected color. The color would constantly shift as music is played on the instrument, creating a harmonious relationship between sound and color. These organs are one of the earliest examples of a machine that creates more than just one stimulating artistic experience. In fact, the piano forces the user and the observer to associate musical tones with visual color (Brougher).

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Alexander Scriabin, a Russian composer and pianist, known for the the development of atonal styles in in his works and was largely influenced by synesthesia, so much so that he created an entire "score" for a color organ to create colorful effects (Peacock).

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Color-music is a term, coined by Rimington, that describes a performance in which colors of light are projected onto a wall or screen as music is played. This term could be closely associated with visual-music artists like Arnold Schoenberg, whose theatrical work Die gluckliche Hand
(1910-1913) features a set that dramatically shifts color throughout the production (Brougher). Scriabin's Prometheus could also be considered a type of visual-music, if not for his specific wish for the colors to be expressed through concealed lamps that would flood dark music halls (Peacock).

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Not only were artists interested in using light in their works in the form of instruments to music, but to theatrical performance as well. Pravdyuk created an instrument meant for accompanying music performances in theatres, and Scriabin, a composer, "composed" a light score for Prometheus, a piece of symphonic poetry (Hu).

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In 1911, brothers Arnald Ginna and Bruno Corra as well as painter Leopold Servage began to use film as the medium of choice for exploring color. The brothers chose to paint directly onto celluloid to create their moving color forms, however none of these films remain today. While Servage never got enough financial backing to animate his still paintings, his ideas surrounding freeing art from immobility will continue within the hearts of artists and become fully realized in the 1920s (Brougher).

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Vasily Kandinsky is likely the first artist that comes to mind when it comes to the union of art and sound. Kandinsky's involved writings of music and color (such as Concerning the Spiritual in Art) had lead historians to question whether or not he was actually a synesthete. Regardless, Kandinsky's essays and enthusiasm on the subject of color, music and universal language will inspire artists to attempt to combine sound and movement in more synchronized, meaningful ways (Vergo).

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Kandinsky was a member of The Blue Rider, a group of German Expressionist artists interested in exploring music synesthesia in painting. His writings over spirituality, color, music, art, and experimentation in the use of modern tools and techniques won him the Bauhaus' favor (Brooks).

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While it is not absolutely confirmed whether or not Kandinsky was a genuine synesthete, his personal written accounts and his involvement with Der Blaue Reiter shows that there is at least a heightened sensibility for music and color. Other artists would follow Kandinsky's philosophy and passion for a truly immersive piece of art in terms of color and sound and continue this journey of a true color-soundscape.

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Orphism: Bringing the Rainbow to the Cube (1912)

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Orphism: Bringing the Rainbow to the Cube (1912)

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Robert Delaunay kick-started an artistic movement following Cubism known as Orphism (coined by French Poet Guillaume Appolinaire, in reference of the legendary singer and poet Orpheus from Greek mythology). Orphism combines the main concepts of Cubism and Fauvism together in a sort of hybrid movement that followed the mathematical geometric fragmentation of Cubism but incorporates liberal use of color (Spate).

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Cosmic Synchromy and Synchromism (1913-1914)

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Cosmic Synchromy and Synchromism (1913-1914)

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Morgan Russel and Stanton MacDonald-Wright were both painters credited with the birth of Synchromism: an early form of pure abstraction derived from Cubism. Synchrony was often compared to Orphism (although both Russel and Wright insist Synchromist paintings were their own unique and original design). MacDonald-Wright, in his 1916 statement on Synchromism, claims that color is most effective when used in a purely abstract context. Synchromism is significant to note due to its emphasis on color in conjunction with the illusion of movement, as influenced by the energy and power of Italian Futurism of this time (Agee).

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Walter Ruttman created a series of hand-painted films, starting with Lichtspiel Opus I (1921). This film depicted strokes of color on a stark black background, accompanied by music by Max Butting. The images were created by oil paintings on glass set to match the rhythm of the music. This particular film is interesting because it is an early example of film that incorporates artistic design elements with music theory that coincides these elements: for example, as shown here, the pointed triangle "stabs" upwards towards the free-flowing swirl, as if the triangles are pursuing it like a predator to prey. The blue color coincides with the more calm tone of this section of music, but the jabbing triangles accentuate the mysterious and potentially dangerous undertone of this section of music, which intensifies in the next scene.

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Production of Musical Color in the Bauhaus

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Production of Musical Color in the Bauhaus

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Interestingly, just a year before Kandinsky joined the Bauhaus,
Hirschfelt-Mack with other members of the Bauhaus developed new types of color organs, and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy created a visual script for a new visual abstract film. Artists were still interested in exploring color organs and color instruments from the late 1800s (Kaes). Clearly the ability to directly manipulate color with sound never fell out of fashion among creatives.

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Lotte Reiniger was the creator of Adventures of Prince Achmed is one of the earliest full-length animated features, with musical accompaniment by Wolfgang Zeller. Each scene of the film is bathed in a single primary color behind the silhouettes. Each scene is punctuated by its dominating color and musical score. Color functions as a break from visual monotony and offers additional cues into the character's actions and emotions. As shown here, red is a great emotional indicator of love and passion.

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Harry Smith's early abstractions from the late 1930s include direct painting on film. These works contain biomorphic imagery that transforms wildly and erratically in a chaotic barrage of color and experimental jazz music (Switzer).

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Allegretto: An abstract short color animated film by Oskar Fischinger that features shapes dancing and morphing to the sound of jazz music. This work would result in him taking part of Disney's production of Fantasia (1940).

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Len Lye was a kinetic artist and filmmaker credited for various new techniques for animation and film. He combined abstract images with documentary footage, or simply combined color and shapes to create unique shifting and moving designs. Lye, like many artists of the time, was interested in creating a true union between visuals and music (Brougher). A Color Box (1935), for example, is a visual barrage of lines that dance to the sound of a saxophone, and various shapes that accentuate the percussive tones of the drums and piano. This piece of work uses a technique similar to Harry Smith's earlier abstract works.

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This experiment conducted in 1938 by Karwoski and Odbert reported that 13% of students that participated associated color with music. This experiment, as well as several following experiments studying general patterns in the 40s and 50s compiled this type of data as illustrated above (Peacock).

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Despite Fischinger's qualms with the film and Disney's rejection of pure abstraction, Fantasia is considered one of the most prominent examples of visual music (Brougher). The film is surreal but holds a relatively simple narrative. While it contains moments or elements of abstraction here and there, representation of Disney's iconic Mickey Mouse, other fantastical creatures, and both inanimate and animate objects are the central focus here. It may not be a pure or ideal example of a synesthetic experience to Fischinger's annoyance, but it fits the criteria of the Dartmouth experiment and is still, to this day, one of the most well-known examples of an animated musical spectacle.

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As the artistic culture and Hollywood began to boom in California in the 30s and rapidly grow. The events of WWII, despite its misfortunes, brought a whole new world of knowledge and mediums into creators' hands. The Whitney brothers began to experiment with discarded machinery and tools from the war to create machine-realized art and allowed rhe brothers and other artists to begin to utilize digital technology as a tool for art (Patterson).

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Asian metaphysics offered artists a new approach to representation. Fischinger, Smith, the Whitney brothers and Jordan Belson were all artists that incorporated asian metaphysical thought or practiced meditational practices in order to oppose materialist ideologies of the West. Consequentially, these practices and contemplation on science, transformation and the cosmos would extend fully into their art (Brougher).

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John Whitney's Yantra, which took 11 years to complete, is an eight minute long nonrepresentational work that is made up of thousands of dots on cards and then brought together using an optical printer (Young). These dots move to create waves and shifting circular patterns (Brougher). Influenced by Sri Ramana Maharshi, James followed the words of Kandinsky's spiritual relation to art, and Yantra's metaphysical influence takes abstract art to the next level. With the introduction of computers soon to come, synesthetic experiences (as well as the Whitney brothers' work) would continue to advance.

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Smith's late abstraction films would turn from pure abstraction and plastic realities into more of a neo-Dada or surreal approach. He combined his technique of bright, colorful light-shapes and used them as a visual design element along with uses appears to be paper cutouts and created strange spiritual pieces involving images from the South East and Hinduism. Western characters and conventions seemed to battle in opposition to the eastern dancers and spiritual entities among an ever-shifting cosmic stage with objects from nature or grotesque beings.

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Jordan Belson was an artist that desired to remove representation and real-life associations in his art. He often experimented with electronic sound as an artistic medium. He began to work with electronic composer Henry Jacobs in creating an audiovisual performance involving the Morrison Planetarium's domes and star effects. It was a big hit: the artists and their collaboration ran over 100 shows, exposing a large audience to a true audiovisual experience (Brougher).

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Building upon his metaphysical imagery, James Whitney combined color, sound, and movement with science and spirituality to create a unique harmonious experience. Not only did it offer new visual and auditory sensations, but it seemed to also allow the viewer to experience and contemplate on a cosmic experience, free of earthly representational imagery.

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The Experience of Psychedelics in Life and Art

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The Experience of Psychedelics in Life and Art

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As the abilities of artists only grew with the introduction of digital video and new video techniques, artists began to turn to drugs to seek out strange and unique experiences outside of reality. Often these trips offered artists borderline spiritual encounters with the images, shapes, and colors around them. According to a study published in October 2016, nearly 76% of participants that took drugs during this time expressed a change or improvement of their artistic technique and color through the use of psychedelics. One participant, Isaac Abrams, expresses that before taking LSD, his experiences were logical and linear but the psychedelics "gave [him] a sense of harmony and beauty... [he could] find meaning in the processes of Nature" (Krippner).

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The Culmination of Art and Music in the 60s Via Light Shows

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The Culmination of Art and Music in the 60s Via Light Shows

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Light shows became magnificent art audio-visual spectacles in the 1960s. Glenn McKay's work on the Joshua Light Show reflected Moholy-Nagy's experimental light compositions at the Bauhaus with its use of projected and reflected light over the entire production (Brougher). The inclusion of prominent rock bands at the time was sure to bring in a large crowd, often supplemented by mood and reality-altering psychedelics and other types of drugs.

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"It was fun- like taking a silent movie and putting music to it. Everything gets into sync, and you sync it in your mind- and the audience did that visually with the light show. They synched what they saw on the screen to what they were feeling, and, especially when people tended to take a lot of drugs, the very abstraction of the light show gave each person a personal experience" (Brougher).

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As we traverse to the later decades, more research is conducted between the neurological meanings and associations with color, sound and emotion among synesthetes and non-synesthetes. Often this research is biological in nature and contemplates over the physical perception of color upon the senses, or the neurological effects of color on an individuals mind and resulting behavior.

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Among synesthetes, research has since been conducted that explores how different numbers and letters are associated with different colors (such as "R" being purple and "Y" being red) (SYNESTHESIA, 2013). Artists back during early days of filming also had different feelings associated with sound; for example, Stan Brakhage's hearing was tied to his internal bodily pulses (Brougher). Some individuals with synesthesia visualize different colors depending on tonality, rhythm, or chords. Due to this fact, artists may attempt to create a true color-sound experience, an individuals relationship with music and color is largely subjective and therefore unlikely to ever be truly universal (Hu).

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Film has given artists the opportunity to explore the mechanics of synesthesia and explore the wild west of neurological connections between sight and hearing. The relationship between color and music is an ever-shifting topic since the late 1800s that is likely to never cease. As technology continues to become more accessible and as more people are born with synesthesia or exhibit an attraction to musically-bound color experiences in life and art, artists will continue to expand and redefine these relationships.

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Agee, William. (1965). Synchromism and color principles in American painting, 1910-1930. New York: M. Knoedler &.

Brooks, Deanna. "It Could Have Been Great: An Examination of Kandinsky's Bauhaus Paintings and the Great Synthesis of the Arts" (2016). Master of Arts (MA), Thesis, Humanities, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/qqey-w402
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/humanities_etds/6

Brougher, K. (2005). Visual-Music Culture. In Visual Music: Synaesthesia in Art and Music Since 1900 (pp. 88-177). Los Angeles, California: Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Hu, Guosheng. "Art of Musical Color: A Synesthesia‐based Mechanism of Color Art." Color Research and Application 45, no. 5 (2020): 862-70.

Krippner, Stanley. "Ecstatic Landscapes: The Manifestation of Psychedelic Art." The Journal of Humanistic Psychology 57, no. 4 (2017): 415-35.

Jacobsen, Thomas. "Kandinsky's Color-Form Correspondence And The Bauhaus Colors: An Empirical View." Leonardo (Oxford) 37, no. 2 (2004): 135-36.

Patterson, Zabet. "From the Gun Controller to the Mandala: The Cybernetic Cinema of John and James Whitney." Grey Room 36, no. 36 (2009): 36-57.

Kenneth Peacock. "Synesthetic Perception: Alexander Scriabin's Color Hearing." Music Perception 2, no. 4 (1985): 483-505.

Spate, V. (1979). Orphism: The evolution of non-figurative painting in Paris. Oxford, United Kingdom: Clarendon Press.

Switzer, Judith. "The Animated Abstractions of Harry Smith." Millennium Film Journal, no. 6 (1980): 73-81.

Vergo, Peter. (2013). Music, Kandinsky, and the Idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk. In Vasily Kandinsky from Blaue Reiter to the Bauhaus, 1910-1925. Ostfildern, New York: Hatje Cantz ; Neue Galerie.

Young, Paul. "Museum of Light and Magic: The Son a Legendary Abstract Filmmaker Discusses 'Visual Music' at MOCA." Variety 397, no. 13 (2005): S42.

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1. Johann Gottlob Krüger. Ocular Harpischord. 1743.

2. Franz Mark. Rehe im Walde II (Deer in the Forest II). Oil on canvas. 1914.

3. Morgan Russel. Cosmic Synchromy. Oil on canvas. 1913-1914.

4. GIF of Lotte Reiniger's Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926).

5. Strips of Film from Fischinger's Allegretto (1936).

6. GIF of the title of Len Lye's A Color Box (1937).

7. Criteria of the Dartmouth College Experiment article.

8. GIF of Disney's Fantasia (1940).

9. GIF of one of Henry Smith's Late Abstraction films.

10. Shot of James Whitney's Lapis (1963-1966).