Music has inspired some of the most progressive art of our time - from the abstract painting of Wassily Kandinsky and Frantisek Kupka to the mid-century experimental films of Oskar Pischinger and Harry Smith to contemporary installations by Jennifer Steinkamp and Jim Hodges. While early abstract paintings tended to approach music metonymically, the colour organs, films, light shows and installations from mid-twentieth century to the present day engage a range of perceptual faculties to create a plethora of sensations in the viewer. The most complete examination of this phenomenon to date, Visual Music features ninety major works of art plus related documentation, focusing on abstract and mixed-media art forms and their connections to musical forms as varied as classical, jazz and electronica. The book includes three scholarly essays, each discussing a distinct art historical period in depth, and an additional essay by Olivia Mattis that approaches the subject from a musicologist's perspective, as well as a chronology, artist biographies and a selected bibliography.

Author Biography

Kerry Brougher, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Jeremy Strick, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Ari Wiseman, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Judith Zilczer, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.