Rudy Burckhardt (April 6, 1914 â€" August 1, 1999) was a
Swiss-American filmmaker, and photographer, known for his photographs
of the hand-painted billboards that began to dominate the American
landscape in the nineteen-forties and fifties.Burckhardt was a member
of the Swiss patrician Burckhardt family. He discovered photography as
a medical student in London. He left medicine to pursue photography in
the 1930s. He immigrated to New York City in 1935. Between 1934 and
1939, he traveled to Paris, New York and Haiti making photographs
mostly of city streets and experimenting with short 16mm films. While
stationed in Trinidad in the Signal Corps from 1941-1944, he filmed
the island's residents. In 1947, he joined the Photo League in New
York City. Burckhardt married painter Yvonne Jacquette whom he
collaborated with throughout their 40-year marriage. During the
mid-Fifties he worked with Joseph Cornell on "The Aviary",
"Nymphlight", "A Fable For Fountains", and "What Mozart Saw On
Mulberry Street". He taught filmmaking and painting at the University
of Pennsylvania from 1967 to 1975. He is the great-uncle of author
Andreas Burckhardt.Burckhardt ended his life by drowning in the lake
on his property.
Swiss-American filmmaker, and photographer, known for his photographs
of the hand-painted billboards that began to dominate the American
landscape in the nineteen-forties and fifties.Burckhardt was a member
of the Swiss patrician Burckhardt family. He discovered photography as
a medical student in London. He left medicine to pursue photography in
the 1930s. He immigrated to New York City in 1935. Between 1934 and
1939, he traveled to Paris, New York and Haiti making photographs
mostly of city streets and experimenting with short 16mm films. While
stationed in Trinidad in the Signal Corps from 1941-1944, he filmed
the island's residents. In 1947, he joined the Photo League in New
York City. Burckhardt married painter Yvonne Jacquette whom he
collaborated with throughout their 40-year marriage. During the
mid-Fifties he worked with Joseph Cornell on "The Aviary",
"Nymphlight", "A Fable For Fountains", and "What Mozart Saw On
Mulberry Street". He taught filmmaking and painting at the University
of Pennsylvania from 1967 to 1975. He is the great-uncle of author
Andreas Burckhardt.Burckhardt ended his life by drowning in the lake
on his property.
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