Frank Eidlitz Collection

The Frank Eidlitz Collection contains the 16mm and 35mm film work of graphic designer and visual artist Frank Eidlitz (1923–1997), predominantly made during a Winston Churchill Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge in 1966. The collection contains Eidlitz’s experiments with light, movement and technology in film.

Frank Eidlitz was born and raised in Hungary and studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Budapest. He emigrated to Australia in 1948 and by 1955 had begun his graphic design career in Melbourne, working first with Atlas Publications. He became art director at USP Benson in 1957, where he would remain until 1965.

In 1964, Eidlitz designed a highly acclaimed campaign for Shell, which consisted of a series of 24 posters using the emblem of an arrow – designed to convey movement, power and speed. His early work as a graphic designer and visual artist was informed by an interest in kinetic art. In an article that appeared in ‘Print’ magazine in 1967, Eidlitz is quoted as saying, “To me kinetics express the idea of space and time simultaneously, and by inviting the spectator to participate, the viewer becomes part of the artist’s creation and experiment. Why should art remain static when life and nature have a perpetual motion?”

In 1965, Eidlitz exhibited a collection of geometric and abstract paintings that experimented with optical illusion, entitled ‘Perceptual Abstractions’ at the Museum of Modern Art and Design, Melbourne. The gallery was run by John Reed, and was a precursor to the Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen. The series of paintings had been commissioned by USP Benson to decorate the company’s new headquarters in South Melbourne.

Later that year, Eidlitz received a Winston Churchill Fellowship and travelled to the United States, with the intention of studying with influential Hungarian-American artist Gyorgy Kepes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge. Eidlitz spent 1966 living between MIT and New York.

This collection of films was made during Eidlitz’s time in the US and contains his experiments with light, movement and technology. Informed by his interests in kinetic and optical art, these early film experiments mark a shift in Eidlitz’s work, incorporating science and technology into his perceptual abstractions.

The film reels in this collection contain offcuts and experiments, as well as completed projects including ‘Raga Doll’ and ‘Calder’, both of which were screened in Melbourne and Sydney upon Eidlitz’s return to Australia in 1967. Inspired by his introduction to new technology and experimental uses of photography and film in the US, as well as the teachings of Kepes, Eidlitz was one of the first artists to use computer graphics as a medium in Australia during the 1970s. Following his fellowship in the US, Eidlitz held exhibitions throughout Australia, in Europe and in New York.

The Frank Eidlitz Collection was generously donated to ACMI by the Eidlitz family.