Item #5883 [Kenneth Anger] Hand Assembled Press Folder
[Kenneth Anger] Hand Assembled Press Folder
[Kenneth Anger] Hand Assembled Press Folder
[Kenneth Anger] Hand Assembled Press Folder
[Kenneth Anger] Hand Assembled Press Folder

[Kenneth Anger] Hand Assembled Press Folder

“Anger! Anger” Press Folder, with hand-colored stencil lettering and illustration on front and back covers. 9 1⁄2 x 12 in. Contains 6 photographs of Anger (8 x 10 in. silver gelatin prints), 10 press clippings (9 photocopies and one magazine), and 3 pieces of ephemera (manuscript note and promotional materials). Very good, some minor edgewear and sunning commensurate with age. Item #5883

A rare collection of photographs, ephemera, and manuscript materials promoting the groundbreaking experimental filmmaker in a unique, hand-stenciled folder.

Kenneth Anger is an experimental filmmaker and author most well-known for his work depicting homoerotic desire and occultism. Anger gained notoriety at the age of 20 with Fireworks (1947), the subject of an obscenity trial; he was eventually acquitted.

His work often centers on occult imagery and ceremonial magic. Indeed, Anger is a practicing Thelemite and longtime friend of Anton LaVey, who appears in his film Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969).

An important figure in both the American and European filmmaking underground, Anger’s films were massive in the midnight movie circuit and have been cited as important influences on the new generation of American directors including John Waters and David Lynch, among others. Anger retired from filmmaking in the mid-1980s after a prolific output throughout the 1950s-70s and turned to writing, focusing on his Hollywood Babylon gossip book sequel. He has since returned to filmmaking in 2000 and continues to work today.

This hand-assembled press folder includes photographs of Anger posed at work in his studio amongst detritus from his films, news clippings, and ephemera. Of particular note is a remarkable promotional photograph of the young actor who played the changeling prince in the 1935 film A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Anger has claimed to be the uncredited actor, though it remains unclear whether this is true or another aspect of Anger’s mythologized persona. The folder also includes photocopied clippings of reviews of films and short biography prepared by Abby Hirsch Public Relations, and an advertisement for the book Hollywood Babylon.

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