Harry Taussig

Harry Taussig
Birth name Harry Arthur Taussig
Born 1941
Genres American Primitivism, folk
Occupation(s) Professor
Instruments Guitar
Years active 1960-66; 2012-13
Labels Tompkins Square

Harry Arthur Taussig (alternately appearing as Harry Taussig, Arthur Taussig, or H. Arthur Taussig, born 1941) is an American physicist, collage artist, photographer, film analyst and fingerstyle guitarist.

Early life and musical career

Taussig was born and raised in Los Angeles and attended school in Eagle Rock, California. In 1963 he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, where he also studied anthropology and music history. Inspired by blues instrumentalist Elizabeth Cotten and Mozart's requiem, Taussig took up banjo and 12-string guitar and performed on radio station KPFK’s “Midnight Special” folk music program.[1]

In 1964 Taussig took a job as a physicist for Ford-Aeronutronics Corporation in Orange County and began studying art and photography with John Upton at Orange Coast College. In 1965 he recorded his first solo album, Fate is Only Once, under the name Harry Taussig. Played in a single 45-minute take, the record is partially improvised and, according to Taussig, full of mistakes. Issued on a private label, few copies of the original record existed.[2]

The following year Taussig recorded two songs for the compilation Contemporary Guitar: Spring '67 for John Fahey's Takoma label. The album featured similar American primitivists, including Fahey, Max Ochs, Robbie Basho and Bukka White.[3] Taussig's only live performances during this period were informal sessions for friends. He taught guitar for some years and wrote a few books on guitar and autoharp instruction for Oak Publications before retiring from music altogether.[2]

Art, photography and film career

With a degree in physics, Taussig spent some time working in the defense industry.[2] Unhappy with the military-industrial complex, he entered UCLA to continue his studies both at the Brain Research Institute and in photography with Robert Heinecken and Robert Fichter. In summers, he worked with John Upton, Minor White, Ansel Adams, Paul Caponigro, Oliver Gagliani, and others. He received his master's degree in biochemistry and a doctorate in biophysics in 1971 while beginning to exhibit his photography internationally, as well as other visual mediums, including collage and film studies, which he taught at Orange Coast College under the name H. Arthur Taussig. He gradually became well known as a film analyst, curating film for the Orange County Museum and publishing the 1997 book Film Values/Family Values: A Parents' Guide.[4] As a visual artist, Taussig has produced a series of illuminated books of classic works including Dante’s The Divine Comedy, James Joyce’s Ulysses, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, among others. Taussig also creates collages based on Jungian Psychology and has published a series of his collages as a deck of tarot cards.[1]

Taussig's work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, Denver Museum of Art, Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Portland Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art, and many others. In 1982 he received the National Endowment of the Arts Visual Artist’s Grant.

Musical resurgence

In 2006 the label Tompkins Square Records reissued Taussig's only album, 41 years after its original release. In 2012 Taussig put together a second album—Fate is Only Twice—at home on a laptop, affording him the luxury of recording the multiple takes he was denied by the 1965 recording process. In 2013 he made his public performance debut at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas where Wired Magazine listed him as one of the top 50 performances.[2] Tompkins Square released Taussig's third album in 2014 and a fourth in 2016.

Recordings

Books

References

  1. 1 2 Taussig, Arthur. "Arthur Taussig". Arthur Taussig. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Cohen, Alex. "At South By Southwest, A 71-Year-Old Guitarist Makes A Belated Debut". Morning Edition. National Public Radio. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  3. ↑ Wirz, Stefan. "Takoma Records Discography". American Music. Stefan Wirz. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  4. ↑ "H. Arthur Taussig, PhD". Web MD. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
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