Willard Maas

Willard Maas

Willard Maas (b. 24 June 1906 - 2 January 1971) was an American experimental filmmaker and poet. He was the husband of filmmaker Marie Menken. The couple achieved some renown in New York City's modern art world of the 1940s through the 1960s, both for their experimental films and for their salons, which brought together artists, writers, filmmakers and intellectuals. According to their associate, Andy Warhol, 'Willard and Marie were the last of the great bohemians. They wrote and filmed and drank -- their friends called them 'scholarly drunks' -- and were involved with all the modern poets. In the 1960s, Maas was a faculty member at Wagner College and an organizer of the New York City Writer's Conference at the college where Edward Albee was a writer in residence. The filmmaker Kenneth Anger indicates that Maas and Menken may have been a significant part of the inspiration for the characters of George and Martha in Edward Albee's 1962 play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Scott McDonald - 'A Critical Cinema: Interviews with Independent Filmmakers' (University of California Press - 1988). Maas died on January 2 1971, four days after Menken had died of alcohol related illness. He was cremated. The Maas/Menken materials and letters are located at the University of Texas (in Austin). A selection of these items is on deposit/loan (in Trust) at the Anthology Film Archives in New York. The Willard Maas Papers - a collection of approximately 500 letters, manuscripts, page proofs, photographs, drawings, play scripts, and film scripts from the period 1931-1967 - is housed at Brown University.

  • Title: Willard Maas
  • Popularity: 0.194
  • Known For: Directing
  • Birthday: 1906-06-24
  • Place of Birth: New York, New York
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As:
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Willard Maas Movies

  • 1961
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    Arabesque for Kenneth Anger

    Arabesque for Kenneth Anger

    5.7 1961 HD

    Filmed at the Alhambra in Spain in just one day, according to Marie Menken. Arabesque for Kenneth Anger concentrates on visual details found in...

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  • 1967
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    Orgia

    Orgia

    1 1967 HD

    A fragment of an abandoned, long work concerning St. Teresa of Avila. A sexual orgy symbolizing the decadance of modern society. Maas, who acts in...

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  • 1965
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    Bitch

    Bitch

    6 1965 HD

    “Andy Warhol called Marie Menken and Willard Maas ‘the last of the great bohemians,’ and, in 1965, made Bitch, his real-life parody...

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  • 1943
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    The Geography of the Body

    The Geography of the Body

    5.4 1943 HD

    A quotation from Aristophanes, "The desire and pursuit of the whole is called love," precedes views of a man and a woman's bodies, often in extreme...

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  • 1958
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    Narcissus

    Narcissus

    1 1958 HD

    A film poem, a re-telling of the Greek myth in modern terms. In the traditional pool the water has become muddy and Narcissus finds that mirrors are...

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  • 1965
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    Andy Warhol Screen Tests

    Andy Warhol Screen Tests

    8 1965 HD

    The films were made between 1964 and 1966 at Warhol's Factory studio in New York City. Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong key light,...

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  • 1964
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    Blow Job

    Blow Job

    4.183 1964 HD

    Andy Warhol directs a single 35-minute shot of a man's face to capture his facial expressions as he receives the sexual act depicted in the title.

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  • 1943
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    The Geography of the Body

    The Geography of the Body

    5.4 1943 HD

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  • 1966
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    Andy Warhol's Silver Flotations

    Andy Warhol's Silver Flotations

    4.7 1966 HD

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  • 1955
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    The Mechanics of Love

    The Mechanics of Love

    5.9 1955 HD

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  • 1952
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    Image in the Snow

    Image in the Snow

    5 1952 HD

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  • 1966
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    Excited Turkeys

    Excited Turkeys

    1 1966 HD

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  • 1958
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    Narcissus

    Narcissus

    1 1958 HD

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  • 1967
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    Orgia

    Orgia

    1 1967 HD

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  • 1958
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    Narcissus

    Narcissus

    1 1958 HD

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  • 1964
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    Dionysus

    Dionysus

    6 1964 HD

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