85.54.53.151 at 15:40, 6 May 2023

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{{short description|American film director}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}
'''Ronald Chase''' (born December 29, 1934) is an American artist, photographer, educator, [[independent film]] maker and opera designer. His work with projection and film has been called "one of the most exciting developments in the history of opera stage presentation."<ref name=schoenberg>Schoenberg, Harold (April 20, 1975). ''Films-A New Dimension for Opera''. ''The New York Times''</ref>

==Life and work==
Chase was born in [[Seminole, Oklahoma]]. He studied dance, design and directing at [[Bard College]], where he joined the [[Jean Erdman]] Dance Group. He toured with the [[José Limón]] Dance Company on their first European tour in the fall of 1956. After the tour he remained in Europe (Italy and Spain) to study painting. He then established a studio in the Gaspe Peninsula (Perce) in Canada. His first exhibits were at the Galerie Libre in Montreal (1962) and the [[Byron Gallery]] in New York City (1963). His work then entered the collections of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the [[Boston Museum of Fine Arts]].
In the spring of 1964 he moved to San Francisco and continued his painting.<ref name=frankenstein>Frankenstein, Alfred (April 21, 1966). ''A Very Large Art Work''. ''San Francisco Chronicle''</ref><ref name=albright>Albright, Thomas (April 3, 1982). ''Ronald Chase Returns to the Scene''. ''San Francisco Chronicle''</ref>

==Photography==
In the early 1980s Chase began experimenting with photography. He manipulated photographs using large format [[Xerox]] copiers. His work with figures and abstract imagery was given a show at the [[George Eastman House]] in 1984. His photographic work then entered the collections of the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], the George Eastman House, and the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, New York among others.

==Film==
In 1963, Chase began making short experimental films with ''Fragments'', written by [[Mary Lee Settle]] and filmed in the Hudson Valley. In 1964, he began experimenting with using film projections in theater and dance performances. These experiments produced ''The Covenant'', a dance film made with Elizabeth Harris and the composer [[Pauline Oliveros]], followed by dramatic shorts including ''Chameleon'' and ''Clown'', which was featured at the 1969 Ann Arbor Film Festival, and ''Parade'', a short documentary of the first Gay & Lesbian Pride Parade in San Francisco.

Chase produced and directed two features in the 1970s. ''Bruges-La-Morte'', starring [[Richard Easton]] (and the film debuts of [[Nickolas Grace]] and [[Anthony Daniels]]), premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival 1978 and was awarded the Critics Prize at the International Film Festival Ghent in 1980.<ref name=pede>Pede, Ronnie (January 1980). ''USA Today: Ronald Chase''. ''Filmsgbeurem''</ref> ''LULU'', starring [[Paul Shenar]] and Elisa Leonelli and adapted from the play by [[Frank Wedekind]], was screened at the [[Berlin International Film Festival]], Filmex, and Rotterdam Film Festival, among others.<ref name=myles>Myles, Linda (1978). ''A Thoroughly Modern Lulu''. ''Berlin International Film Festival program book''</ref> It was chosen as one of the three best films of 1978 by [[Pariscope]],<ref name=pariscope>Chatelet, François (January 17–23, 1979). ''Les meilleurs films de 1978''. ''Pariscope''</ref> but could not be released because of a copyright conflict with the estate of [[Alban Berg]].

==Film and projection in opera==
Chase's first combined film and opera with director Richard Pearlman, then head of the Washington Opera, in a production of Britten's ''The Turn of the Screw'' (with Benita Velinti in her first dramatic role). Chase produced film and projections with Pearlman for the world premiere of ''[[The Who's Tommy]]'' at the Seattle Opera in 1971. Around this time Chase met director [[Frank Corsaro]] and their mutual interest in film led to their 40-year collaboration in opera, film and projection in a series of innovative productions including Berg's ''Lulu'' at the Houston Opera in 1975, Korngold's ''[[Die Tote Stadt]]'' at the New York City Opera in 1975, Poulenc's ''[[Les mamelles de Tirésias]]'' at the Opera Theater of St. Louis in 1983 and Strauss' ''[[Die Frau ohne Schatten]]'' at the [[Lyric Opera of Chicago]] in 1984. Due to injuries Corsaro suffered during a car crash, [[Gerald Freedman]] replaced him in collaborating with Chase on a production of Ginastera's ''[[Beatrix Cenci]]'' that opened the [[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]] on September 10, 1971. The film Chase produced for Beatrix Cenci received the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's first SECA award in film in 1972.<ref name=shale>Shale, Conrad (October 1989). ''Merging Film with Opera''. ''Opera Monthly''</ref> Chase produced his first animated films for theater in collaboration with [[Maurice Sendak]] for Ravel's ''[[L'enfant et les sortilèges]]'' at [[Glyndebourne]] in 1987. In 1992 Chase and Corsaro reunited to produce Busoni's ''Doktor Faust'' at the New York City Opera.

==Filmography==
*''Fragments'' (1963)
*''The Covenant'' (1965)
*''Chameleon'' (1969)
*''Clown'' (1969)
*''Sally Simpson'' (1970)
*''Parade'' (1971)
*''A Village Romeo'' (1971)
*''Cathedral'' (1971)
*''SAN FRANCISCO CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST'' (1971)
*''SCENE ONE TAKE ONE: Variations on a Man, a Woman and a Gun'' (1971)
*''Beatrice Cenci'' (1972)
*''Lulu'' (1978)
*''Bruges-La-Morte'' (1978)
*''FANTASIA on The Childhood of BUSONI'' (1981)
*''Ball'' (2005)
*''Tests I love to Take'' (2006)
*''Jezebel'' (2006)
*''Home'' (2007)
*''FARBER (Color)'' (2019)

==Educator==
In 1993, Chase created the San Francisco Art & Film Program for Teenagers, a non-profit devoted to making the arts accessible and an important presence in young people's lives. The program developed out of Saturday gallery walks for students of [[San Francisco School of the Arts]] High School to include weekly film screenings, a film workshop, and free tickets to cultural events, available to all San Francisco Bay Area students. SF Art & Film has been cited as one of the most comprehensive art education programs in the United States,<ref name=edutopia>Fishburn, Rodes (October 2006). ''Celluloid Hero: Bringing Cultural Education to Kids''. ''Edutopia''</ref> and continues to serve more than 600 young people a year.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* ''Maverick'', by Frank Corsaro, The Vanguard Press, Inc, 1978. {{ISBN|0-8149-0790-3}}

==External links==
*[http://www.ronaldchaseart.com The official website of Ronald Chase]
*[http://www.artandfilm.org San Francisco Art & Film for Teenagers website]
*[http://www.edutopia.org/celluloid-hero Rodes Fishburn’s article in Edutopia] Oct. 2006

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chase, Ronald}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Seminole, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:20th-century American painters]]
[[Category:American male painters]]
[[Category:21st-century American painters]]
[[Category:American educators]]
[[Category:Opera designers]]
[[Category:Photographers from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Film directors from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:20th-century American male artists]]

Ronald Chase - Revision history

85.54.53.151 at 15:40, 6 May 2023