Kenneth Macpherson
It is only in recent years that Macpherson's contribution to cinematography has come to be recognised with the re-discovery of his work, which, though limited in output, was far ahead of its time, both in subject matter and cinematic technique.
[1] Macpherson's story began in 1927, when he married English writer, Annie Winifred Ellerman, (known as Bryher in the literary world), the daughter of a British shipping magnate.
Bryher gave her address at the time as Villa Kenwin [fr], Chemin de Vallon, 1814 Burier-La-Tour, Vaud, Switzerland.
)[5] It was the late 1920s, and race, sex and mental illness were decidedly taboo subjects for cinema audiences; cinematography was just a tool for the use of Hollywood moguls in the production of lucrative films for mass entertainment.
Film-makers were being influenced by the philosophy of the Frankfurt School, the theories on human behaviour of Sigmund Freud in Vienna and the innovation of Soviet and German 'montage cinema'.
Macpherson, who was particularly influenced by the Russian film-maker Sergei Eisenstein whom he first met in 1929, "dictated the tone and direction of the publication, contributing articles that defined the role of the director and defended the integrity of cinema and its right to be considered as art".
Macpherson's films can best be summarised as presenting contentious issues using avant-garde experimental film-making techniques to represent emotional and psychological states of the human mind.
In all, Macpherson made three short films, Wing Beat, Foothills and Monkeys' Moon, one main feature, Borderline and co-produced Hans Richter's Dreams That Money Can Buy.
The silent film with English inter-titles, dissected race and gender relations and was centred on a love triangle, featuring Paul Robeson and H.D.
The film confused and bewildered critics leading the London Evening Standard's Clive MacManus to advise Macpherson "to spend a year in a commercial studio" before attempting something as difficult again.
In 2006, the British Film Institute sponsored the restoration and eventual DVD release of Borderline, revitalising interest in Macpherson's work.
In 1944, in New York, he co-produced Hans Richter's avant-garde compendium, Dreams That Money Can Buy, the project being financed by Macpherson and Guggenheim.
He bought a home on Capri, named Villa Tuoro, which he shared with his lover, the photographer Algernon Islay de Courcy Lyons.
Bryher supported her husband and his friend on Capri, requesting that they take into their home the aging Norman Douglas, the Scottish novelist.
