Walther Ruttmann is one of the German pioneers of experimental cinema, together with Viking Eggeling and Oskar Fischinger. Between 1921 and 1925, he produced, directed, animated and edited a series of four “Lichtspiel Opuses”, decisively contributing to a set of technical and creative innovations that would elevate European cinema to the status of seventh art. It is worth noting that Canudo’s “Manifeste des Sept Arts” would only be published in 1923. Effectively the genesis of experimental avant-garde cinema was directly influenced by the modernist movement and the first title in the series is a clear descendent of abstractionism and constructivism. Through figures painted on glass Ruttmann creates a primitive form of animation, popularised as the first animation to be shown in a theatre. While not a finished statement, colours and forms flow and contrast in organic, soothing movement. With “Lichtspiel Opus I”, Ruttmann cleverly responds to one of the initial criticisms of abstract art: the simplistic notion that in the absence of realism, empathy with the receiver cannot be established. Out of all Ruttmann’s opuses, this is perhaps the one most accessible to the spectator: the succession of coloured sequences leads to a fundamentally ordered form, testifying to its narrative intention, in addition to a multiplicity of interpretations. (SDM)