Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Thomas Wilfred: Clavilux and Lumia Home Models

Thomas Wilfred: Clavilux and Lumia Home Models

Burgin, Christine
Lampert, Andrew
Wilfred, Thomas

Hardcover

General MusicIndividual ArtistsPhysics

Publisher Price: $24.95

ISBN10: 0997645636
ISBN13: 9780997645637
Publisher: Christine Burgin/Further Reading
Published: Apr 29 2025
Pages: 80
Weight: 0.35
Height: 0.30 Width: 4.80 Depth: 7.10
Language: English

Wilfred's pioneering and strangely prescient musical instrument predates television, video art and psychedelia

Inventor, designer, artist and musician Thomas Wilfred (1889-1968) devoted his life to the creation of a new art form--Lumia, or the art of light. He invented his own version of a color organ (a term he disliked) and dubbed it the Clavilux, from the Latin meaning light played by key. After a successful international tour in the 1920s, Wilfred reinvented these large-scale performances as self-enclosed light shows for domestic entertainment. While they enjoyed a short commercial life, Wilfred's aesthetically elegant and interactive Clavilux and Lumia home models soon found their way into storied collections. His work was included in the Museum of Modern Art's 1952 exhibition 15 Americans, where it was seen by many artists who would work with light as their medium in the 1960s and '70s.

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