Bert Van Bork Collection
Collection Items
- Aging of Lakes, The
- Archeological Dating: Retracing Time
- Bacteria
- Cave Community, The
- Continental Drift: The Theory of Plate Tectonics
- Daybreak
- Earth Science: Exploring Planet Earth
- Ecology of a Hot Spring: Life at High Temperatures
- Erosion and Weathering: Looking at the Land
- Evolution of Landscapes
- Eyewitness: The Legacy of Death Camp Art
- Falling Water
- Flood Forecasting
- Geologic Time
- Geyser Valley - Fire Mountain - Fire in the Sea
- Heartbeat of a Volcano
- Indian Art of the Pueblos
- Legend of the Magic Knives
- Life: How Do We Define It?
- Mesa Verde: Mystery of the Silent Cities
- Monuments to Erosion
- Ocean Dynamics: The Work of the Sea
- Photosynthesis (Third Edition)
- Plankton and the Open Sea
- Plankton and the Open Sea (2nd Edition)
- Protists: Form, Function, and Ecology (2nd. Ed.)
- Rivers: The Work of Running Water
- Temperate Deciduous Forest, The
- Viruses: What They Are and How They Work
- Volcano: Birth of a Mountain
- Volcanoes: Exploring a Restless Earth
Bert Van Bork was born in 1928 in Augustusburg, Germany. He studied art at the Academies of Fine Arts in Berlin, Leipzig, and Dresden. Following World War II, he began producing stark woodcuts of intense and terrifying beauty, often made from the pine remains of destroyed buildings and old furniture, depicting a Berlin struggling with an uncertain future.
In 1954, he moved to Chicago by way of New York, working in oil on canvas as well as drypoint, displaying an influence of German expressionism in his portrayals of the landscapes of the American Southwest, and cityscapes of Chicago. By this time, Van Bork had become an accomplished stills photographer as well, and received the National Award for Outstanding Photography in Germany in 1954. In 1957, Van Bork brought a film he had made, The Seventeen Year Locust to Warren Everote at Encyclopedia Britannica Films, who then hired him to produce mainly art and science films (the film was renamed Insect Life Cycle: the Periodical Cicada for distribution). Soon, he became well-known for both his stunning geological studies and for his daring in obtaining footage under extremely arduous conditions, whether volcanic, underground, or aerial. Van Bork has made over 200 films.
His film Eyewitness (1999) was nominated for an Academy Award in 1999 under the documentary short category. The film examines the sketches and paintings done secretly by men and women who lived and died inside the walls of the Nazi death camps.
Bert Van Bork passed away October 29, 2014. More on Bert and a working filmography, courtesy of the Academic Film Archive: http://www.afana.org/vanbork.htm