[Justin Zaremba](/columnists/Justin+Zaremba)  
7/11/2008

Bruce Conner, avant-garde filmmaker and Beat Generation artist, died on Monday at the age of 74.

Bruce Conner, avant-garde filmmaker and one of the last surviving artists associated with the Beat Generation, died at his home in San Francisco of natural causes on Monday. He was 74.  
  
Conner is best known for his 1958 experimental film, *A Movie*, which is often cited as a precursor of music videos. In *A Movie*, Conner brought the collage technique to film by cutting up snippets of film from B-movies and playing them to music.  
  
The Beat artists, who were most notably composed of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs, challenged and criticized the norms of American moral and social values.  
  
Conner is survived by his wife, Jean, and their son Robert. He died of natural causes on Monday.  
  
Conner, a consummate collaborator, worked with many visual artists and musicians including Brian Eno, David Byrne, Jay DeFeo, and Wallace Berman.  
  
In addition to filmmaking, Conner produced a wide variety of art, including collages composed of found objects such as old stockings, photographs, broken dolls and other discarded items. His collages, which gained international attention, were viewed as a social criticism of American consumer society.