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Animation: A World History Volume I: Foundations—The Golden Age Giannalberto Bendazzi

The Silent Pioneers (1908–1928)

Publication details https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.1201/9781315721057-3 Giannalberto Bendazzi Published online on: 17 Nov 2015

How to cite :- Giannalberto Bendazzi. 17 Nov 2015, The Silent Pioneers (1908–1928) from: : A World History, Volume I: Foundations—The Golden Age CRC Press Accessed on: 01 Oct 2021 https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.1201/9781315721057-3

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The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The publisher shall not be liable for an loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 20:19 01 Oct 2021; For: 9781315721057, chapter3, 10.1201/9781315721057-3 1 various peace treaties, themapof andthesignature of I that pointin time. that would becomethelargestupto slaughterinhistory responsible. A month later, thechancellery declared awar Serbia,Princˇip’sregarded thegovernment of country, as Austro-Hungarian Empire. Viennese The Chancellery the Habsburg,Franz Ferdinand heir tothethrone of of Gavrilo Princˇipby thenameof assassinated Archduke full bloom that theerawascalledBelleÉpoque. Republic. and in1911,theChineseEmpire becametheChinese the century, with many social and political implications; the first revolution of in 1910, Mexico was the scene of the Philippines).In1901,Australia becameindependent; de factoprotectorate onCuba,PuertoRico, Guam,and having defeated Spain,theUnitedStates hasexercised a influence(since1898, for instance, after changes of of retouched according to new colonized areas or because in 1910. Korea 1904–1905, and the conquest and colonization of Tsaristwan) in1896,thevictoriouswaragainst Russia in Formosa (which later becameTaithe annexation of - 1868, power aftertheMeijiRestorationas amodern of Japan before.century onlynovelty The wasthedawning of the thetwentiethwere century thecontinuance of years of Politically, economically, andmilitarily, thefirst fourteen Days ofHeaven and The Cradle ‘communist’ course, society. democratic socialistpartiessuch astheBritish LabourParty gave theword avery different Of meaning. Wy‘oils’isedo ‘communist’? According to Marxist principles, system that ‘socialist’ is the temporary eventually leads to a Why ‘socialist’ instead of Six orseven World years later, War aftertheendof 1914,inSarajevo (Bosnia), a student On 28June In thedeveloped countries, themiddleclasswasinsuch mapwas only slightly and peripherally global The

Hell THE SILENTPIONEERS

Socialist everybody’s the bugbear. HernewnamewastheUnionof coup d’état anda civilwar(1917–1920),Russia hadbecome and fell into a fascist dictatorship. After the Bolshevik profitable; suffered from a chronic political instability; realize thatempire hergigantic wasmore expensive than everybody inEurope lostpeace. Finland madetheirdebut stage. ontheinternational ous minorities;andAlbania,Lithuania,Latvia, Estonia,and Slovenes, Bosnians, Macedonians, Montenegrins, and vari - Yugoslavia, together,glue underthenameof Serbs, Croats, the Czech andtheSlovak peoples;anewkingdomtriedto lated, were andIreland; anewrepublic Hungary combined muti althoughterritorially years;- again, independent 120 Polandcountry; aftermore again than wasindependent one.pletely newontheeastern Austria hadbecomeasmall Europe side but wasalmost intact onthewestern wascom- place before World War I.In1900,Sigmund Freud Intellect ranadifferent course. Most revolutions took Culture or theLawlessonstandpoint. Decade–depending ing timesthat were calledtheRoaring 1920s, theJazz Age, enjoyed agoodeconomicsituation andexperienced excit- withEuropeanagreed politicsandchose isolationism. She andherallies, England eventually dis- the scaleinfavour of devotees. ties were active andhadwell-organized groups of threatplanet. The wasreal: Inmany states, communist par ject wastoexpand theproletarian revolution tothewhole cnme eeoto breath. Great Britainstartedto Economies were outof hadlostthewar, andAustria-Hungary Germany but The UnitedStates,The whose intervention in1917hadtipped 1 Soviet Republics, anduntilthelate 1920sherpro- (1908–1928) 3 - Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 20:19 01 Oct 2021; For: 9781315721057, chapter3, 10.1201/9781315721057-3 netti published the ‘FuturistManifesto’ created dodecaphony (andin1908,ÉmileCohl phaseof the first Schönberg startedatonal art);in1908,Arnold music, of themostwidelyread booksonthetheory Style, oneof chologie ( published siastically secondedhim;in1908,Wilhelm Worringer d’Avignon, startingcubism,andGeorges- Braqueenthu in Dresden. In1907,Pablo PicassopaintedLesdemoiselles ing andtheartisticmovement DieBrückewasfounded isse, Derain,andVlaminck)wasmarking French paint- relativity,introduced of while thetheory Fauvism (Mat- covered conditionedreflexes; in1905,AlbertEinstein developed in1903,Ivan quantumtheory; P. Pavlov dis- published 30 3 2 uncertainty principlein 1927. physicist Wernerton. German Heisenberg developed the jazzorchestraBlue andthefirst conducted by DukeElling- in 1924,thesameyear asGeorge Gershwin’s in Rhapsody . Surrealismwasborn ACalltoArms stories withthetitleof and Time.In1923,LuHsunpublished hiscollectedshort philosopher,German MartinHeidegger, published Being lished hisTractatus logico-filosoficus;oneyear later, another Waste Wittgenstein Land and philosopher Ludwig pub- The S.In 1922,poetThomas Eliot published theverses of Scott Fitzgerald(the‘lostgeneration’) gathered inParis. Sherwood EugeneO’Neill,andlater Anderson, Francis Hemingway, suchcan writers asGertrude Stein, Ernest ter Gropius founded theBauhausinWeimar andAmeri- VanTheo Doesburg founded DeStijl.Afterthewar, Wal- ists founded the Dadamovement; andPietMondrian Vladimir Mayakovsky published theirworks; various art- war, James Joyce, LuigiPirandello, Franz and Kafka, was given theNobelPrize. General poetRabindranath Linguistics , andBengali Tagore Spring,Ferdinand deSaussure wrote the Course in Rite of LostTime.Inthesameyear, IgorStravinsky wrote The of Proust published Swann’s hisInSearch Way tomeof , thefirst rses rmwihnw fthemovement rapidlyspread, soonreaching theUnitedStates,Brussels, from Russia, which news of andJapan. European capitals, northern takinginLondon,Berlin, Amsterdam, and ary 1912, elicitingoutragedcriticism,and then went onatourof andeven theglobe thehumanrace. –seemedtobetransforming the telephone initialfuturistexhibition The openedinParis inFebru- transport and communication – bicycles, motorcycles,intoxicating of cars, express new forms trains, planes, ocean liners, the telegraph, urbanlife. modern Itwasanageinwhich the ceaselessactivityandconfusionof sentation, by images, distortinganddisarranging of an artisticbut alsoacultural, political, andethicmovement, andtheManifestowasbasically a harangue. Itsaimbecametherepre- Italian-French critic RicciottoCanudo created thedefinitionin 1911. Futurismwasuniqueinthat itexisted entirely onpapersometimebefore any actualworks were produced. Itwas, infact,notonly

The rushwouldThe slow down but notstop. Duringthe Chapter 3:TheCradle btato n mah:Esy ntePyhlg f of Abstraction andEmpathy:EssaysinthePsychology Fantasmagorie). In1909,FilippoTommaso Mari- Abstraktion zurStilpsy- undEinfühlung–EinBeitrag h nepeaino Dreams andMaxPlanck Interpretation of The 2 ; in1913,Marcel enth Art, the1920s, cinemawasalready considered theSev- of institutions).Bytheend sical cinema(ortheof attractions hadgiven way toclas- Nation), thecinemaof afooting.and thestarsystemgained more, distribution becameawell-organized profession, Movie toreplaceitinerantshows housesbegan more and considered cinemaasentertaininglegitimate theatre. ian audience, proved asmiddle-classcustomers that they companies stoppedaimingat anilliterate andproletar film expanded vigorously, worldThe of too. Production Cinema agaeo cinema. language of createdfilmmakers thespecialvisual(later audiovisual) words, audiencesand viatrialanderror, anallianceof place; and so on. In other time or a change of passing of had beenbeheaded;that anirisin/irisoutsignifiedthe the sameaction;that aclose-updidn’t implythat theactor thatagree consecutive scenesmeant various moments of more adecade, but littleby littleaudienceswere driven to based onnarrative andnarrative language. shifttook The based onnon-fictionfilms, whiletheclassicalcinemawas attractions was Handbooks tellusthat thecinemaof Narrative andNon-Narrative than acuriosity. were made, thephenomenonasawhole waslittlemore the specialistsonly. Although some goodanimated films Arc (1928);andKingVidor’s (1928). Crowd The Joan of of Keaton’s Sergei M.Eisenstein’s BattleshipPotemkin (1925);Buster LastLaugh(1925),andSunrise(1927); Nosferatu (1922),The the North (1921); Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s Nanook of GoldRush(1925);RobertKid (1921)andThe J. Flaherty’s mark, includingCharlie Chaplin’s shortsandfeatures The h it fa David W.By 1915(theyear of Birthof Griffith’s The Within thisgeneraloutline, silentanimation mattersfor 3 The General (1927); Carl Dreyer’s Th. The Passion The and some masterpieces hadalready madetheir andsomemasterpieces - Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 20:19 01 Oct 2021; For: 9781315721057, chapter3, 10.1201/9781315721057-3 debois, andLePetit Dieu. soldatqui devient fourth-dimensional art. avoid misunderstandings, couldbe the appropriate term ormetaphor,ogy andinthiswriter’s opinion,inorder to afeeling–viaanal- theevolution of instance, of thestory according toa rule? various expressions intime, is itthelinkingtogetherof anovel onthescreen? Or tive is. Isitjustaduplicate of had beendecidedinEurope andintheUnitedStates. theworld, withoutexception, what accepted as therest of globalculturalcolonization, of the first exampleinhistory will beclarifiedinthenext paragraph. 7 6 5 4 Figure 3.1 loon, mountsahorse, andeventually ridesaway with it. thebodyclownglues togetheragain; swells likeabal- hand and loseshisheadafterfallingonthesidewalk.The ahouse, enters floor,elephant; goestothefirst falls down, plays jokes;meets asoldier, seesabottle, andmeetsan fromagain thelady’s spectacles;engulfstheman; lorgnette the hat feathers away oneby one. clown The comesout thelady before him.Hetakesall hatby of theenormous and who we thenseesittinginamovie house, disturbed character behindamanwho disappears drops from above A handdraws a littlewhite clown onblack scenery. The Fantasmagorie ing toaprecise artisticproject (fourth-dimensional art). travellings from lefttorightstillmake themfeeluneasy. (Arabs writefrom righttoleft.) Nowadays we would callthis‘morphing’. somebody’s adventures (narration); instead,these develop intimeaccord- Neithermusical symphoniesnorabstract films tellthetaleof writerremembersalate The twentieth-century conversation withsomeArablive-action filmmakers who confessedthat panshotsand Fantasmagorie, Actually, non-narrative – filmsdotella‘story’ for Handbooks, however, don’t clearly telluswhat- narra language.It would beaninternational Itwould alsobe Terminological fussiness?Maybe –but for areason that

Émile Cohl,Fantasmagorie, 1908. L’Hotel dusilence, 5 Le Cauchemar duFantoche, Un Drame chez le Fantoches, 4 had ended,Cohlmadeeightanimated pictures. more newfilms. Before the year 1908 with thecreation of producers entrusted Cohl it.The as much aspossible of andwanted taleormagicstory) effects) oraféerie(afairy film was different (afilm withspecial from afilmàtrucs 1908recognized thatshow. ananimated peopleof The tre duGymnaseon17August 1908. whose career we’ll discuss later, and screened at- the Théâ hundred drawings. metamorphosis characterThe inflating likeaballoon. Metamorphoses. ing ahouse, peoplebecomingsomebody else, a thin in time. Andwhat events dowe becom- see?Anelephant tem, alone, successfully portrays those events that develop rhymes inliterature. hadbeenaccepted ing imagearena thesameway that limericksornursery nobody cared aboutthis. intothemov Itwasaccepted - fourth-dimensional art. Itwasanuncommonthing, yet incoherent images there; inotherwords, nonarrationbut artistic universe existed. theirown, thusestablishing that aseparate living alifeof magic;they were drawn figures were notmoving outof characters. hand was notaconjurer’s The hand,andthe graphic universe filledwith man jumpedintoagraphic world next toareal world. Onthecontrary, theFrench- a cartooned were always careful to justify the presence of Stuart Blacktonandtheotherlightningsketch specialists new productive stage. maker. Inhistory, aprocess ‘begins’when itgives risetoa animation film- professionwould goinfor of the newborn the future, people would ask for animation; other people tion would live parallelbut distinctlives. live actionandanima- Since17August 1908, was born. frame-by-frame shooting only.shooting, andof is eak h ulcwloe hsnwtp f remark:First public The welcomed thisnewtypeof our art? Do thesetwo minutes of startthehistory Fantasmagorie wasmadeby Frenchman ÉmileCohl, Running time:abouttwo minutes, withaboutseven Fourth frame-by-frame andmost important:The sys- Third remark: Thereisaconcatenation, aflow of Second remark: Worried about verisimilitude, James ec,acnlso:Tefrtsaeo anewlanguage Hence, stageof first aconclusion:The Les Allumettesanimées, 7 i nibr osblt fframe-by-frame possibilityof isaninborn , Le Cerceau magique Chapter 3:TheCradle Les Frères Bout-

6 In 31 Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 20:19 01 Oct 2021; For: 9781315721057, chapter3, 10.1201/9781315721057-3 film tricks. Cohl accepted. At this point, history and legend andlegend film tricks. Atthispoint,history Cohlaccepted. invited of Cohltojoinhis‘braintrust’inthedepartment Not onlydidGaumontmakenoobjections, but healso hisvignettesandwasnow demandingcompensation. of offices; hehadnotedthat Gaumonthadplagiarized one bankrupt. Just afewweeks later, Cohlentered Gaumont’s business withaprojector andatent.They quicklywent writer, and actor), tried their luck on the travelling show and a friend, Robert Péguy (later a film director, script- dles, andtoy making. his numerous hobbies, he was interested in puzzles, rid- theboulevards and,lastbut notleastof in thetheatres of fully tophotography. His lightcomedieswere performed published onthe cover. success- Inthe1880s, Cohlturned whose ontheperson caricaturebeing monographic was hommes d’aujourd’hui wasafour-page magazine, each issue cover caricature signed by Uzès. Cohl’sconfirmed vast notoriety by dedicating to him a and Toulouse-Lautrec. (In1894,that samemagazine Verlained’aujourd’hui, towhich hesuppliedcaricatures of as acaricaturist for several magazines, such asLes hommes press, whose rulingclasswasmostlyJewish.) Jewish, too, andthiswould ingratiate himwiththeParisian theexotic mightbehelpful.(‘Cohl’soundedabit pinch of his nametotheAlsatian-sounding Cohl,thinkingthat a Gill. Just ashewasabouttobecome famous, hechanged tocivilianlife,ing returned hestudiedwithartistAndré theentire regiment, includinghiscolonel.Hav- portraits of drawing while when servinginthemilitary hesketched tant toamagician.Hedeveloped hiscongenitaltalentfor Courtet worked asanapprentice toajeweller andanassis- 1292. distant ancestorwasmentionedinthecivilannalsof neighbourhood where issituated, theBourse andhismost Seine. Hisfamily, hewrote, hadlived for centuriesinthe hissurname, as Parisian as the in . Hewasproud of Émile Courteton4January 1857 Émile Cohlwasborn Émile The Fathers 32 Éclair warehouse in 1914. 10 9 8 16–87.Teol iil oncinwt hsi h seeo’lo fthethinwhite figures on black scenery. onlyvisible(1763–1837). The connection withthisisthe‘skeleton’ lookof well-attended lantern/horror/necromancy shows, whose master hadbeentheBelgianEtienneGaspard Robert, alsoknown asRobertson hismasterAndréGill.Phantasmagoriashadbeenintheeighteenth andnineteenthcenturies’ after ahomonymous 1866illustration of , ‘1895’, No. 53, December 2007, Paris) that suggests thetitlecame toÉmileCohl’s mind December 2007, IsabelleMarinone(ÉmileCohletlabohème , ‘1895’,No. 53, Achille Lemot(1846–1909). pennameof The OnlyHePoses for HisPortrait isavailable today.of the Almostallfilmsmade by ÉmileCohlinAmerica were destroyed FortLee inafire

Cohl didnotenterintocinemauntil1907,when he olwsacaeeno many colours. He worked Cohl was a chameleon of Chapter 3:TheFathers

Cohl 8 ) Itmust be notedthat Les by George McManus (1884–1954). Newlyweds,The comicstripcharacters that were created American branch officein Fort Lee, where heanimated joining theÉclairCompany, hewastransferredtothe mont and signed a contract with Pathé. In 1912, after made more than forty films. In1910,heleftLéonGau- 1909,hehad live-action shorts, andsoon.Bytheendof larger –adding animated filmstospecialeffectscomedies, certainly forgot some–theactualnumber was much Cohl remembered having madeover 300shorts, but he (Lacking Agreement), withdrawingsPieds Nickelés(LackingAgreement), by Louis his productions toseries. Even thefamousLesAventures des hisearlier years weakened ashelimited inspirationThe of Healsomadewarpropaganda films. entitled Flambeau. series was cartoonist BenjaminRabier(1864–1939).The in theUnitedStates, thistimefeaturing characters by the worked on a series similar to the ones he had produced World War toParis. I,Cohl returned Duringthewar, he by individualfilmmakers. European market insuch a way astodefeat competition machine enabled theAmericanstoproduce films for the labourandtheeconomic-managerial rationalization of mood changed inthefollowing years when hesaw that the the producers’ generous compensation totheartists. His high spirits and admiration for the teamwork and for sage from aletterhewrote from Fort Leeshows Cohl’s pas- copying otherpeople’s techniques wascommon.A gible evidence wasnever found; inany case, studying and some secrets from himwasregularly but suggested, tan- n fe e otso work hecompletedFantasmagorie. and afterafewmonthsof for thetechnical Cohl,hedidcometounderstand process, what wasÉmile Cohl. wastobecomehisown artform, of only onetosolve theproblem, discovering thebasiclaws howto understand itwasdone. legendgoesthat The the arrived onFrench screens. rackedtheirbrains Filmmakers cinema,Blackton’s HauntedHotel The entered theworld of overlap. According tothelatter, at thesametimethat Cohl Production continued franticallyuntil1923.Bythen, nMrh11,tremnh eoeteotra f three monthsbefore theoutbreak of In March 1914, The possibilitythatThe American colleagues hadstolen Indeed, theAmericanfilmcaused much commotion.As 10 9

Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 20:19 01 Oct 2021; For: 9781315721057, chapter3, 10.1201/9781315721057-3 zation, visualmetaphors, andbefore-the-fact surrealism. by conceited theatrical costumes, he gave lessons in styli- approximately 1911.Inanagewhen cinemawasswamped career wascertainlythefirst, whichographic endedin eighty-one. death on20January 1938 at theageof scientific andadvertising films forotherstudiosbefore his primarilywith personality. himself Later heconcerned Cohl’s Forton (1879–1934),nolongerhadthestampof 12 institutions: many thingsthat would characterize surrealismforty years later.good manners, andthederisionof 11 the ). the ) or Le cauchemar du fantoche Nightmare (The of younger timesfrom Drame chez lesfantoches (DramaAmongst artist resuscitated acharacter that hadbeendeartohimin Puppet Looksfor Lodging, sixty-four-year-old 1921).The last entertainmentfilmwasFantoche cherche unlogement(The decline, althoughCohlstillreleased afewgoodworks. His necessity. virtue of perhaps never before hadanartistknown how tomakea linestobeanimated, but his needtoreduce thenumber of Cohl’s finecraftsmanship. Cohl’s stylizationon depended reverberates inthedrawings, which are naïve, despite like arabbit from amagician’s tophat.joyousness This twist that spurts withoutexplanation orlogical connection but hisfilmsdisplay one exceptional element:thedazzling volume, andhiscomediesfavour over gags psychology, misunderstandings. Cohl’s drawings emphasize linesover foils (such asapoliceman), and ters, theintervention of intrigue, basedonthecontrastbetween charac- edies of tiresome. featuring episodes Fantoche The are littlecom- thesameperiod may appear today when otherfilmsof L’éventail Animated Fan). animé(The on film, asin studied new tricks; andhand-painted colours hisfeatured animated matches); objects (afamousfilmof strictly withdrawing. Heanimated puppets, cut-outs, and theirtails. NordidCohlcontenthimself on thetipsof withhumanoidfacesandeyeballsfall victimtomonsters blood, and through by umbrellas withoutlosingadrop of His characters create anddestroy themselves, are run h rgn fAnimation,Vol. 49, No. 3, Summer1980): Originsof According toAlexander Sesonske(‘SightandSound’,The theIncohérents (1882–1887),which Cohlbelongedto, promoted theabsurd, thesurprising, thevilification of artisticgroup of The h otitrsigpro fÉmile Cohl’s cinemat- mostinterestingThe periodof The yearsThe directly following 1911marked aslow Such afertileimagination commandsinterest even moments when the crank of the camera was given an eighth or quarter turn toexpose thecamera wasgiven oneortwo frames. aneighthorquarterturn moments when thecrankof delighted thepedestrians ontheboulevard, by whiteonablack arranging letters table-top andthenrearranging thembetween the theproduct, e.g. Mustard. Bornibus Mélièsachieved thenameof themselvesscrambled arranging this effect, toform letters which these‘films depublicité’ acomicscene would endwithashotof on anopen-airscreen onthe Boulevard desItaliens. Insomeof of littlecommercial filmsmadetobe projected animation inaseries photographed Méliès produced sequencesof in1898thefirst 11

would beovercome by improved technology. Characters for asimilarly rooted cinemainwhich thiscontradiction the three-dimensional actors. Still, Mélièspaved theway the two-dimensionalandclumsymovement scenery of stylistic clashinhisfilms, it lies inthecontrastbetween there isa itsown negation;for, if contains theseedsof an animated puppettheatre. iswhere This Méliès’cinema in therefore,in hisarmchair); asif alltheactionoccurs ciple that themovie camerashouldbelikeagentleman camera isstationary(Mélièsfilmedaccording totheprin- costumes, orcamouflages. Inadditiontothis, themovie selves seempurely figurative elements, covered by masks, unnaturally them- against paintedbackgrounds; theactors unravels. .withoutanimation.Thestory mated film. what really matters. scenes frameby frameduringhiscareer. tasy, sciencefiction,horror –Mélièsprobably shotsome trickandspecialeffect–féerie, fan- explored every kindof which stillsurvive. Having than 500films, about150of He abandonedcinemain1913afterhaving mademore that have intotoday’s transformed cinematic language. obtainable with thecamera,anticipating breakthroughs imagination. He wasalsoa pioneer instudying the effects the toviewcinemaasthe Méliès wasthefirst realmof ‘newsreel’ filmmakers, the next ten years. In a world of andwasaleaderinhisfield for April 1896) filmon4 first to directing and producingHe turned (he projected his 1895.Thatevent hadadramatic impactonhim: ber 28Decem- he wasinvited tothehistoricalprojection of theLumières, variety shows. Asaprospective clientof magicand Theatre andbecameanartistimpresario of ary 1938) wasanillusionistwho boughttheRobert-Houdin body hadalready provided it. totally unrealistic.world Animaginary wasneeded.Some- live-action cinema;inthebeginning, itwas guage of animation isless realistic thanthelan- languageof The Méliès Georges Screening Méliès’ filmstoday islikeviewinganani- ere éis(ai,8Dcme 1861–21Janu- Georges Méliès(Paris, 8December Chapter 3:TheFathers 12 Butthisisnot

33 Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 20:19 01 Oct 2021; For: 9781315721057, chapter3, 10.1201/9781315721057-3 eto mvmn:Tenwmd fpaintingandtaking movement: newmodeof The of cept continues. the image; duringthesameyears, Marcel Duchamp created agesture inasingle ics’, synthesizingthedevelopment of Violinist’s actuated ‘photodynam Hands(1912).Bragaglia - (1912) andhandsmoving rapidlyonaninstrumentinThe aBassethoundinDogonLeash of painted thescurrying principle, forgot the figure and paintedthe action.Balla who believed in‘dynamism’ asanideologicalandaesthetic air, while thefuturists, ceeded inpaintingthevibrations of leaving static representations tophotography. Seurat suc- ism, when paintingsstrove ever more tocapture lifeitself, art,had becomepressing afterimpression - of the history searchThe for movement, which hadconstantlymarked ists interested in film?Becausecinemaoffered movement. GoldenAge)by(The Buñuel-Dalí. Why were theseart- and Dada films by ManRay, Léger,Fernand andClair-Picabia; include: Vita futurista (FuturisticLife) byThese Ginna;the obstacles, produced onlyafewmarginally successfulfilms. themasses. few exceptions, of cinemawastheindustry in thefinearts, and even lessinthe avant-garde. With a there wasnocorresponding interest from filmproducers futurists, Dadaists, and Surrealists loved filmed shows, thecentury. sion inthehumanistculture of ments ledasomewhat parallellife, andeach causedadivi- bourgeois intelligentsia, cinemaandavant-garde move- thetraditionalarts. Facing ostracismby the cal order of movements that were subverting andideologi- theformal few exceptions, asimilarattitude theavant-garde greeted and aplacethat theartisticallygiftedshouldavoid. With theatre medium. They considered cinemaapoorcopy of intellectuals, embraceandpraisethisnew orphilosophers new breed: Onlyrarely didartists from otherdisciplines, a Cinema wasanewphenomenonandthefilmmakers The First Abstract Cinema butthe actors would becreated by thedirectors. homogeneous, andmovement would nolongerbeleftto (drawnand scenery ormodelled)were tobestylistically 34 13 MarioVerdone, Cinemaeletteratura delFuturismo(EdizionidiBianco eNero), Rome, 1968.

These artisticcurrents wereThese allbasedona‘plastic’ con- The avant-garde,The restrained by technical andeconomic Contact between the two, however, was sporadic. While n h ito examples Nude DescendingaStaircase, andthelistof Chapter 3:TheFathers Un chien andalou (AnAndalusianDog)andL’âge d’or

In America,experimentalinthelate artfilmsbegan 1930s. talentedanimators. ments, debate, andalarge number of thiscentury, wasalsohosttofirst forty experi- of years plastic artstoanimation. Europe, aculturalcentre for the ing linkintheevolutionary chain that tiedthetraditional ‘kinetic’artsuppliedthemiss- In the1950s, thebirthof byPicasso (1956),adocumentary Henri-Georges Clouzot. experiments featuring his drawings appear in Le mystère ish masterhadanotherboutwithanimation: Animated ings toanimator GiulioGianini).Curiously, theSpan- hisdraw- entrustingsomeof wasonthebrinkof himself innovative andplasticarts(Picasso currentsingraphics animatorstothe as well astheequally fertile attention of animation is marked by contact with painters of history designers, sculptors, andpainters. The of to thepurposes ing any objectmobile–animation wasthemediumclosest moving – or, in Capablefuturist terminology, of render action.From here tofilmwasashortstep. of cal concepts triedtoexpressphotographs opticaleffectsorpsychologi- cal chord isafixed soundinspacelikethat emitted by changingours withinatimesequence. Just asthe musi- be obtained by techniques cinematographic that offer col- a timesequence;likewise, inpainting, achromatic can motif byarts: A musical motif is formed sounds changing within the two brothers, amutual relationship exists amongthe thearts. According to he developed of anoriginaltheory who used the pen name Bruno Corra, November 1976), 1892–Varese, 20 his brother Bruno(Ravenna, 9June inRavenna,dini, wasborn Italy, With on7May 1890. 25 years later. McLarenLen Lye would skillfullydevelop andNorman cally newtechnique for filmanimation –atechnique that themovement’s majorexponents), Ginnacreated aradi- of Florenceistic Life, with theparticipation 1916, filmed in theonlyofficialfuturisticfilm,Vitafuturista(Futur tor of art (Neurasthenia , 1908), and direc - of in the history abstractpaintings the first some of theoretician, painter of huh fpaintingdirectly onthefilm.’ I thought of camera which couldfilmoneframe at atimedidnot exist. Ginnarecalled. ‘In 1908–09,amoviecinema’, Arnaldo thekinetic-pictorialpotentialof ‘Since 1907I understood Arnaldo - Ginanni Corra Ginna, whose real name was Arnaldo

Ginna 13 A writer, futurist - - Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 20:19 01 Oct 2021; For: 9781315721057, chapter3, 10.1201/9781315721057-3 18 York, 1986. 17 thesubject. ‘animistic’ portraitsfor many years, aimingatthe‘soul’in additiontothebody depicting of 16 15 14 poetry. music and the lasttwo were chromatic renderings of (red-green, blue-yellow), colours complementary and a colourchord, thesecondstudiedeffectsamong of filmwas the Whilethefirst developmentMallarmé. and FourColours theEffectsof Colour from Studyof Segantini, ‘abstract ’.Ginnawrote: in Ginna’s defines what terms, would later be called an an organ when one presses a key, the ‘chromatic chord’, William Moritz,Abstract FilmandColorMusic,inMauriceTuchman SpiritualinArt:Abstract Painting (ed.)The 1890–1985 , Abbeville, New theRavenna area. Afterhaving Inthosetimes, leftfuturism,Ginnawould paint occultismwaslargely practisedinaristocratic circles of Letterby GinnatoGiannalbertoBendazzi,18February Arnaldo 1972. Letterby GinnatoGiannalbertoBendazzi,1March Arnaldo 1972. Isadore Klein, ‘How I CametoKnow theFabulous Winsor McCay’, CartoonistsProfiles, No. 30, June 1977. hr fGinna paintedfour works directly onfilm:AChord of children. animated drawings were beingsoldtoentertainsmall noticedlater that theselittlebookswith a dream. I in Ravenna. That’s all:very distantrecollections, almost nitrate. filmwassenttous This by ouropticianMagini, the celluloidfilm, but without pigmentsensitive tosilver movement. were These thentranscribedby handonto pages, when flippedquickly, yieldedtheimpression of alittlebookwhose many very earliestThe consistedof nies. Even smallblack andwhite were made. duce chromatic music, chromatic motifsandsympho- regarding Segantini’s work, were madeinorder topro- importance. experiments, Those especiallythesequence one citytoanother!Besides, noonegave themmuch many years ago, withsomany events andmoves from they lost?Ordestroyed? You itwas so willunderstand, 1910 for many years. Perhaps someonehas them? Are theexperiments donein I have notseenframesof eas h ifrn oso emnso paintingpar because thedifferent dotsorsegmentsof chromatic chord, the chromatic symphony andsoon, Pointillism wasthestartingpointfor thestudieson meadows. thosemountain taken precisely from thenature of our area inafield wasa by Segantini chromatic chord For Segantini. example: aparticularcol- of colourinthe allowed ustoapproach certainareas of different musical notes.This alleled the succession of ogo Springfrom Mendelssohn,and Flowers from Song of 15 14 -

24 September 1982. he never ventured HediedinRome intocinemaagain. on and intra-sensorial and extra-sensorial correspondence. definite symbolistaura,aimed at innerlife, spiritualism, experiments abstractcinema.The stillhada festos of vaguely, later, somementionwasmadeinfuturistmani- about oneyear afterhaving abandonedthem,andonly twoto futurism.The artistsjoinedMarinetti’s movement Winsor preparatory paintingsremain. tions, andthefilmnever cametobe. Asa result, onlyafew warputanendtoSurvage’sThe ambi- cinematographic field as Ginna andarrived at somewhat similarconclusions. ideologically weak manifesto, however, explored thesame Apollinaire’s magazine, SoiréesdeParis. Survage’s longbut psychological data asmusic’, Survage wrote onthepagesof itisbasedonthesame evenis anautonomousartform, if amusical work. It at allanillustration of orinterpretation according to traditional principles. ‘Coloured rhythm is not colours, filmingimage byimage film basedontherhythm of dinavian, Russian, andFrench descent,wantedtomakea Scan- Around 1914,theCubistpainterLéopoldSurvage, of Léopold Survage ooroengtdrn h alo 1927. honour onenightduringthefallof ner partyhisfellow NewYork animatorshadgiven inhis Winsor McCay didnotmincewords when closingthedin- Theosophists’. symbolic color drama dear to the . on the sort of . . As William putit,thelate ones‘relied Moritzsharply Ginna continued hisunpublicized artisticactivity, but It must beclearthat theseexperiments didnotbelong it intoatrade. . .notanart,but atrade. . .bad luck. But asI see, what you fellows have donewithitismake Animation should be an art, that is how it. I conceived

McCay 17 Chapter 3:TheFathers 18

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Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 20:19 01 Oct 2021; For: 9781315721057, chapter3, 10.1201/9781315721057-3 21 20 19 was born inCanada 1867 was born Americananimation. McCay ‘classical’artistof the first best inthefield), Winsor ZenisMcCay canbeconsidered the York 15 October 1905 intheNew Herald, isstilloneof (his comicstripLittleNemoinSlumberland, published from wonderful cartoonist was toAmerica:thebeginner. A rbcgon,i sltl oeta euneo images, or background, itislittlemore thanasequenceof in the theatre. movie’; LittleNemo is trulya ‘first withoutplot that themovie notbedistributed while hewasexhibiting it aMosquitoOperatestime,). This How however, herequested McCay createdIn January 1912, drawings hetirelessly created. him tofilmthethousandsof hisfellow cartoonists, who challenged was abetwithsomeof in Theatre, atopvaudeville house, twiceaday for two weeks sor McCay with anoffertoappear at Proctor’s 23dStreet producer andtheatre o F.Canemaker, ‘arepresentative of relations. with masssuccess, toppedwithakeenintuitionfor public able artistwho managedtocombinehigh-qualitywork Admired andrespected by hiscolleagues, hewasanami- ing Telegram. There, McCay madeanamefor himself. York theNew York Herald andtheNew publisher of - Even figuredon Bennett,alegendary inAmericanjournalism, in Cincinnati, hewasinvited toNewYork by James Gor settings, and newspaper comic strips. After fifteen years artist who startedby drawing billboards, vaudeville stage leagues andcontemporaries, basicallywasaself-taught first animatedfirst movie. ful show, never hiscomicstripsandillustrations. neglecting 36 John Canemaker, WinsorMcCay–His Life andArt,Abbeville, NewYork, 1987. John Canemaker, WinsorMcCay–His Life andArt,Abbeville, NewYork, 1987. date The isuncertain.

What ÉmileCohlwastoEurope, Winsor McCay The excuse (as told in the live-action segments of the short) theshort) excuseThe (astoldinthelive-action segmentsof I i-pi 1906’, writes McCay’s John biographer ‘In mid-April It wasfor hisvaudeville actthat McCay prepared his June’. April 12 at NewYork’sApril 12 ColonialTheatre. beginningon McCay useditinhisvaudeville act. . . 8,and released theshortinmovie theatres onApril Vitagraph at theVitagraph studioonAvenue M. . . . forand epilogue thefilmcalledLittleNemowere shot Blackton, boththedrawings andalive-action prologue [James Stuart] In early 1911,underthesupervisionof Chapter 3:TheFathers 20 For eleven years, theartisttoured withhissuccess- 19 ad iemn fhiscol- and,likemany of (or a Mosquito (or of Story The wner, approached Win-

F. Proctor, famous 21 -

Certainly theanimal’s performance, well endowed with theythe personality give tothispuppy-like . drawings are notonlyadmirable for but alsosurprising reluctant and,when scolded,shecries. animation The and moth, anddancesat McCay’s command.Sometimessheis some rocks, eats anapple, drinksalake, plays withamam- and hisdinosaur. large The animalpeeksfrom behind McCay showed hismasterpiece, GertietheDinosaur. drawings before filmingthem). mation (heusedanoldmutoscope roll toflipthrough the ani- ings onpaperandcareful control over thefluidityof draw - afford expensive workmanship, usingthousandsof mation. SinceMcCay produced hisown movies, hecould ani- that elegance isnearly unmatched of inthehistory of perfectly suitedtosuch graphics, withadisplay personal plified but notimpoverished. Movements are slow, fluid, hiscomicstripsissim- rich, artnouveau elegant styleof by drawings extraordinarily and animation. The sharp bugdrunkard. gluttonous endsupexploding. The a wearing atophat that for isinsatiably theblood of hungry aMosquito,thefunny, ahugemosquito ironic taleof of Story to exist onscreen. experimentalism This isovercome inThe toprove theirability materializing and thenvanishing asif Figure 3.2 h imfaue h nieyato ananimaltamer filmfeaturesThe theunlikelyactof On 8February 1914, at thePalace Theatre inChicago, McCay’s production is characterized partof first The

Winsor McCay, GertietheDinosaur, 1914. Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 20:19 01 Oct 2021; For: 9781315721057, chapter3, 10.1201/9781315721057-3 these movies are farfrom McCay’s initialefforts. Having much thethree. originality;undoubtedly, Yet, itisthe bestof Bug Vaudeville isasereneanimated andelegantly filmwith with wingsandanenginefly away through theuniverse. House, amiddle-agedhusbandandwife equiptheirhouse hand, dances, andbicycle acts. Inthethird movie, Flying The sleightsof tures insects performing non-anthropomorphic aroundand wanders thecity. second,BugVaudeville The , fea- Pet by McCay and his son Robert around The first, 1921. The aRarebit, filmed Fiend most relevant are thethree Dreams of thechild surfacinginthewaves. drawn headof themovie, ascanbeseeninthebeautifully undertones of istic floralstyleemerged even intheethicalanddramatic thetime. McCay’s character and European of newspapers accidents, which appeared inAmerican re-enactments of thecally, popularillustrated very it was afilmic of version documentariesornewsreels. contemporary Basi- style of moviedetailed, gripping that maintained the rhythm and war. AnoutragedMcCay created adramatic, extremely Americanparticipation inthe mining role infavour of opinion wasindignant,andtheaccidentplayed adeter whosengers died,124were UScitizens. Americanpublic the1,198pas- Of submarineinMay 1915. by aGerman f atm itr,tesnigo theBritishshipLusitania wartimehistory, thesinkingof of itwasbasedonasadepisode theLusitania(July 1918), of ferent film,lasting over Sinking twenty minutes. EntitledThe could beseenonthescreen.timeitwasatotallydif- This movie circuits. 1914, hedelivered ittoWilliam Fox for distribution inthe ing a prologue and a fewlive-action scenes; by the end of New York andeventually quit.Here-edited Gertieby- add avoid any battle, to McCaylimitedhisperformances first Gertie the . Because he wished to of performances for which heworked claimedtheexclusive rightstohis a letterfrom theUnitedStates: chronicler,a straightman.A unique ÉmileCohl,wrote in timing andmimicry, reduced McCay’s stagerole tothat of el h tr fadogthat grows toamonstrous size of , tellsthestory Among McCay’s remaining movies andfragments, the Four years were to passbefore another movie by McCay McCay endedhis theatrical career when thenewspaper fthehighestqualitywould begin. of the rocks, and at this point, an exhibition come out of mal trainer, hewould calltheanimal.(Gertie)would towardspeech thescreen andthen,turning likeanani- withawhip.the screen, armed Hewould give ashort toric animal. . . . McCay stood veryin front elegantly of mainactor,The orperhapsthesoleactor, wasaprehis- - -

te ye fanimation. other typesof would notbeEuropeans’ strength, causingthemtopursue would always lookfor personality animation;this moves us and makes us laugh. In the decades to come, she’s at thesametimeagiantandchild, andthecontrast naughty, andcapricious, likeevery baby; beingadinosaur, tion: characters, personality, and acting. Gertie is tender, he hadmarked forever theAmericanapproach toanima- movement. More than anything else, and sofineasenseof animated filmshowedgreat so adrawing craftsmanship hismovies. Forwas mostproud many of years, in fact, no ananimator, declaringinaninterviewthat he ered himself to drawings andillustrations. Even so, healways consid- New York, on26July 1934, McCay limitedhisproduction tion andhisrhythmic sense, similarly, seemedlessassured. process, withsometimesunfortunate results; hisinspira- drawing on paper, he used the abandoned the technique of In thefollowing years untilhisdeathBay, inSheepshead began tobethestandardbegan onlyintheearly 1960s. film stockmadeits real debut inthe1930sand ents, in the 1910s and 1920s, the negative colour tothedaylight’sdies while thesceneturns yellow. dawn. Exposed tothesun,hewincesand beacon of thewindow,front lo:afewpinkframes, of thefirst moves towards her(blue, night).Whenhepassesin thegirlter, and thevampire thebedroom enters of W. Murnau’s live-action filmNosferatu (1922).Sinis - thisearly F. colouristhefinalsequenceof use of good cal meaning(red for anger).Anexample of in thefields. Sometimesthecolour hadpsychologi- inred,green,cially lightedindoors; nearafire; in place at night;in yellow, sunlight;in orange, artifi- intended that such ascenecoloured inblue took chrome, andthisestablished conventions. Itwas or toning, anentire sequencewastintedmono- imbibition by specialcraftsmen.)Inthecaseof single copy positive inblack andwhite wascoloured reality; every not yet able to reproduce of the colours and various others. (To filmwas negative clarify:The ing procedures such asimbibition,toning, pochoir , vidual positive filmcopies were subjectedtostain- was never solelyinblack andwhite. Oftentheindi- towhatContrary many stillbelieve, silentcinema ept udeso attempts and uselesspat- Despite hundreds of Colour Chapter 3:TheFathers

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