Item #1503 Mul’tiplikatsiia fil’my [i.e. Animation Movie]. A. Ptushko.
Mul’tiplikatsiia fil’my [i.e. Animation Movie]
Mul’tiplikatsiia fil’my [i.e. Animation Movie]

Mul’tiplikatsiia fil’my [i.e. Animation Movie]

Moscow: Gos. izdatel’stvo khudozhestvennoi literatury, 1931. Item #1503

62 [2] pp.: ill. 18x13 cm. In original photomontage wrappers. Ink marks and signature on front cover and title page, spine chipped, otherwise very good.
First and only edition.

Photomontage cover design was created by Natalia Bukharova-Pinus (1901–1986). Having graduated from VKHUTEMAS, she joined avant-garde artists engaged in propaganda art. Pinus was a member of the October group, and primarily designed posters, books and magazines using the photomontage technique. The cover depicts a number of experimental approaches to cinematography. The front demonstrates the stop-motion technique using puppets. The back features a photomontage of film stills from a scientific film about the Soviet exploration of the North: it combines polar bears, icebergs and explorers under the direction of Otto Schmidt (the head of the Arctic Institute at that time).
This guide to the creation of the animation movie was written by film director Alexander Ptushko [real name Ptushkin; 1900–1973). He is well-known as the creator of the first feature-length animated film, the first film in color and for his extensive use of puppet animation. In particular, Ptushko produced a Soviet stop-motion animated cartoon, “The New Gulliver” (1935).
In this book, he explained all stages of animation movie creation, techniques and processes, illustrating them with the required equipment. He covered all types of animation from the origin of cinematography. In particular, the author promoted politsharzh [i.e. political satirical film] as the ideal type of movie for revolutionary propaganda. Ptushko himself was involved in their production and the book contains a film still from the stop-motion picture, “Lost Conduct”. In the Soviet Union, traditional and experimental methods of animation were used including hand-drawn, stop-motion and mixed live-action components. For example, Ptushko explained how to montage the motion of live footage of a boy with a cartoon drawing of him.
The edition is illustrated with numerous film stills representing the establishment of Soviet animation in the 1920s. Among the most curious is a picture, “Samoyedic boy”, produced by the artists N. and O. Khodataevy, V. and Z. Brumberg.
Overall, this is an important source on early Soviet animation, experimentation and the key creators involved in it.
Worldcat lists copies located in Princeton and Virginia Universities.

Price: $2,500.00

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