Wednesday, August 22, 2018

The Moisse Molteni Skeleton Illusion - Auction Team Koeln, Breker - follow link to youtube video below

Dear list members,

 

One of the highlights in the upcoming Photographica & Film Sale at ‘Auction Team Breker’ is the unique ‘Molteni Marionet Projection Skeleton’.
This miniature puppet and unique opaque phantasmagoria projection accessory was part of a fortuitous find, 27 years ago, in the attic of the ‘Château de Moisse’, France.

Some of you will recollect the memory of the live projection demonstrations in London (1993), Annecy (1993), Bologna (1994) and various other places.

As you will remember, the animated projected image of the Molteni skeleton truly is a wonderful and spectacular visual Illusion.

Showing on a flat screen in full colour the illusion of three dimensions, and a most realistic impression of the materials used, as well the reflections of glossy items such as the ivory of the skull, and changing shadows.

Over the years the Molteni skeleton appeared in various exhibitions worldwide.
In 1996 the Molteni skeleton was exposed and confronted with the ‘Ballerina in a Death's Head’, a small oil painting by Salvador Dali, as part of Yasha David’s Buñuel exhibition:
‘¿Buñuel, La mirada del siglo!’, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico DF. See https://www.wikiart.org/en/salvador-dali/ballerina-in-a-death-s-head

 

The Molteni skeleton is of great interest, not only for magic lantern accessory collectors, but also for collectors of rare magic, prestidigitation and conjuring arts related curiosities.

And also attracting the attention of the collector of early ‘memento mori’.              .

 

During the live projection in Annecy (1993) (International animation film festival) filmmakers attending the demonstration where impressed by the effect and ‘unusual quality’ of the projected image.

They told they never saw a suchlike realistic 3D illusion on a flat screen.

 

Therefore, the projection of the Molteni Skeleton (or any other opaque object) can be seen as one of the first spectacular Illusion techniques in the history of projected moving images, more than half a century before the birth of cinema.

This is an unprecedented sale of one of the rarest items in the early history of the animated projected (horror) image, which I enjoyed for almost 30 years in my collection.

Worldwide, the only known Molteni-type phantasmagoria opaque projection skeleton, painted exactly as depicted in the well-known Molteni manual:

‘Instructions Pratiques sur l’emploi des Appareils de Projection, Lanternes Magique, Fantasmagories, Polyoramas …’ by A. Molteni. (Quatrième èdition page 202, fig. 79)
An original copy of this book by Molteni is included in the lot number.


For more information on this sale see:

http://www.breker.com/english/index.htm

And follow the link ‘some highlights from upcoming sales’.

 


Bibliography for the Moisse Molteni Skeleton.

The following books, journal articles and exhibition catalogues relate to the Moisse Molteni Skeleton, Fantascope and Phantasmagoria slides.

(Several years ago, the projector or Fantascope < used in the 19th century for the projection of the Molteni Marionet > and phantasmagoria slides  were purchased by Qatar Museum Authority)
Unfortunately, the Qatar International Photo, Film and Media Museum was never realised and the collection disappeared into oblivion.
See: http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/qatar-s-international-media-museum-plans-scrapped
A real pity, since the plan was showing the Fantascope and accessories permanent on public display in a museum.

 


Books:

  • Mervyn Heard, Phantasmagoria, the secret life of the magic lantern, Hastings: The Projection Box, 2006. p. 101, 285, 287, 291
  • Laurent Mannoni, Le grand art de la lumière et de l’ombre, Paris: Editions Nathan, 1994, p. 152.
  • Laurent Mannoni, The great art of light and shadow, Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2000, p. 156.
  • Dennis Crompton, Richard Franklin, Stephen Herbert (eds.), Servants of light, the book of the lantern, London: The Magic Lantern Society of Great Britain, p. 58-69.
  • Joanna Ebenstein, Will Self, Death, A Graveside Companion, Thames & Hudson, 2017. p. 312.
  • Stefan Andriopoulos, Ghostly Visions: German Idealism, the Gothic Novel, and Optical Media, Cambridge, MA: Zone Books.
  • Barry G. Blundell, 3D Displays and Spatial Interaction, Exploring the Science, Art, Evolution and use of 3D Technologies, Auckland: Walker & Wood, 2011, p. 261, 262.
  • Donata Pesenti Campagnoni, Verso il Cinema, machine spettacoli emirabili vision, Torino: Utet Library, 1995, p. 150-151.
  • Paul Clee, Before Hollywood, from shadowplay to the silver screen, New York: Clarion Books, 2005, p. 41.
  • Dennis Crompton, Richard Franklin, Stephen Herbert (eds.), Servants of light, the book of the lantern, London: The Magic Lantern Society of Great Britain, p. 58-69.
  • Francisco Javier Frutos Esteban, Los Ecos de una Lámpara Maravillosa, Salamanca : Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, 2010.
  • Gian Piero Brunetta, Il viaggio dell’ icononauta dalla camera oscura di Leonardo alla luce dei Lumière, Marsilio Editori, 1997.



Catalogues :

  • Annecy 1993 catalogue - International animation filmfestival, Annecy, 1993, p. 149.
  • ¿Buñuel, La mirada del siglo!, Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia 1996, Mexico DF, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, 1996-97, p. 404.
  • Françoise Levie, Ca tourne depuis cent ans, une histoire du cinema francophone de Belgique,
    Etienne Gaspard Robertson et le spectacle de projection Lumineuse, Brussel/Paris: 1995-96, p. 10-11.
  • Françoise Levie, Ca tourne depuis cent ans, une histoire du cinema francophone de Belgique,
    Un Fantascope dans un Château, Brussel/Paris: 1995-96, p. 13.
  • Laurent Mannoni & Donata Pesenti Campagnoni, Lanterne magique et film peint, Paris: Editions de la Martinière, 2009, p. 88, 89, 131, 142, 311.
  • Laurent Mannoni & Donata Pesenti Campagnoni, Lanterna Magica e Film Dipinto, Paris: Editions de la Martinière, 2009, p. 88, 89, 131, 142, 311.
  • Martin Myrone, Gothic Nightmares, Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination, London: Tate Publishing, 2006.
  • José Roca, Phantasmagoria, Specters of Absence, New York 2007, Bogotá, Honolulu, Charlotte, Sarasota, Los Angeles, p. 1, 12, 50.
  • Vers la modernité, le XIX siecle au pays de Liège, Luik (Liège), Musée de l’Art Wallon, 2001-2002, p. 179.



Articles:

  • Thomas Weynants, ‘Fantasmagoria, toverlantaarn voor projectie van translucide en opake fantasmagorieën’, Photohistorisch tijdschrift, 1993, p. 8-13.
  • Thomas Weynants, ‘Le Phantascope, ou la fascination pour la mort dans le 18e et le 19e siècle’, Plateau - International quarterly bulletin on animated films, Brussels, 1993.
  • Thomas Weynants, ‘The Moisse-Weynants Fantascope’, The New Optical Magic Lantern Journal, 7 (2), September 1994, p. 10-11.
  • century’, ‘Cat's eyemechanism’, ‘Fantascope lantern’, ‘Opaque projection puppets’, ‘Phantasmagoria slides’, ‘White shadows’.
  • David Robinson, Stephen Herbert, Richard Crangle (eds), An Encyclopaedia of the Magic Lantern, London: The Magic Lantern Society of Great Britain , 2001, pps. 59, 112, 214, 229, 323. Entry, Thomas Weynants, Opaque projection puppets.
  • Jack Judson, ‘Report of an astonishing sight in London during April 1993’, The Magic Lantern Gazette, 1993, p. 8-9.
  • Edwin Carels, ‘Résurrection à la Carte’, Book of Imaginary Media, NAi Publishers, 2006. p. 202
  • Collections de la Cinémathèque Française, Passion Cinéma / Cinémathèque Française, Paris: Beaux Arts editions, p. 36-37.
  • Gian Piero Brunetta et Carlo Alberto Zotti Minici, ‘l’Affascinante viaggio dalla Camera Oscura alla luce dei Lumière’, 1994, Cineteca - Mensile di informazione cinematografica, p. 5.
  • Igor Krstic, ‘Camera Obscura versus Phantasmagoria: Zwei Modelle filmischer Visualität’, Parapluie, 2010, p. 5.
  • Jordi Pons, Daniel Pitarch, ‘History of a Fantascope : a device for education in nineteenth-century Girona’, Early Popular Visual Culture, vol. 15, issue 1, Februari 2017.



In addition to the above publications, more information on the Molteni projection marionet can be found on the world wide web.


The colourful illusionary 3D effect of the projected image seen during a live projection is astonishing and magical.

It cannot be experienced in a movie, video or todays 3D animation techniques.

The projected image is of ‘unusual quality’ and the animation is live performed which makes it even possible to interact with the live audience, as I have done during various demonstrations.



Best wishes,


Thomas Weynants
thomas@visual-media.eu

Posted by Curious ... at 2:18 PM

No comments:

Post a Comment