I am SUPER excited to acquire this awesome piece in my collection, after searching for years. This is one of the earliest known cels to have ever survived time: from Winsor McCay's The Sinking of the Lusitania. While Winsor McCay was credited to being one of the first animators to use the celluloid technique that became more "mainstream", he was actually preceded by John Randolph Bray's first animated film, The Artist's Dream (aka The Dachshund and the Sausage) back in 1913. But, there are no survivors to have ever been discovered from that film.
Wow, that's amazing. A cel from 1918! o_o Quite the piece you have. (I'm also a fan of American history so I really like that aspect to it as well!)
I just want to give a quick thanks for making your collection public for us to see. You really do have some of the most amazing artwork I've seen, and it's definitely been a treat to view all of your rare treasures.
That cel is breathtaking! I was stunned when I saw you update with it and read the description. It's so amazing that cel is nearly 100 years old, I can barely comprehend it. It also hit a particularly nerdy side of me, I was really fascinated by early 20th century shipwrecks when I was a kid. That short film is so haunting, too. The ship looks so strikingly realistic, and it was so graphic in its portrayal of the sinking. It really hits you how tragic that sinking really was. I also still can't believe that it only took 15 minutes to sink; only twice as long as that film.
I always love seeing your updates, it's always an astonishing and educational experience. Your collection amazes me and continues to surprise me, I want to thank you too for the pleasure and for all the things you teach us!
What is interesting about this cel in particular is it was not actually made out of paint like what you see with early Disney or Felischer cels from the 20's and 30's. Winsor McCay apparently used some sort of stylist pen or marker with different shades of gray and black (I am not exactly sure what the type of pen/marker was used, maybe one of the more knowledgeable artists on this board would know). The entire ship appears to have been drawn and colored on the back of the cel (you can actually see the entire image on the back in full details), and the smoke effects are made on the front. The cool part is, I don't have to worry about paint chips!
Also, here is the earliest known animation film that experimented with celluloids, but have yet to find anything (and as you can see in the video, it appears they used really large poster board size celluloid). The Artist Dream aka "The Dachshund and the Sausage." by J.R. Bray, 1913 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DFgvqA1eCw
What is interesting about this cel in particular is it was not actually made out of paint like what you see with early Disney or Felischer cels from the 20's and 30's. Winsor McCay apparently used some sort of stylist pen or marker with different shades of gray and black (I am not exactly sure what the type of pen/marker was used, maybe one of the more knowledgeable artists on this board would know). The entire ship appears to have been drawn and colored on the back of the cel (you can actually see the entire image on the back in full details), and the smoke effects are made on the front. The cool part is, I don't have to worry about paint chips!
Also, here is the earliest known animation film that experimented with celluloids, but have yet to find anything (and as you can see in the video, it appears they used really large poster board size celluloid). The Artist Dream aka "The Dachshund and the Sausage." by J.R. Bray, 1913 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DFgvqA1eCw
Congratulations! I knew that McKay paper drawings for Gertie the Dinosaur were available on the market, but never knew that he worked on celluloid as well.
The video clip you embedded on your gallery page is well worth visiting. It is interesting that McKay and his assistant spend so much time making the puffs of smoke emerging from the crippled liner so artistically attractive. While there is an element of horror (as seen in the tiny images of passengers jumping into the water off the side of the ship) there is also a peculiar beauty to the ship's death flurry.
I was also struck by the brief whimsy of the cartoony fish who appear briefly at one point and then are scared away by the torpedo in a way that seems more like later animation.
After the war, when the U-boat's log was made available, it became clear that only one torpedo was shot. As the animated version shows, there was later a much bigger explosion centered in the ship's midsection, which doomed the boat. It was first reported that the submarine's captain had "finished" the liner with a second torpedo attack, a cruel and cowardly act as the ship was then crippled and could not reply. But in fact there was no second torpedo: the explosion came spontaneously from the hold, and historians have debated ever since then what caused it.
One common theory is that the liner was transporting high explosives to aid the British war effort, and the two governments (US and England) thought that using a passenger liner to do so would deter German submarine action. But the Germans found out and sank the Lusitania anyhow, with the 1000+ passengers as collateral damage. The second explosion then came from the military weapons hidden in the hold, which were detonated by the fire started by the first (and only) torpedo.
This theory is has never been proved, but also never definitively disproved. During WWII British warships exploded a series of depth charges over the ship's body on the sea floor, collapsing it and making it virtually impossible to explore its remains, even with robot mini-subs.
I am trying to (very slowly) redo some of the portions of the website, specifically the vintage art section with more notations and sample videos. Still work in progress. If anyone sees anything inaccurate or any typos, please do let me know. Thanks!
star-phoenix wrote:OK, technical question here. Is there a way I can make the writing larger?
Yes, put <font size=2> in at the start of the page text. You can also return it to normal with </font size> but if you want the whole description larger you can just leave it unclosed.
You could, I'd guess, also do font size=3 or =4 or whatever.
I remember watching Winsor McCay films in my history of animation class in college. The Sinking of the Lusitania was one of them. That man was a drawing machine - the amount of drawings/cels he created with his own two hands is staggering. So when are you going to buy the space for the new Star Phoenix Animation Museum?
(I'm also a fan of American history so I really like that aspect to it as well!)
