The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, will explore the history of animation from the 1920s to the 1940s in an exhibition that starts Friday. “Movement Making Movement” runs through Sept. 26 and features works by five representative pioneers of the genre.

A total of 24 animations produced by German animators Lotte Reiniger (1899-1981) and Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967), New Zealand animator Len Lye (1901-1980), Czech film director Karel Zeman (1910-1989) and Scottish Canadian animator Norman McLaren (1914-1987) will be displayed. They include “Cinderella” (1922) and “Carmen” (1933) by Reiniger, a master of silhouette animation who created thousands of paper dolls; “Wax Experiments” (1921-1926) and “Composition in Blue” (1935) by Fischinger, well known for his abstract musical animations; and “A Christmas Dream” (1945) and “Inspiration” (1949) by Zeman, best known for fantasy animation films. 

“The ‘Movement Making Movement’ exhibition is a rare opportunity to learn about animation pioneers who sought their own expressive techniques as well as artistic achievements. This will be an educational exhibition that the whole family can enjoy while learning about the history of animation,” said MMCA Director Youn Bum-mo.

Around 50 short and feature-length animation works by the five artists will be also screened at MMCA Film & Video from May to July. 

The exhibition will offer a glimpse into the artists’ innovative techniques, including their technical notes, production tools, drawings, photographs and documentaries, which are owned by world-renowned institutions.

The exhibition is taking place in collaboration with the Czech National Film Archive and Karel Zeman Museum in Prague, the Goethe-Institut Korea, the National Film Board of Canada, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and Len Lye Centre in New Zealand, and the Center for Visual Music in Los Angeles.

By Park Yuna (yunapark@heraldcorp.com)