5th Artel Moscow

[Goldstein]

Hi -

I did not know that the 5th Artel had so much humor ...






Regards
Goldstein

[Aguest]

There is a 1902 film called "A Short Trip To The Moon" which became an international sensation, with black-and-white prints that were soon pirated and copied and sold around the world. This film created an international sensation, and prints were even colorized (a painstaking process) and found their way to countless audiences around the world. Georges Melies was the director, and he created many short films, including "The Four Troublesome Heads" (1898) in which George Melies himself is shown removing his head four times and placing the heads on a table, where the heads begin to sing a song as the headless figure of George Melies stands by. Georges Melies created hundreds of short films, most of which have similar photographic special-effects, although the special effects involving isolated heads seem to have been the most popular.

Georges Melies bought his early cameras from the Lumiere Brothers, another great name in early French movie-making, and the Lumiere Brothers showed many films in Moscow in the year 1896. In fact, the first movie made in Russia was the 1896 coronation of czar Nicolas II, in May 1896, filmed by Camille Cerf, a Belgian filmmaker who assisted the Lumiere Brothers.

Perhaps the films "A Short Trip To The Moon" and "The Four Troublesome Heads" made their way to Moscow, through the aforementioned connections, and this cup is a sort of homage to the whimsical headlessness seen in these early films which created an international sensation. It's just a theory, but unless there is a Russian tradition of isolated heads on silver, it seems that the general theme of your cup was influenced by these early French films which, surely, must have made their way to Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

[agphile]

If I wanted to seek out a source of inspiration I would be more inclined to look to pottery by the Martin Brothers (of Fulham, UK).

[agphile]

But I should have added that it is a nicely made fun object in its own right.

[Goldstein]

Hi agphile -

Thanks for the hint - but I think the theme of laughter and crying is as old as mankind and still topical - until today.


Regards
Goldstein

[Aguest]

yes this cup is wonderful in its own right, independently, it would be great to have an ear-handle on it where the ears would go, in mug form.

how tall is this cup, just wondering if it is a smaller cup or a larger cup?

[Goldstein]

Hi -

Height: 42 mm
Diameter: 40mm
Weight : 110 g

Regards
Goldsten