Alexander Alexeev: life and work of the artist

Alexander Alexeev (1901-1982) - bookillustrator, graphic artist, author of animated films. Being Russian by birth, he spent almost all his life outside the country, but his soul always remained true to his roots and homeland.

Without a doubt, Alexander's talentovercome any boundaries of time and space. His innovative approach to graphics and animation delighted his contemporaries - Salvador Dali and Orson Welles. However, in the 21st century, the originality of his thinking and mastery continue to serve as an example for gifted young people.

Childhood and the youthful years of wandering

The first years of his life Alexander Alexeyev heldin sunny Constantinople, where his father at that time served as military attache. The family of little Sasha moved to St. Petersburg after the sudden disappearance of his father during a business trip to Germany. Studying in the cadet corps (1912-1917), the boy was carried away by drawing.

When the revolution began, Alexander moved toUfa to relatives, and two years later fled to Vladivostok. In 1920, the future artist hired a sailor to the ship, leaving the port, and left his native country. Alexeyev's way to France, where he settled in 1921, was thorny and sinuous - through China, India, Japan, Egypt and England.

French life

In Paris Alexander Alexeev (photo above) continuedto study painting in S. Sudeikin's studio. In 1922 he began to work as a decorator in local theaters, which contributed to the development of his passion for graphics and engraving. In 1923 Alekseev married the theatrical actress Alexander Grinevskaya and became a father.

Since 1925, Alexander has been trying himselfas an illustrator of books and achieves some success. His works are decorated with French translations of books by AS Pushkin, FM Dostoevsky, NV Gogol and other great writers.

Innovative experiments

Alexander Alexeyev was very impressedexperimental German films ("Idea" by B. Bartash and "Mechanical Ballet" by F. Leger) and decided to find his way in the cinematographic art. Together with his assistant Claire Parker, he invented a unique way of animation with the help of a "needle screen". The surface of the screen, made of soft material, was threaded with thousands of needles that protruded under pressure and repeated the contour of the object. Thanks to special lighting, graphic images resembling dashed engravings were created.

In 1933, with the help of his inventionAlexander managed to remove the enthusiastic review of the picture "Night on Bald Mountain" under the musical accompaniment of M. P. Mussorgsky. At the same time, Alexeyev created his own studio for animated films.

The lack of stable earnings pushed Alexander to create commercials for commercial companies, which he did with his team for four years (from 1935 to 1939).

In 1940 he, together with A. Grinevskaya emigrated to the United States. A year later he received a divorce and married assistant Claire Parker. Alexander Alexeev continued to work in the field of advertising, but did not throw his own experiments. In 1943, with the help of a "needle screen", he created the film "Mimo".

Glory and recognition

Alexander returned to Paris in 1946 andcontinued to create commercials and book illustrations. Creative genius, together with his wife, was able to invent another unusual animation technique, called "totalization of illusory solids." Its essence lies in the time-lapse photography of a light source moving in a given direction using a system of pendulums. At the same time, complex effects, similar to computer graphics, were obtained even before it appeared.

With the use of this technique was created an advertising video "Smoke", awarded a prize at the Venice Biennale in 1952.

The authority of Alexander in the cinematographic worldreached such heights that he could afford to film a few more films on the "needle screen", which later gained fame in many countries: "The Nose" (based on the novella of N. Gogol), "Three themes", "Pictures from the Exhibition."

Until very old age did not leave his creativityAlexander Alexeev. The biography of this talented man inspired several directors to create films about him. So, in 2010 Nikita Mikhalkov released a documentary film dedicated to the life and work of an animated innovator.

Alexander is considered to be a large andan influential cultural figure in France. In Russia, unfortunately, much less is known about him, but recently he was recognized about him, thanks to the exhibitions of his works.

Alexander Alexeev is an artist and animator,who could stunningly transfer the play of light and shadow, who did not cease to amaze with his original vision of all things and the constant creative search for new forms of expressiveness.