There’s been a lot of interest here at the Artlog in the constructivist puppets of the Russian artist and stage designer Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster that I featured in my two posts about marionettes. Here are a few more of her puppets.
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After studying art at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris, Exter returned to Russia where she became a leading stage-designer and produced the set and costume designs for what is often called the first Soviet science-fiction film, Aelita, (1924) aka Aelita: Queen of Mars. That same year she and her husband Nicolas Evgenievich Ekster emigrated to France, where Alexandra lived for the rest of her life. She moved and worked in a circle of artistic elite, and was friends with Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Fernand Léger, Guillaume Apollinaire and Gertrude Stein.
Below: images from Aelita
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Practioners of the Dada and Constructivism movements were particularly drawn to puppetry as an expression of their art. Among their number were Ekster (1882 – 1949), Otto Morach (1887 – 1973), Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889 – 1943) and Hanna Hoch (1889 – 1978). Here are some images of marionettes designed and made by Morach, Taeuber-Arp and Hoch.
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Below: marionettes by Otto Morach
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Below: marionettes by Sophie Taeuber-Arp
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Above: Sophie and Jean Hans Arp with marionettes
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Below: marionettes by Hanna Hoch
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this aelita set is astonishing! and now, otto morach– i swear i was supposed to be alive *then*, i don’t know what happened. i am fascinated by how otto uses the paint and the puppet-material (wood?) together; it’s so much more than making a 3D version of a painting…
thank you so much for these!
Brilliant puppets, and I’ve just noticed The Whitechapel Gallery has a big new Hannah Hoch exhibition on so I’ll be going to that in the next few days!
Please steal any puppets for me!
These posts about different types of puppet are brilliant Clive, really interesting and inspiring 🙂
Good. I was hoping to be inspiring!
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I absolutely LOVE these examples! Tres, tres moderne! And, they have just given me a brainstorm, too!! Or is it the pain killers? Whatever, it’s a grand idea… thanks for these image-rich posts, Mister.
Glad that these hit the spot for you, Anita.
All good post-op thoughts coming your way.
XXX