Monday, April 11, 2011

Loose Nuts and Abstract Expressionists

An interesting article in the Sunday New York Times about Loyola Marymount animation professor Tom Klein and his treatise on the influence of modern art on the Hollywood cartoons of the late great Shamus Culhane.

Klein's abstract can be obtained here.

"The Loose Nut", the Woody Woodpecker cartoon referenced in the article, is below; the sequence that Klein talks about is at 4:40. (There's also a slo-mo- video of the sequence attached to the article, but it was unreliable.)

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

The explosion near the end of Tex Avery's "Rock-A-Bye Bear" MGM cartoon is among the best-timed in animated shorts. The one in this Lantz cartoon predates it and is interesting on its own merits. Culhane's attempt to stick abstract art in such a popular entertainment combines high art and low art in the same frame, but apparently until now not many outside of its crew noticed.

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