Art & Mechanics of Animation

J.J. Sedelmaier Productions presents
The Art and Mechanics of Animation
at the Grohmann Museum

From its very beginning, the art and craft of film animation has been as much a part of movie history as motion picture film itself. The motion picture industry had its beginning in the 1880s, but animation production actually pre-dates this launch by a half a century with devices such as the Phenakistiscope (1833) and the Zoetrope (1834). These simple mechanical wonders allowed the viewer to experience moving images through the use of sequential exposure of a short series of registered drawings or even photographs.

As the motion picture film industry advanced, so did the invention of and development of the equipment intrinsic to animation production. This exhibition chronicles over a century of the development and use of various devices and equipment that were key to the production of animated films from their beginning up to the 1990s. Fortunately, studios like New York’s Terrytoons and Fleischer Studios and, of course, The Walt Disney Studios, documented much of the behind the scenes activity in newsreels and promotional films, some of which we have as a part of this exhibition from the collection of J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc., an animation and design studio located in White Plains, New York, run for over 25 years by J.J. and Patrice Sedelmaier (www.jjsedelmaier.com)