Drawing of the King in hunter’s garb.
[vers 1950].
Dessin au crayon sur feuillet de papier calque, environ 370 x 315 mm ; petite déchirure et trace de pli.
A previously unpublished original drawing by the King of the disowned version of the legendary first French animated feature The King and the Bird.
“The project began in 1947 and, after lengthy artistic, technical, legal and financial difficulties, culminated in the final 1980 version intended by Paul Grimault and Jacques Prévert. In 1946, having completed The Little Soldier, the two friends decided to continue their collaboration by adapting Andersen's fairy tale The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep. In disagreement with the production team, Paul Grimault and his close collaborators were forced out of the project in 1950. Despite this, the film was released in 1953 in a version far removed from its author's intentions.” (Hervé Pichard, Françoise Lémerige)
This drawing was executed as part of the animation work undertaken after Paul Grimault's departure to finish La Bergère et le ramoneur (The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep) on the instructions of producer André Sarrut. This preparatory drawing offers an original posture of the King, since it was not included in the final cut.
“In the mid-1960s, Paul Grimault bought back the film rights and negative with the firm intention of pursuing his project. He kept 40 minutes of the first version (out of the original 62 minutes), using the original three-color selections. [...] So, while drawing, the two authors reworked the script and made improvements by developing certain scenes, but Jacques Prévert never saw the film through to completion. He worked on this long project until his death in 1977”. (Hervé Pichard, Françoise Lémerige)
A fine testimony to the chaotic genesis of France's first animated film.
We would like to thank Françoise Lémerige and Henri Grimault for their insights into this drawing.
On the genesis of Le Roi et l'Oiseau and a donation of drawings by Paul Grimault to the Cinémathèque française see the article by Hervé Pichard and Françoise Lémerige Don de dessins de Paul Grimault, December 12, 2014: https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/14.html
1 500€
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