Trade Tattoo (The Nitrate Picture Show)

Trade Tattoo. Photo from Lost Continent.

Len Lye, UK 1937
Print source: Museum of Modern Art, New York
Running time: 6 minutes
Viewed at The Nitrate Picture Show (NPS), George Eastman Museum, The Dryden Theatre, Rochester, 4 May 2018

NPS: "About the print: Despite the shrinkage and warpage, this Technicolor print has not lost its original chromatic brilliance. Shrinkage: 1.15%

About the film: Commissioned by the UK General Post Office Film Unit, Trade Tattoo is a dazzling spectacle of abstract animation in glorious Technicolor, achieved through a complex process of hand-painting, film printing, and color grading." (NPS)

AA: Trade Tattoo is one of Len Lye's masterpieces of abstract animation using a wealth of approaches. The rhythm is engaging, and the score is created by the Lecuona Band. Pure cinema.

A fantastic Technicolor print.