Dream Makers Of The American Cinema

The Legacy of Motion Picture Art Directors Whatever future the cinema may have will be based solidly on its past. Time is a human conception -- very much like a motion picture. It is all there, but we have to live it. And you cannot enjoy the last reel unless you know what happened in the first.

• Kevin Brownlow: “The Parade’s Gone By”
  

The first generation of freelance designers understood that silent cinema was primarily a visual medium offering a new international language, one dependent on a clear narrative, human emotions, actions, and reactions. Their new medium utilized the oldest traditions and tools for visual storytelling captured through a new small magic box with a 50mm lens.

The scholarship and narrative about freelance Art Direction for the cinema from 1896 to 1928, is lacking both in detail and attribution for those who originated this unique cinematic artform. The careers and odysseys of Henri Menéssier, Ben Carré, Wilfred Buckland, Hugo Balin, Fred Gabourie, Una Nixson Hopkins, Anton Grot, William Cameron Menzies, Charles D. Hall, and Harry Oliver are all closely interconnected and embody the very best in creativity, experience, and survival skills essential for working within the new and rapidly evolving medium of motion pictures. They laid the foundation for our profession and the time has come to chronicle and celebrate their contributions.