Jan Švankmajer (ˈjan ˈʃvaŋkmajɛr; born 4 September 1934) is a
CzechThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media. He is a self-labeled
surrealistSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
known for his surreal
animationAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
s and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as
Tim BurtonTimothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
,
Terry GilliamTerrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
, the
Brothers QuayStephen and Timothy Quay are American identical twin brothers better known as the Brothers Quay or Quay Brothers. They are influential stop-motion animators...
, and many others.
Life and career
Jan Švankmajer was born in
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. An early influence on his later artistic development was a puppet theatre he was given for Christmas as a child. He studied at the College of Applied Arts in Prague and later in the Department of Puppetry at the
Prague Academy of Performing ArtsThe Academy of Performing Arts in Prague is a university level school of music, dance, drama, film, TV and multi-media studies.- Faculties :*Film and TV School - FAMU*Music Faculty - HAMU*Theatre Faculty - DAMU-Notable alumni:...
. He contributed to
Emil RadokEmil Radok was a Czech film director. He was co-inventor of the multi-media show Laterna Magika, , which was a star attraction at the Czechoslovakia pavilion at Expo 67...
's film
Doktor FaustDoktor Faust is an opera by Ferruccio Busoni with a German libretto by the composer himself, based on the myth of Faust. Busoni worked on the opera, which he intended as his masterpiece, between 1916 and 1924, but it was still incomplete at the time of his death. His pupil Philipp Jarnach finished it...
in 1958 and then began working for Prague's Semafor Theatre where he founded the Theatre of Masks. He then moved on to the
Laterna MagikaLaterna Magika is a Non-Verbal theatre located in Prague. Its origins are connected with the Expo '58 in Brussels. The plays are internationally comprehensible since they are silent. The performances are a combination of dance, film and black theatre...
multimedia theatre, where he renewed his association with Radok. This theatrical experience is reflected in Švankmajer's first film
The Last Trick, which was released in 1964. Under the influence of theoretician
Vratislav Effenberger Vratislav Effenberger was a Czech literature theoretician.-Life and career:In 1944, Effenberger left industrial school with his Abitur. He went to study chemistry and the history of art as well as aesthetics at the philosophical faculty...
Švankmajer moved from the
mannerismMannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...
of his early work to classic surrealism, first manifested in his film
The Garden (1968), and joined the Czechoslovakian Surrealist Group.
He was married to
Eva ŠvankmajerováEva Švankmajerová was a Czech surrealist artist. She was born Eva Dvořáková. A native of the Czech town of Kostelec nad Černými lesy, she moved to Prague in 1958 to study at the Prague School of Interior Design and later the Academy of Performing Arts...
, an internationally known surrealist painter, ceramicist, and writer until her death in October 2005. Švankmajerová collaborated on several of her husband's movies, including
AliceAlice is a 1988 Czechoslovak film directed by Jan Švankmajer. Its original Czech title is Něco z Alenky, which means "Something from Alice". It is a free adaptation of Lewis Carroll's first Alice book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, about a girl who follows a white rabbit into a bizarre fantasy...
,
FaustFaust is a 1994 Czech film directed by Jan Švankmajer. It merges live-action footage with stop-motion footage and includes imaginative puppetry and claymation. The Faust character is played by Petr Čepek. The film was produced by Jaromír Kallista...
, and
OtesánekLittle Otik , also known as Greedy Guts, is a 2000 Czech film by Jan Švankmajer and Eva Švankmajerová. Based on the folktale "Otesánek" by K J Erben, the film is a comedic live action, stop motion-animated feature film set mainly in an apartment building in the Czech Republic.The film uses the...
. They had two children, Veronika (b. 1963) and Václav (b. 1975, an animator).
Švankmajer has gained a reputation over several decades for his distinctive use of
stop-motionStop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
technique, and his ability to make surreal, nightmarish, and yet somehow funny pictures. He continues to make films in Prague.
Švankmajer's trademarks include very exaggerated sounds, often creating a very strange effect in all eating scenes. He often uses
fast-motionTime-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than that which will be used to play the sequence back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing...
sequences when people walk or interact. His movies often involve inanimate objects being brought to life through stop-motion. Many of his films also include clay objects in stop-motion, otherwise known as
clay animationClay animation or claymation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually Plasticine clay....
. Food is a favourite subject and medium.
Stop-motion features in most of his work, though recently his feature films have included much more live action sequences than animation.
Many of his movies, like the short film
Down to the Cellar, are made from a child's perspective, while at the same time often having a truly disturbing and even aggressive nature. In 1972 the communist authorities banned him from making films, and many of his later films were suppressed. He was almost unknown in the West until the early 1980s.
Today Švankmajer is one of the most celebrated animators in the world. Among his best known works are the feature films
AliceAlice is a 1988 Czechoslovak film directed by Jan Švankmajer. Its original Czech title is Něco z Alenky, which means "Something from Alice". It is a free adaptation of Lewis Carroll's first Alice book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, about a girl who follows a white rabbit into a bizarre fantasy...
(1988),
FaustFaust is a 1994 Czech film directed by Jan Švankmajer. It merges live-action footage with stop-motion footage and includes imaginative puppetry and claymation. The Faust character is played by Petr Čepek. The film was produced by Jaromír Kallista...
(1994),
Conspirators of Pleasure (1996),
Little OtikLittle Otik , also known as Greedy Guts, is a 2000 Czech film by Jan Švankmajer and Eva Švankmajerová. Based on the folktale "Otesánek" by K J Erben, the film is a comedic live action, stop motion-animated feature film set mainly in an apartment building in the Czech Republic.The film uses the...
(2000) and
LunacyLunacy is a 2005 Czech film by Jan Švankmajer. The film is loosely based on two short stories, "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" and "The Premature Burial", by Edgar Allan Poe. It is also partly inspired by the works of the Marquis de Sade...
(2005), a surreal comic horror based on two works of
Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
and the life of
Marquis de SadeDonatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
. The two stories by Poe, "
The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether"The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" is a comedic short story written by American author Edgar Allan Poe.-Plot summary:The story follows an unnamed narrator who visits a mental institution in southern France known for a revolutionary new method of treating mental illnesses called the...
" and "
The Premature Burial"The Premature Burial" is a horror short story on the theme of being buried alive, written by Edgar Allan Poe and published in 1844 in The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. Fear of being buried alive was common in this period and Poe was taking advantage of the public interest...
", provide
Lunacy its thematic focus, whereas the life of
Marquis de SadeDonatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
provides the film's blasphemy. Also famous (and much imitated) is the short
Dimensions of DialogueDimensions of Dialogue is a 1982 Czechoslovak animated short film directed by Jan Švankmajer. It is 14 minute long and created with stop motion.-Plot:The animation is divided into three sections...
(1982), selected by
Terry GilliamTerrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
as one of the ten best animated films of all time. His films have been called "as emotionally haunting as Kafka's stories. His latest film is
Surviving LifeSurviving Life is a 2010 Czech comedy film by Jan Švankmajer, starring Václav Helšus, Klára Issová and Zuzanna Kronerova. The film uses a mix of cutout animation from photographs and live-action segments, and tells the story of a married man who lives a double life in his dreams, where he meets...
from 2010.
His next project is called
Insects (
Hmyz). It has a projected budget of 40 million CZK and a preliminary release set to 2015. The film will be based on the play
Pictures from the Insects' LifePictures from the Insects' Life , also known as Insect Play or The Life of the Insects, is a satirical play in the Czech language written by the brothers Karel Čapek and Josef Čapek. It was published in 1921 and premiered in 1922...
by
Karel ČapekKarel Čapek was Czech writer of the 20th century.-Biography:Born in 1890 in the Bohemian mountain village of Malé Svatoňovice to an overbearing, emotional mother and a distant yet adored father, Čapek was the youngest of three siblings...
, which Švankmajer describes as following: "This Čapek´s play is a very misanthropic, and I always liked it — bugs behave as a human beings, and people behave as insects. It also reminds one a lot of
Franz KafkaFranz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
and his famous
MetamorphosisThe Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It is often cited as one of the seminal works of short fiction of the 20th century and is widely studied in colleges and universities across the western world...
."
Feature-length films
| Year | English title | Original title | Source material |
| 1988 |
AliceAlice is a 1988 Czechoslovak film directed by Jan Švankmajer. Its original Czech title is Něco z Alenky, which means "Something from Alice". It is a free adaptation of Lewis Carroll's first Alice book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, about a girl who follows a white rabbit into a bizarre fantasy...
|
Něco z Alenky |
Alice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
by Lewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
|
| 1994 |
Faust Faust is a 1994 Czech film directed by Jan Švankmajer. It merges live-action footage with stop-motion footage and includes imaginative puppetry and claymation. The Faust character is played by Petr Čepek. The film was produced by Jaromír Kallista...
|
Lekce Faust |
The FaustFaust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
legend, Goethe's FaustJohann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play in two parts: and . Although written as a closet drama, it is the play with the largest audience numbers on German-language stages...
and Doctor Faustus by Christopher MarloweChristopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
|
| 1996 |
Conspirators of Pleasure |
Spiklenci slasti |
Original story |
| 2000 |
Little Otik Little Otik , also known as Greedy Guts, is a 2000 Czech film by Jan Švankmajer and Eva Švankmajerová. Based on the folktale "Otesánek" by K J Erben, the film is a comedic live action, stop motion-animated feature film set mainly in an apartment building in the Czech Republic.The film uses the...
|
Otesánek |
Otesánek by Karel Jaromír Erben Karel Jaromír Erben was a Czech historian, poet and writer of the mid-19th century, best known for his collection Kytice , which contains poems based on traditional and folkloric themes....
|
| 2005 |
Lunacy Lunacy is a 2005 Czech film by Jan Švankmajer. The film is loosely based on two short stories, "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" and "The Premature Burial", by Edgar Allan Poe. It is also partly inspired by the works of the Marquis de Sade...
|
Šílení |
"The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" is a comedic short story written by American author Edgar Allan Poe.-Plot summary:The story follows an unnamed narrator who visits a mental institution in southern France known for a revolutionary new method of treating mental illnesses called the...
" and "The Premature Burial"The Premature Burial" is a horror short story on the theme of being buried alive, written by Edgar Allan Poe and published in 1844 in The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. Fear of being buried alive was common in this period and Poe was taking advantage of the public interest...
" by Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
|
| 2010 |
Surviving Life Surviving Life is a 2010 Czech comedy film by Jan Švankmajer, starring Václav Helšus, Klára Issová and Zuzanna Kronerova. The film uses a mix of cutout animation from photographs and live-action segments, and tells the story of a married man who lives a double life in his dreams, where he meets...
|
Přežít svůj život |
Original story |
| 2015 |
Insects |
Hmyz |
Pictures from the Insects' Life Pictures from the Insects' Life , also known as Insect Play or The Life of the Insects, is a satirical play in the Czech language written by the brothers Karel Čapek and Josef Čapek. It was published in 1921 and premiered in 1922...
by Karel ČapekKarel Čapek was Czech writer of the 20th century.-Biography:Born in 1890 in the Bohemian mountain village of Malé Svatoňovice to an overbearing, emotional mother and a distant yet adored father, Čapek was the youngest of three siblings...
and Josef ČapekJosef Čapek was a Czech artist who was best known as a painter, but who was also noted as a writer and a poet. He invented the word robot, which was introduced into literature by his brother, Karel Čapek.- Biography :...
|
Short films
| Year | English title | Original title | Notes |
| 1964 |
The Last Trick The Last Trick is a 1964 Czechoslovak animated short film by Jan Švankmajer. It was Švankmajer's first film.-Plot:During the title sequence, the cast and crew are seen backstage preparing for their performance. The play depicts two mime-like magicians named Mr. Edgar and Mr...
|
Poslední trik pana Schwarcewalldea a pana Edgara |
| 1965 |
Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasy in G minor |
Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasia G-moll |
| 1965 |
A Game with Stones A Game With Stones , is a nine-minute animated film by Czech animator Jan Švankmajer. Made in 1965, it utilizes stop-motion animation.- Themes :...
|
Spiel mit Steinen |
| 1966 |
Punch and Judy |
Rakvičkárna |
Also known as The Coffin Factory and The Lych House |
| 1966 |
Et Cetera |
| 1967 |
Historia Naturae (Suita) |
| 1968 |
The Garden |
Zahrada |
| 1968 |
The Flat |
Byt |
| 1968 |
Picnic with Weissmann Picnic with Weissmann is a 1968 Czechoslovak animated short film by Jan Švankmajer.-Plot:The phonograph winds up, and the needle touches the record. A lawn surrounded by trees has a wardrobe, three chairs, a desk, and a lounge. The chairs are playing cards on the desk...
|
Picknick mit Weissmann |
| 1969 |
A Quiet Week in the House A Quiet week in the House is a 1969 Czechoslovak live-action/animated short film by Jan Švankmajer.-Plot:A man embarks on an unspecified mission to infiltrate an old, decaying, abandoned house that rests in a lonely Czech countryside...
|
Tichý týden v domě |
| 1969 |
Don Juan Don Juan is a 1969 Czechoslovak short film by Jan Švankmajer, based on traditional Czech puppet plays of the Don Juan legend.-Plot:Within an old dilapidated and seemingly automated theater, human-sized marionettes perform a production of the Don Juan legend without the aid of puppeteers or an...
|
Don Šajn |
| 1970 |
The Ossuary |
Kostnice |
About the Sedlec Ossuary The Sedlec Ossuary is a small Roman Catholic chapel, located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic...
|
| 1971 |
Jabberwocky Jabberwocky is a 1971 Czechoslovak animated short film written and directed by Jan Švankmajer, based loosely on the poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll. It was produced by Erna Kmínková, Marta Sichová, Jirí Vanek, and animated by Vlasta Pospísilová.-Plot:...
|
Based on "Jabberwocky"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense verse poem written by Lewis Carroll in his 1872 novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
" by Lewis Carroll |
| 1972 |
Leonardo's Diary |
Leonardův deník |
| 1977 |
Castle of Otranto |
Otrantský zámek |
| 1980 |
The Fall of the House of Usher |
Zánik domu Usherů |
Based on "The Fall of the House of Usher"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in September 1839 in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. It was slightly revised in 1840 for the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque...
" by Edgar Allan Poe |
| 1982 |
Dimensions of Dialogue Dimensions of Dialogue is a 1982 Czechoslovak animated short film directed by Jan Švankmajer. It is 14 minute long and created with stop motion.-Plot:The animation is divided into three sections...
|
Možnosti dialogu |
| 1983 |
Down to the Cellar |
Do pivnice |
| 1983 |
The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope is a 1983 Czechoslovak animated short film directed by Jan Švankmajer, adapted from Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum....
|
Kyvadlo, jáma a naděje |
Based on "The Pit and the Pendulum"The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, though Poe skews historical facts. The...
" by Edgar Allan Poe |
| 1988 |
Virile Games |
Mužné hry |
Also known as The Male Game |
| 1988 |
Another Kind of Love |
Music video for Hugh Cornwell Hugh Alan Cornwell is an English musician and songwriter, best known for being the vocalist and guitarist for the punk/new wave group, The Stranglers, from 1974 to 1990.-Career:...
|
| 1988 |
Meat Love Meat Love is a 1989 Czechoslovak animated short film directed and animated by Jan Švankmajer. It appears as a commercial in Švankmajer's feature-length film Little Otik. It has also been shown on MTV....
|
Zamilované maso |
| 1989 |
Darkness/Light/Darkness |
Tma, světlo, tma |
| 1989 |
Flora |
| 1989 |
Animated Self-Portraits |
Portmanteau film by 27 filmmakers |
| 1990 |
The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia |
Konec stalinismu v Čechách |
| 1992 |
Food |
Jídlo |
Animation and gadgets
| Year | English title | Original title | Director |
| 1978 |
Dinner for Adele Dinner for Adele is a 1977 Czechoslovak comedy detective film directed by Oldřich Lipský. Alternative titles were Adele Hasn't Had Her Dinner Yet, Nick Carter in Prague and Adele Hasn't Had Her Supper Yet.-Plot:...
|
Adéla ještě nevečeřela |
Oldřich Lipský |
| 1981 |
The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians |
Tajemství hradu v Karpatech |
Oldřich Lipský |
| 1982 |
Ferat Vampire |
Upír z Feratu |
Juraj Herz |
| 1984 |
Three Veterans |
Tři veteráni |
Oldřich Lipský |
See also
- Jiří Trnka
Jiří Trnka was a Czech puppet maker, illustrator, motion-picture animator and film director. In addition to his extensive career as an illustrator, especially of children's books, he is best known for his work in animation with puppets, which began in 1946...
, Czech animator and puppeteer
- Karel Zeman
Karel Zeman was a Czech film director, artist, production designer and animator. Because of his creative use of special effects and animation in his films, he has often been called the "Czech Méliès."-Life:...
, Czech animator and filmmaker
- Jiří Barta
Jiří Barta is a Czech stop-motion animation director. His films, many of which used the medium of wood for animation, garnered critical acclaim and won many awards, but after the fall of the communist government in Czechoslovakia he was unable to release anything for about 15 years...
, Czech stop-motion animator
- Ladislaw Starewich, Polish animator and puppeteer
- List of stop motion films
Further reading
- Peter Hames: Dark Alchemy: The Films of Jan Svankmajer, Praeger Paperback, 1995, ISBN 0275952991. Second updated edition published in 2007, ISBN 1905674457. Peter Hames is an expert on history of Central European cinema.
External links