Rare vintage gelatin silver print
Pierre Choumoff photographer
6.75 x 9 inches (17.1 x 22.8 cm.), double weight matte paper
Fine

NAPOLEON [1927]
Abel Gance’s monumental tribute to the steady rise to power of Napoleon Bonaparte is a genre-defining breakthrough in cinematic history and a landmark of technical and artistic invention. The story of Napoleon’s ascension from lowly Corsican outsider to emperor of most of Europe is fertile ground for Gance’s outrageously daring and audacious style. From a snowball fight at the young Napoleon’s boarding school to the siege of Toulon and the terror of the French Revolution, violent, beautiful, and unforeseen images are captured by Gance’s mostly handheld camera, interspersing Napoleon’s heroic posturing with dizzying verité depictions of breakneck action. Early uses of tints and color processes, unorthodox camerawork, and eye-popping superimposition and editing reveal Gance to be decades ahead of his time. In addition, a cast of thousands of incredibly real faces and characters is rounded out by forceful and inspirational performances by Vladimir Roudenko as the Young Napoleon, Albert Dieudonné as the mature Napoleon, and a handful of others (notably a cameo by Antonin Artaud as Marat). Originally intended to be screened as a triple projection, NAPOLEON relies upon the power of the image to forge an enduring myth out of imagination and history.