duVoyage - Fondation Groupama Gan pour le Cinéma
duVoyage - Fondation Groupama Gan pour le Cinéma
duVoyage - Fondation Groupama Gan pour le Cinéma
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Méliès by Méliès, for the Dictionary of Illstrious Men,<br />
as yet unpublished…<br />
“[…] During the who<strong>le</strong> of this period of his life, Méliès was tortured by the demon<br />
of drawing and, even if his teachers gave him good grades, following his artistic<br />
passion earned him numerous punishments. His passion was stronger than him,<br />
and whi<strong>le</strong> he ruminated on a French dissertation or latin verses, his pen would<br />
mechanically begin to trace portraits or caricatures of his teachers or classmates,<br />
or else he would compose some fantasy palace or original landscape, which might<br />
already resemb<strong>le</strong> a theatrical décor. His notebooks and books were copiously illustrated.<br />
This was not to the taste of his school masters, and so saw him deprived of<br />
the right to venture outside the school on occasions too numerous to count (he was<br />
a boarder for 11 years). And that’s how, without a thought, vocations are hindered!<br />
But nothing worked in this case; Méliès continued to draw just as much, and would<br />
draw until his dying day.<br />
[…] When he finished his military service [November 1882], having always been<br />
first in drawing class, and having acquired some skill in painting during holidays,<br />
he went to Paris with the intention of entering the School of Fine Arts and to become<br />
an artist; but his father, an important industrialist, would not hear of it and formally<br />
opposed his son’s plans, declaring that by taking up such a profession one would<br />
only die of hunger. Against his will, therefore, he entered his father’s business.<br />
[…] During this period of his life [1889-1890], he was a journalist and illustrator,<br />
working under the anagramme of “Geo Smi<strong>le</strong>” (Georges Smi<strong>le</strong> in English) for the satirical<br />
journal, “La Griffe” (“The Claw”), an enemy of the famous General Boulanger<br />
who almost succeeded in overthrowing the French Republic and establishing a dictatorship<br />
in France.”<br />
«The life and work of one of the longest-standing pioneers of worldwide cinematography,<br />
Georges Méliès, creator of the cinematographic show” – text by Georges Méliès, written in the third person<br />
in 1936 for a Dictionary of Illustrious Men, a work which was never published.<br />
In London, magic rather than business<br />
In London, Georges Méliès sold shoes, then continued his business apprenticeship in a corset shop. But his stay<br />
in London was decisive, because it was there that he discovered the world of magic. He visited the Egyptian<br />
Hall of Maskelyne and Cook assiduously, a theatre dedicated to magic and illusion. It was in this theatre that<br />
John Nevil Maskelyne, one of England’s most famous magicians, initiated him to illusionism. Maskelyne had<br />
opened up the world of magic to new possibilities, presenting his tricks as a succession of short scenes. David<br />
Devant and Joseph Buatier de Kolta were two other magicians who would influence Méliès. David Devant<br />
taught Méliès his tricks and invited him onto the stage. As for Buatier de Kolta, Georges Méliès discovered his<br />
most admired illusion, “The Vanishing Lady”, the most imitated stage exploit of the 1880s and would use it later<br />
in his work. This illusion, which consists in making a woman in a chair disappear, would be Méliès’ most famous<br />
at the Robert-Houdin theatre. Transposed onto film in 1896 (The Capturing of a Lady), it became a cinematic<br />
reference: for the first time Méliès created a special effect by stopping the camera and modifying the objects<br />
being filmed.<br />
« And that’s how, born to an important industrialist, a luxury shoe<br />
manufacturer, I became a man of the theatre and founder of a family<br />
of artists. All because my father, thinking nothing could be better<br />
than his own profession, so fiercely opposed my entry to the School<br />
of Fine Arts...had that not been the case, it’s likely my career would<br />
have been devoted exclusively to painting.»<br />
Extract from a <strong>le</strong>tter from Georges Méliès to Paul Gilson, dated 16 th August 1929, as part of correspondance<br />
between the two in preparation for the Gala Méliès of 16 th December 1929 – Méliès Foundation – French Cinematheque<br />
One of David Devant’s most famous illusions was “The Artist’s Dream”, in which the life-sized portrait of a<br />
woman was brought to life in three dimensions in front of an amazed audience. In Le Portrait Spirite (1903),<br />
Méliès recreates this same illusion by substituting a painted canvas with a young woman.<br />
Return to Paris and settling down<br />
Méliès <strong>le</strong>ft London and returned to Paris in December 1884. He was 23 years old. On 29 th June 1885, he married<br />
Eugénie Genin (1867-1913), an orphan, rich heiress and accomplished pianist. They would have two children:<br />
Georgette in 1888 and André, born in 1901.<br />
Méliès joined the accounting department of his father’s business, but he was above all passionate about repairing<br />
the machines in the Méliès shoe factory situated 3-5 rue Taylor in Paris. Shortly after his return to<br />
Paris, he made the acquaintance of Voisin, a sel<strong>le</strong>r of automated machines, and a magician. The latter hosted<br />
sessions at the Grévin Museum, which opened in 1882, where large numbers of peop<strong>le</strong> showed their inventions<br />
and their ta<strong>le</strong>nts. Méliès perfected his magic skills and put on a show at the Cabinet Fantastique of the<br />
Grévin Museum in March 1886. He was subsequently hired by the Ga<strong>le</strong>rie Vivienne magic theatre. During this<br />
period, Georges Méliès also studied photography, and above all, extended his network of acquaintances in the<br />
world of theatre and show. It was Voisin who first mentioned the Robert–Houdin Theatre to him, and encouraged<br />
him to buy it.<br />
In 1888, Georges Méliès’ father, Louis, stepped down as head of the family business and Georges seized the opportunity<br />
to <strong>le</strong>ave the business. He sold his stake to his brothers in exchange for his share in the inheritance<br />
which consisted of 500,000 francs (approximately 1.5 million euros today) and a large house in Montreuilsous-Bois.<br />
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