Alexandre Alexeieff (1901-1982), French borned Russian, is considered one of the founders of the animation movie. In 1931, he developed with his partner Claire Parker, a wealthy American student met the previous year, a new technique known as the pin screen. Thousands of pins are mounted on a vertical panel illuminated by a raking light and can be inserted or removed at will. Alexeieff presents in 1933 Night on Bald Mountain, inspired by the music by Modest Mussorgsky, which soon became a classic of animation.
Before being a director, Alexeïeff is an illustrator. After a childhood spent between Turkey and Russia, he settled in Paris in 1921 where he worked as a theater's costumer and designer, for, among others, the Russian Ballets. Having a passion for drawing and engraving, Alexeïeff illustrated many books, both classics of Russian literature and french authors like André Malraux, Philippe Soupault, Joseph Kessel. It is the desire to give life to engravings which will push Alexeïeff to invent his revolutionary animation technique.After the war, he turned to advertises film-makings (Biscuits Brun, Renault, Esso), which by their experimental technique, are considered true works of art.
Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :
Alexeïeff (Alexandre) - Pouchkine (Alexandre). La Dame de Pique. French translation by Prosper Mérimée. Wood engravings in color by A. Alexeieff. Paris, Pouterman, 1928, in-8, binded. Edition illustrated with 13 wood engravings in color. One of the 12 copies on Imperial Japan paper, this one of Marie Laurencin's library, signed by her hand. - Alexeïeff (Alexandre) - Delteil (Joseph). On the River Amour. Translated by Samuel Putnam. Illustrations by Alexeieff. New-York, Covic, Friede publishers, 1929, in-8, binded. Full-page black illustrations. Limited to 1250 copies on Aurelian paper.
- Alexeïeff (Alexandre) - Andersen (Hans). Images de la Lune. Vues par Alexandre Alexeieff. Paris, Maximilien Vox, 1942, in-folio, in leaves, cover, publisher's case. Edition illustrated with 30 original engravings. Limited to 995 copies. This copy printed for the publisher and book-dealer Henri Lefèbvre.
