Jules Engel

Jules Engel (11 March 1909 – 6 September 2003) was a Jewish-Hungarian American filmmaker, painter, sculptor, graphic artist, set designer, and director of live action and animated films, and teacher. He is most remembered as the founding director of the Experimental Animation Program at the California Institute of the Arts, where he taught until his death, serving as mentor to several generations of animators.

Early life

Engel was born in Budapest, Hungary where as a baby his mother would cover him with a baby blanket when carrying him in a stroller. This was largely due to the shape of Engel's head (he once commented in an interview) that was similar to a hexagon. The family story is that people would stop his mother to inquistively ask what she was carrying in the stroller. Engel goes on to explain that this incident might have been a foretelling of his career in art and animation! [Peoples Archive|id=3595|title=Jules Engel] .

Engel immigrated to Chicago at the age of thirteen, where he grew up in Oak Park, Illinois and attended Evanston Township High School. During his high school years, he became the best runner in his track team, and was already showing signs of early abstract work in his art classes. One teacher, who was understanding of Engel's peculiar taste, would make the rest of the class go out, and do observational drawing of people and nature, while she let him stay in class and work with different collages of paper shapes. He remarked in his later years,"If you are good as an athlete there something in you that has that sense of rhythm that going to show itself on a canvas or a drawing. It gong to be there to a degree." Also, while in highschool, he was invited by a classmate he never talked to before to go see a performance of Swan Lake by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, which would serve as an inspiration for his artwork the rest of his life.

Arriving in Los Angeles

In 1937, Engel traveled to Los Angeles originally to gain athletic scholarship to either USC, or UCLA, as he was in the track team while in high school . He would eventually settle in Hollywood, while at the same time studying at the Chouinard Art Institute in downtown Los Angeles. It was during his studies at Chouinard, he met many artists who would go on to work for Disney Studios, and later recommend him to Walt Disney Studios. in the meantime, he work under Charles Mintz Studios as an inbetweener.

Disney Period, "Fantasia" and "Bambi" (1938-1941)

A year later, he was asked by Walt Disney Studios to work on the now Disney classic film "Fantasia". At the time, Disney Studios was doing something innovative, integrating "low" (animation) and "high" (classical music) art, and the studio needed someone who was familiar with the timing of dance. It was because of his drawing talent and his growing knowledge of dance, Engel was assigned to storyboard the Russian spites and Chinese mushrooms dance sequences of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.

Fantasia Trademark

For the Russian sprite sequence, Engel inventively placed the dancing sprites against the stark black ground. And by bolding the simplified setting, he intensified the contrast of the figure and the ground. (It should be noted that during this time he was most inspired by the paintings of Kandinsky and Klee). The latter sequence, Chinese Mushrooms, has brought much debate in the animation community surrounding Engel himself, Art Babbit, and Elmer Pummer over who got to claim responsibility for the sequence. As former CalArts student Mark Kirkland revealed, Engel was upset about Plummer censoring his concepts from reaching the hands of Walt Disney, and later putting the final 'correctional touches' of both his and Babbit's work. Overall, Engel could claim responsibility for the choreography (timing) for the final sequence, but to this day, animation scholars and former students alike continue to debate about it from all sides. [ [http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/calarts-in-70s-part-4.html TAG Blog: CalArts in the 70s (Part 4) ] ]

Contributions to Bambi

His work on Fantasia didn't go unnoticed by the studio, as the director of Bambi, David Hand, asked Jules to work do color work for the film. Originally, Engel was unhappy about it because he had no interest working on a film focused on animals. However, word got out to director about his attitude towards the project, and he was then re-approached to work on the timing for the sequence where Bambi first encounters his childhood playmate, Faline, which required a lot of movement analysis. After completing the sequence, he became committed to the entirety of the project after hearing the score for the film, which he thought had lot of abstraction and movement. He began doing color sketches because he felt that the color schemes they were using during production was too naturalistic. Hand, who liked Engel's approach, green-lighted his color contributions to the film's traumatizing momma deer death scene, and where the clan of pink and red deers ran away from firing gunshots. He expressed to his colleagues, "You should emphasize, you should push, you should be more inventive. [...] There's nothing 'normal' about animated film, it's all invention." Basically, making them more aware of their color choices in relationship to the aesthetics of animation.

Engel's time at Disney would come to an end with the development of the Disney animators' strike. While the union won the case over the studio,, Engel didn't go back, largely because while he enjoyed the place, he felt uncomfortable being surrounded by colleagues that he felt didn't share his passion for the aesthetics of animation as he did. However, the time he spent didn't go to waste, as met avant-garde filmmaker Oskar Fischinger during Fantasia, who encouraged Engel in both his abstract animation and painting.

Motion Picture Unit (1942-1944)

During World War II, he was in the service alongside the likes of actor Ronald Reagan, and famed children's book writer Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) in the First Motion Picture Unit as an animator. Originally, Engel was waiting to be drafted in the U.S. Army, but was rejected because of his poor eyesight (indicated by his glasses), and a bad shoulder. He was adamant in joining the war cause because he did not will to deal with the embarrassment of facing up to his friends who were already drafted. The Air Force would eventually recruit Engel in the Motion Picture Unit to work on training videos and war bond advertisements. he would eventual work on drawing instructions for the newer models of the weapons being produced, and maps based from looking above from an airplane, where he infused his earlier practice of abstraction.

UPA Days (1944-1959)

Engel was one of a group of animators (himself, William Hurtz, John Hubley, and Herbert Klynn) who later left Disney to found the United Productions of America studio. At UPA, Engel worked as a background artist on cartoons like "Gerald McBoing Boing", "Madeline", and "Mr. Magoo". The environment at UPA was much more open-minded to change, unlike his former employer, Disney.It was during this period where Engel was not only inspired from paintings by Kandinsky, Klee, but also Miro, Matisse, and Duly, as well as the Bauhaus book "Language of Vision". Engel would later claim responsibility for discovering the children's book Madeline, and suggesting to Stephen Bosustow to buy and copyrights and develop the series.

In 1945, Hazel Guggenheim (of the art patronage family) arranged for Engel to have first exhibition of painting at the Frederick Kahn Gallery in Los Angeles. As the story goes, Engel and Guggenheim were visiting the gallery when Ms. Guggenheim suggested Mr. Kahn that he should give Jules an exhibition. Taken by surprise, Engel agreed to have an exhibition if Kahn would agree not to sell anything.

Format Films (1959-1962)

With former UPA colleagues Herbert Klynn and Buddy Getzler, he then launched Format Films, and produced several popular US television series, including "The Alvin Show" (1961-62) and "The Lone Ranger" (1966-67), as well as one-off animated shorts, among them the Ray Bradbury-scripted, and Oscar-nominated, "Icarus Montgolfier Wright" (1962).

Live-Action in Paris

In 1962, Engel left for Paris where he directed a French animated cartoon, The World of Sine, which received the French La Belle Qualite Award. The World of Sine was purchased and released throughout Europe by Jacques Tati. Coaraze, made in French town in 1965 won the Prix Jean Vigo Award for Engel.

In 1964, in Paris, Engel co-directed The Little Prince, with Raymond Gerome. This was a theatre production combined with animation and live performance on stage. He was set designer for Le Jouex, and avant garde play starring Michelle Boucett.

While he was in Paris, he came to the attention of renowned comedian Jacques Tati, who was a fan of the UPA work. And later, his first short live action film, Coaraze, which won the Prix Jean Vigo. During his stay in Paris, he was friendly with other artists at the time, including Man Ray. In the late 1960s he began making his own personal fine art animation. He also made several documentaries on other artists.

"To CalArts and Beyond!"

Returning to the U.S., Engel continued his films on artists, directing a film for Tamarind Lithography Workshop called A look at a Lithographer and American Sculpture of the Sixties and also a film, Max Bill, about the Swiss artist.

In 1970, Engel founded CalArts' Program in Experimental Animation, widely recognized as one of the world's foremost centers for animation arts.

In 1997, Animation World Magazine, asked Engel, along with two other animation prfoessors: "If you were stranded on a desert island with only ten films to screen to your students, to teach them the principles, techniques and concepts of the art of animation, what would they be?"Engel chose the following:
*1. The Band Concert by Walt Disney.
*2. The Nose by Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker.
*3. Two Sisters by Caroline Leaf.
*4. Study no. 6 by Oskar Fischinger.
*5. Study no. 8 by Oskar Fischinger.
*6. Filter Gallery by Eric Darnell.
*7. Tenderly by John Hubley.
*8. The Trap by Amy Kravitz.
*9. The Demon by Kihachiro Kawamoto.
*10. Game of Angels by Walerian Borowczyck.

In 2001, Engel kept himself busy by selecting the color design of each frame for The 1 Second Film. This was an interdisciplinary project that was conspired by Nirvan Mullick, an Experimental Animation student of his at the time. In that same year, CalArts hailed his indelible contribution to the arts by conferring on him the title of Institute Fellow, the highest honor it awards to faculty. The Fellowship has only be given to two other faculty to date, Alexander Mackendrick, and Mel Powell.

Continuing His Legacy

In one of his final major acts, in May 2003, Jules established the Jules Engel Scholarship Fund. The recipients of the awards are those students who have carried out their work at CalArts in Jules’ name have all demonstrated rigor, daring imagination and great curiosity about the world, leading into inventive interdisciplinary projects.

Engel was also a painter, and produced a prolific body of oil paintings, lithographs and other graphic artworks. His paintings are in the collections of major museums, and recently there have been exhibits of his work at Tobey C. Moss Gallery in Los Angeles. He was still working on a new series of lithographs just before his death.

Today, many of his students carry out his influence through their work, which include John Lasseter, Henry Selick, Tim Burton, Stephen Hillenburg, Joanna Priestley, Christine Panushka, Peter Chung, Glen Keane, Ellen Woodbury, Paul Demeyer, Eric Darnell, Kathy Rose, Joyce Borenstein, Mark Osborne, Fern Seiden, Steven Subotnick, Patrice Stellest, Amy Kravitz, Vanessa Schwartz, Mark Kirkland, and Janeann Dill among others.

The Engel Animation Advancement Research Center (EAARC) offers a slate of animated shorts drawn from leading international festivals. The program is structured around the themes of personal struggle and forbidden desire in the context of a polarized, conflicted world.

Former students of Engel, Christine Panushka and Dr. Janeann Dill, currently act as his representatives for some matters (excluding his films, which are not administered by them). Panushka served as the executor as Engel's estate, while Dill is his biographer.

In 2003, Center for Visual Music and Cal Arts presented a major retrospective of Engel's films at Redcat Theatre, Los Angeles. CVM preserved many of Engel's abstract films for the event, through the Jules Engel Preservation Project. Per Jules' wishes, CVM owns the rights to a number of his films, some of which are currently distributed by CVM today.

Trivia

* The first animation he ever saw was Three Little Pigs, from Disney.
* The makers of "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie," graduates of Engel's Experimental Animation program, dedicated the film to his memory.
* The shriveled doctor in Suzan Pitt's "El Doctor" is rumored to be based on Jules.
* While at Disney, he grew great admiration and friendship Disney animator Ward Kimball, he who felt was mistreated by Disney Studios. Ward eventually made "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom", inspired by the UPA style that Engel laid down.
* The hydrangea was his favorite flower.
* The cover of the book, "Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics" by colleague Maureen Furniss, is a still of Engel's animation work,"The Meadow".
* He was good friends with visual artist June Wayne.
* He sold the storyboards he had done during Fantasia and Bambi to Steven Spielberg, who is a known collector of such things
* Engel had served on the executive board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the last 35 years of his life.

Quotes

* "Color can be heard.”

* "It's not what I give my students. It's what I don't take away."

* "I have chosen to convey ideas and feelings through movement, visually formed by lines, squares, spots, circles and varieties of colour."

* "Experimental animation is closer to music, which can move away from any obvious image, and gives us an experience that can only be the property of music.In my work, movement in itself is the expression that gives us both an aesthetic and an emotional experience."

* “My work is not realized through mathematical formulas or theories. It is gained through visual trial-and-error. It is a process of perception. It is a process of trial-and-error.”

*"While erasing a drawing and destroying an Art form, I am at the same time producing another image and arriving at another art form."

* “Movement is the content. Don’t merely look at a movement, FEEL it."

* "Movement emerges, only to disappear.”

* “The art of filmmaking is timing."

* "Since the advent of 3-D and CinemaScope, there has been a great deal of talk by film executives about how they are going to 'save the industry.' It's my opinion if there's any saving to be done of a business based on creative talent--it will be done by creative talent--not by the men behind the big, oak desks."

*“Animation is not a question of drawing, it’s a question of timing”

*"I have chosen to convey ideas and feelings through movement, visually formed by lines, squares, spots, circles and varieties of colour."

*"Solve your problems in the storyboard."

*"Solve your problems small."

References

External links

*
*
* [http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/JEPP.html Jules Engel Preservation Project] by the Center for Visual Music
* [http://www.iotacenter.org/projects/engel Jules Engel Project] by the iota Center
* [http://film.calarts.edu/main/streaming/valentine05.html "Valentine For Jules"] video by Calarts Students, 1996
* [http://film.calarts.edu/main/streaming/expanim20.html CalArts: 20 Years of Experimental Animation, 1970 - 1990] , student videos hand-picked by Engel of the prime example of the Experimental Program.
* [http://www.awn.com/mag/issue4.02/4.02pages/dillengel.php3 Interview by Janeann Dill, "The Mentor"] , Animation World Magazine, 1999
* [http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=1873 "A Tribute to Jules Engel", Animation World Magazine,2003]
* [http://www.netropolitan.org/engel/engel_main.html Jules Engel, Artconservation Archive]
* [http://artscenecal.com/ArtistsFiles/EngelJ/JEngel.html Artscenecal profile]
* [http://calarts.edu/alumni/news/poolvol1iss3.html The Pool: Vol. 1 Issue 3]
* [http://www.calarts.edu/schools/film/faculty/engel_jules.html CalArts, School of F/V Faculty Profile]
* [http://www.calarts.edu/news/pressrelease/2003-12-9julesengel.html CalArts Press Release]
* [http://www.wmgallery.com/news/sep05.html "Jules Engel Remembered"]
* [http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/library/EngelPostModernist.htm "Jules Engel, Post-Modernist", By William Moritz]
* [http://www.iotacenter.org/visualmusic/articles/engel/turningtide "Jules Engel"]
* [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/obituary/0,12723,1043498,00.html Obituary: Jules Engel]
* [http://www.sullivangoss.com/Jules_Engel/ Jules Engel:Painter, Draftsman, Sculptor & Educator]
* [http://lists.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind03&L=invent-l&T=0&F=&S=&P=21925 Subject: A Memorial to Jules Engel, March 11, 1909-September 6, 2003] by Dr. Janeann Dill.
* [http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=search&sval=jules+engel&article_no=751 On A Desert Island With....Educators] by Wendy Jackson.
* [http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0106/24/sm.02.html High-Tech "Animation Scores at the Box Office"] by CNN.com (06/01)
* [http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=5325 "Splinter Cel"] City Paper article about her Jules Engel Biography Project by scholar, artist and biographer, Dr. Janeann Dill.
* [http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=cat&category1=In+Passing&newsitem_no=9137 Jules Engel Passes, Funeral Announced 9/03] , Animation World Magazine
* [http://www.lenamerhej.com/animation/notes/cob/engel.html An Animation Lesson: Animation between Art and Industry/ Jules Engel]
* [http://www.animationmagazine.net/article.php?article_id=1498 Jules Engel, Mentor & Inspired Artist Passes]
* [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/24/1064083056866.html?from=storyrhs From dancing hippos to Mr Magoo and more]
* [http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/jules-engel-on-bambi Jules Engel on Bambi]
* [http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/more-from-jules-engels-estate More from Jules Engel’s estate]
* [http://nga.gov.au/InternationalPrints/Tyler/Default.cfm?MnuID=3&ArtistIRN=18739&List=True Engel's timeline]
* [http://www.hi-beam.net/fw/fw24/0102.html Jules Engel, RIP]

Work and Statements by Engel

* [http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/library/Reflections.htm Reflections: Graphic Choreography] by Jules Engel
* [http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/library/JoyMove.htm Experimental Animation: The Joy of Movement] by Jules Engel
* [http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/08/media-jules-engels-color-keys.html Engel's Alvin Show Color Keys]
* [http://cartoonmodern.blogsome.com/2006/08/25/jules-engel-1001-arabian-nights-1959/#comments Screenshots of Engel's work on "1001 Arabian Nights"(1959)]
* [http://www.rogallery.com/Engel_Jules/Engel-hm.htm Engel's Original Paintings]