Does anyone remember "The Generation Game" on television? They'd get families with watered down clay to try and sculpt something with usually hilariously squidgy results. Well perhaps they might to have used a couple of these families here to lighten up this rather overly earnest demonstration. Not only might they have introduced a little light-heartedness, but they might also have gone some way to illustrating just how talented the real artists actually are. It's the dry as a bone Merrell Gage who takes centre stage and expertly turns a blob of clay into the spitting image of Abraham Lincoln. What's impressive about this skill is just how he can age the face. A young man becomes an older one just by using some extra clay, creative moulding and some dimpling. When we start with the head shape, the artistry from Gage could probably have just as easily turned out Henry VIII or Genghis Khan. As a documentary, though, it's just a little too much like a lecture and it doesn't really engage very interestingly. Still, it's an excellent evocation of an admirable skill.
2 Reviews
A history lecture on Lincoln with visual aid
llltdesq9 March 2013
Warning: Spoilers
An interesting, if somewhat dry, presentation on the life of Abraham Lincoln, delivered by (interestingly enough) a retired professor of sculpture from the University of Southern California! There have to be spoilers in order to discuss this at all (if it can really be called a "spoiler"), so consider this notice:
This is nothing but a lecture delivered by Merrell Gage, a retired professor of sculpture, who sculpts a bust of Lincoln as he lectures the audience on the political life of Abraham Lincoln. Gage is clearly comfortable with both tasks, as he takes Lincoln's life through early manhood through his political career up until his assassination while simultaneously taking a blank form and creating a bust of Lincoln from scratch in just under 22 minutes. There are one or two humorous moments and the story of Lincoln's life is fascinating even if you know it already, but this is a novelty, a curio, at best. Worth watching, particularly if you're either a Lincoln buff or into sculpture. Somehow, this won an Academy Award for Two-Reel Short and was also nominated for Documentary Short in the same year. It beat The Battle of Gettysburg, which was nominated for the same two categories. This is available for viewing online.
This is nothing but a lecture delivered by Merrell Gage, a retired professor of sculpture, who sculpts a bust of Lincoln as he lectures the audience on the political life of Abraham Lincoln. Gage is clearly comfortable with both tasks, as he takes Lincoln's life through early manhood through his political career up until his assassination while simultaneously taking a blank form and creating a bust of Lincoln from scratch in just under 22 minutes. There are one or two humorous moments and the story of Lincoln's life is fascinating even if you know it already, but this is a novelty, a curio, at best. Worth watching, particularly if you're either a Lincoln buff or into sculpture. Somehow, this won an Academy Award for Two-Reel Short and was also nominated for Documentary Short in the same year. It beat The Battle of Gettysburg, which was nominated for the same two categories. This is available for viewing online.
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