Benjamin, Lemar, and Alex, Escape – Lordship Lane, 2014

 

Inspired by Camille Pissarro, Lordship Lane Station, Dulwich, 1871.

We chose the painting Lordship Lane for several reasons, the first being the smoke. We thought the smoke symbolises conflict and war, and the emotions that come with it. The second thing we noticed was the motion of the train and how that represents time.

In our research we discovered Camille Pissarro was a refugee because of the Franco-Prussian war. The location he escaped from was France, and he travelled to London, where he stayed for two years. While he was in London, he painted the scenery around him. We think he painted the train in this work because it reminds us of travel and his escape from the Franco-Prussian war. This inspired us to make an animation of his experiences of escaping the devastation of the war.

When we made the animation, we started with the smoke by ripping up cotton and placing it on a green-screen and puffing it out. By using the same green-screen we placed trees, three skies (sunny, night, and morning) and a hill, and then merged them together using Photoshop. Michelle scanned her hand and we created finger-puppets with different emotions. After this, we picked sounds to add each scene. By doing this, we tell the story of how we think the way affected Camille Pissarro.

Inspired by:

Camille Pissarro, Lordship Lane Station, Dulwich, 1871

Camille Pissarro, Lordship Lane Station, Dulwich, 1871

Pissarro spent over a year in London, fleeing the Franco-Prussian war. He painted sights around his home in Norwood, including this view of Lordship Lane Station (now demolished). The station had opened only a few years earlier, catering to visitors of the Crystal Palace and to the residents of this growing south London suburb. In the painting, rows of new houses border areas of undeveloped land. Standing on a footbridge over the tracks, Pissarro depicted the train leaving the station. His view however is curiously devoid of people. He originally included a man mowing the grassy slope to the right, but painted him out.