Damon the Mower

1972
Sound
3m

A stripped back animated masterpiece from the director of Yellow Submarine (1968), based on an poem by Andrew Marvell

One of the greatest animated shorts of all time. Though George Dunning will always be best known as the director of the Beatles' animated feature Yellow Submarine (1968), this is his masterpiece. The process of animation is laid bare; the index card drawings are left naked under the rostrum camera, with even the adhesive tape fixtures and sequence number revealed. The magic of the medium - to animate, to bring to life - becomes all the more extraordinary despite the revelation that it is an illusion.

George Dunning began his animation career in his native Canada under the tutelage of Norman McLaren at the National Film Board. He joined the influential UPA studio, first in New York and then at a new outpost in London opened to coincide with the start of commercial television in the UK. When UPA decided to leave the UK, George remained and started a new company called TV Cartoons (later TVC London) with the producer John Coates. Inbetween commercial work he made a staggering series of independent shorts that cement his legacy as one of the true greats of world animation. After his death in 1979, John Coates continued the studio, most famously producing The Snowman in 1982.

The Animator's Art

Free from commercial restraints, animators explore their art

After WWII, animation was increasingly recognised as a vital art form in its own right. Commercial work put food on their plates, but animators longed for creative freedom, and many production companies and determined animators created independent works in between paid gigs. Unshackled from commercial concerns, the resulting films were often daring in their pursuit of abstraction or personal expression. Meanwhile, many artists from other media have found that animation adds a vital new dimension to their work. But while such films were celebrated in their community they were rarely shown more widely. This collection showcases often hard-to-see examples of the animator's art at its purest and most individual.