EISENSTEIN SERGEI: (1898-1948) Soviet film director & film theorist, a pioneer in the theory and pra

EISENSTEIN SERGEI: (1898-1948) Soviet film director & film theorist, a pioneer in the theory and pra

‘Our looks will find success with all those who see and want to see as we do and will force others to see facts and things from this same side’

 

EISENSTEIN SERGEI: (1898-1948) Soviet film director & film theorist, a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. A rare A.L.S., S Eisenstein, two pages, large 4to, Moscow, 21^st November 1928, to [Leon Moussinac] ('Tres cher Monsieur!'), on Eisenstein's personal printed stationery, in French. The director writes a charming letter to his correspondent, in red ink, commencing 'It is very difficult for me to express my feelings towards 'our looks'' explaining, 'Because unfortunately the art of expressing myself in French does not reach anywhere neither the degree of my sympathy towards your newspaper, nor the perception of its edition!' and further remarking 'But all these technical, picturesque, and literary perfections are far surpassed by the fact that your publication happily accomplishes the noble and difficult task of truly reflecting our looks as they are. The looks of all those to whom the human cause is the only worthy occupation and to which they devote all their energies and all their labors. Our looks will find success with all those who see and want to see as we do and will force others to see facts and things from this same side'. Immediately beneath his signature Eisenstein has added the titles of his two most famous silent films, Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1928), and in a postscript (signed with his initials SE) writes 'I do hope that if you intend to put this letter to press that you will kindly correct it and eliminate the thousands of errors contained in these few lines'. Some light overall age wear and minor staining. The letter was evidently neatly split at the central vertical and horizontal folds at one stage although has since been professionally repaired to a reasonable standard although with some light scuffing slightly affecting some words of text and the signature. About G

 

Leon Moussinac (1890-1964) French writer, film and art critic, film historian and film theorist. Moussinac actively fought for the promotion of Soviet cinema in France and was responsible for the screening of Eisenstein's Strike at the 1925 Exhibition of Decorative Arts. He also organised a screening of the film Battleship Potemkin and founded the first mass cinema club in France, Friends of Spartacus, which was engaged in the propaganda of Soviet cinema. In 1927, Mussinac visited the Soviet Union, after which he wrote the book Le cinema sovietique in 1928.