A group of artists work on reproductions of various Old Masters so everyone can afford one.
London. L/S of the Coronation Ceremony in 1953. M/S of Queen Elizabeth sitting on a throne from a high angle. Dissolve into a painting of the ceremony - it is a painting by Terence Cuneo. Camera pulls back to show the whole painting.
M/S of a man wearing a white coat looking at a painted canvas in a workroom full of paintings. He places the canvas into a wooden frame. C/U of him banging in small pieces of wood to hold the canvas in place. He looks at the painting again - it is a reproduction of Renoir's "On the Terrace."
The art studio featured has developed a new reproduction process to make Old Masters available to all. M/S of a shelf holding three identical reproductions of Renoir painting. M/S of a group of four women "over painting" the reproductions. M/S and C/U of one of the women artists at work. C/U of her loading her paintbrush from a palette. C/Us of another artist at work. We see the women working on reproductions of "The Class" by Degas and "Portrait of a Child" by Rubens. The artist Julienne Quenet applies a final varnish to some of the paintings.
Interior office. Mrs Erna Fiehl (who invented the process) checks each of the reproductions personally (they churn out a hundred a day between a staff of eight). High angle shot of her looking at the painting then C/U of the painting, she points out a detail to one of the paintings. Narrator calls her organisation "a factory of art".
L/S of a couple walking past a display of paintings. M/Ss and C/Us of various paintings: Renoir's "Le Moulin de la Galette", Toulouse Lautrec's (Toulouse-Lautrec) "The Table", Degas' "The Class", Van Gogh's "The L'Anglois Bridge, Vermeer's "Women at the Virginal" and "The Flowerpiece" by Anton Weiss. Narrator ends by saying that the paintings which "once brightened only the walls of mansions and art galleries... now can enrich all our homes!"
Story may also appear in a later Colour Pic, as yet unknown; see separate explanation record for CP 001: 'International Pictorials'.
Unknown user says
See clip 207.19 "Painting Reproductions" for more info on Fiehl.
Unknown user says
"Weiss" is Anton Weiss.
Final paragraph - the painting isn't "The Rehearsal" it's The Class (correctly, "La Classe de Danse").
Unknown user says
Thanks for the confirmation.