Friday 16 May 2014

Vue West End Cinema, Cranbourn Street WC2

The flamboyantly Art Deco facade of the Vue Cinema dates back to 1938 when it was built as the Warner Theatre by architects Thomas Somerford and E.A. Stone.
At the top corners are figures representing Sight and Sound by E. Bainbridge Copnall, who creates a kind of 'motion sculpture' with successive images to create an impression of movement in the same way the movies shown inside the theatre use successive frames.

1 comment:

Hels said...

Very cool! I love low relief, flamboyant Art Deco sculpture. And I know the timing was right with the emerging power of cinema from 1930 or so.

But that is the first time I have seen that 'motion sculpture' displayed successive images to intentionally create an impression of movement a la film. Did the 1930s sculptors ever say this was what they were thinking?