Mel Birnkrant
website: http://melbirnkrant.com/
all videos and images copyright Mel Birnkrant
"Greetings From Mouse Heaven A Guided Tour" Antique Toy Collection
One of my FAVORITE people and artists of all time is toy inventor / toy collector Mel Birnkrant! For the past few months Mel has secretly been working on an AMAZING section of his website called "Greetings From Mouse Heaven A Guided Tour". The new website is an INCREDIBLY detailed and BEAUTIFULLY written and photographed document of his massive antique toy collection!
Mel Birnkrant has single handedly kept alive two decades (1930's and 1940's) of toys / art by HUNDREDS of artists with his toy collection. Some of the most BEAUTIFUL and FUNNY works of art ever created in the form of illustrations, sculptures, toys, puppets, posters and books of early comic characters!
Take an hour or two (or ten!) and go over and enjoy the INTENSELY beautiful photos and writing of these little masterpieces on Mel's new site ("Greetings From Mouse Heaven A Guided Tour")! You will be swept up both by the INCREDIBLE creations and Mel's intense LOVE and PASSION for these toys!
I also hope in the new year to get an opportunity to work with Mel to turn his new site into a PDF file for people to enjoy away from the computer and to preserve Mel's AMAZING document and collection!
Also be sure to check out the GREAT video interview and meet the LEGEND Mel Birnkrant and his LEGENDARY collection!
Thanks for sharing these great photos, Eric. The toys from that era have such personality and life force (so did the jazz music). I love the way he has them set up in display tableaus, with mysterious lighting. As a fan of Boop and early Disney and Little Nemo, I was thrilled to see on his site the collections of each of those character worlds.
ReplyDeleteThanks James! I totally agree. Mel has coined a term that expresses how I feel about some pieces of art with the phrase "life force".
ReplyDeleteThe life force in Mel's art and collection and your work in Dinotopia both have a "life force" that is off the charts and fills me with INTENSE wonder and happiness!