Hand-Painted Abstractions. Experimental Color in the Creation and Restoration of Ballet mécanique

Given the canonical status in avant-garde media history of Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy’s Ballet mécanique (1924), its preservation history is perhaps surprisingly complex. As a consequence, it has been the object of many debates on the practice and ethics of restoration and reconstruction. In 2011, EYE Film Institute Netherlands, in collaboration with the Haghefilm Foundation, carried out the most recent restoration work of the film and employed coloring techniques as used in the 1920s. Although the work conducted did not result in a new projection copy, the project remains a potential next step in the evolving restoration history of Ballet mécanique.