As my women animator interviews are still on hiatus (am hoping to get back to them once things go back to normal next year), for Women's History month, I'd like to share some research that I've been doing into the lesser known aspects of Lotte Reiniger's History.
The following is a poem written by Gustav Hochstetter and published in his book Venus en Seide (Venus in silk). The silhouette illustration was created by none other than German animator Lotte Reiniger.
Your red mouth
Your red mouth is a purple gate,
The multitude of words sounds so bright and happy.
And if the word were full of exuberance -
When you say it, everything sounds nice and good.
Because every word sounds as if it had to
that your red lips kissed it;
Under every word there must be a happy feast
When roaring it dismisses [from] your beautiful mouth.
Poem by Gustav Hochstetter (1873 - 1944)
Silhouette Illustration by Lotte Reiniger (1899 - 1981)
Originally published in Venus en Seide, 1919
Translation by Charles Wilson, August 28, 2020
* * *
