Online Encyclopedia Search Tool

Your Online Encyclopedia

 

Online Encylopedia and Dictionary Research Site

Online Encyclopedia Free Search Online Encyclopedia Search    Online Encyclopedia Browse    welcome to our free dictionary for your research of every kind

Online Encyclopedia



Brothers Quay

Stephen and Timothy Quay (b. 1947 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), twin brothers better known as the Brothers Quay, are influential stop-motion animators.

They reside and work in England where they moved in the late 1960s (after studying illustration in Philadelphia) to study at the Royal College of Art where they made their first and now lost short films. They expended some time in Holland in the 1970s and then returned to England where they temaed up with another Royal College student, Keith Griffiths , who produced all of their films, and formed Koninck Studios in 1980.

The Quays' works (1980-present) show influence from Czech animator Jan Švankmajer, for whom they named one of their films (The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer ). Most of their films feature dolls, often partially disassembled, in a dark, moody atmosphere. Perhaps best known is Street of Crocodiles , based on the short story of the same name by the Polish author and artist Bruno Schultz. This short film was selected by director and animator Terry Gilliam as one of the ten best animated films of all time. They have created one feature-length live action film: Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life . Their second feature-length live action film is The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes . They also directed an animated sequence in the film Frida.

One of the most powerful artistic expressions in their work is the use of experimental music composers for their films (which are almost always exclusively devoid of dialogue). Composers they have employed in the past include Lech Jankowski , His Name Is Alive, and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

They have created music videos for His Name Is Alive ("Are We Still Married", "Can't Go Wrong Without You") and Michael Penn ("Long Way Down (Look What the Cat Drug In)"). Some people mistakenly believe that the Quays are responsible for several music videos for Tool, but those videos were created by the band's guitarist, Adam Jones, who is also an animator and whose work is influenced by the Quays. Their work also includes decors for the Theatre and Opera productions of director Richard Jones : Prokofiev's "Love for Three Oranges"; Feydeau's "A Flea in Her Ear"; Tchaikovsky's "Mazeppa"; and Moličre's "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.". Their set design for Ionesco's "The Chair" was nominated for a Tony Award in 1998


Filmography

  • Nocturna Artificialia (1979)
  • Punch And Judy (Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy) (1980)
  • Ein Brudermord (1981)
  • The Eternal Day Of Michel de Ghelderode (1981)
  • Stravinsky - The Paris Years (1983)
  • (1983)
  • The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer (1984)
  • The Epic Of Gilgamesh (1985) Aka The Unnameable Little Broom
  • Street Of Cocodriles (1986)
  • (1988)
  • Rehearsals For Extinct Anatomies (1988)
  • Ex-Voto/The Pond (1989)
  • The Comb (From The Museum Of Sleep) (1990)
  • De Artificiali Perspectiva, or Anamorphosis (1991)
  • The Calligrapher (1991)
  • (1991)
  • Long Way Down (Look What The Cat Drug In) (1992)
  • (1992)
  • (1993)
  • Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995)
  • In Absentia (2000)
  • The Sandman (2000)
  • Duet (2000)
  • (2003)
  • The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes (2004)


Last updated: 02-10-2005 19:34:12
Last updated: 02-24-2005 14:56:13