This 2014 restoration revives the brilliant color tinting of L’Herbier’s since-lost original using a combination of dyeing techniques in line with color theory and narrative conventions of the time. The filmmaker likened the film’s chromatic montage to “visual absinthe.”
2021
Gallery label from 2021
In this scene, the film’s main character (played by opera singer Georgette Leblanc) is taken to a scientist’s laboratory to be revived after a deadly snake bite. The set’s reduced geometries and whirring mechanics were designed by Fernand Léger (note its resemblance to his painting Three Women, on view nearby). Léger was just one of many figures from the Parisian art world invited to collaborate on this film, which L’Herbier envisioned as a “fairy story of modern decorative art”: architect Robert Mallet-Stevens, designer Pierre Chareau, fashion designer Paul Poiret, composer Darius Milhaud, and Ballets Suédois choreographer Jean Börlin all contributed elements.
Explore more
The New Spirit in Paris
Gallery 513This wide-ranging list, which appeared on the cover of the inaugural issue of the journal L’Esprit nouveau, in 1920, summarizes the energetic, boundary-crossing spirit of Paris between the two world wars.
Learn more →
From MoMA Design Store
Licensing
Artwork or archival images
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
Audio and film clips
MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.
Text from a publication or the archives
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
Feedback
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.