Joan Carol Gratz (born 1941) is an American artist, animator, and filmmaker who specializes in
clay painting
Clay painting animation is a form of clay animation, which is one of the many kinds of stop motion animation. It blurs the distinction between clay animation, cel animation and cutout animation.
Clay painting animation (which is also a variation ...
. Gratz is best known for her 1992 Oscar-winning animated short film ''
Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase
''Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase'' is a 1992 American animated short by Joan C. Gratz.
Summary
Consisting of 2-D claymation, it features famous paintings morphing into each other.
List of artists featured
The works of several artists are fea ...
''.
Early life
In 1941, Gratz was born in
Burbank, California. Gratz's father was an electrical engineer her mother was an English teacher. From a young age she had an interest in art.
Education
While Gratz was a student in architecture, she began painting. Gratz was filming her painting process. In 1969, Gratz obtained a degree in professional architecture at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
.
Before graduating, Gratz began to experiment with the possibilities of animation and started to explore the idea of "making paintings breathe" with a technique she explained as "
clay painting
Clay painting animation is a form of clay animation, which is one of the many kinds of stop motion animation. It blurs the distinction between clay animation, cel animation and cutout animation.
Clay painting animation (which is also a variation ...
". After graduating, she moved to Oregon, making a living by creating puppets and poster graphics.
Career
In 1976, Gratz was asked to work for
Will Vinton
William Gale Vinton (November 17, 1947 – October 4, 2018) was an American animator and filmmaker. Vinton was best known for his Claymation work, alongside creating iconic characters such as The California Raisins. He won an Oscar for his wor ...
in the new up and coming Will Vinton Studios,
and began working in the film industry during the production of ''Rip Van Winkle'' (1978).
During her time at Vinton Studios, Gratz worked on many films as an animator, but in 1987 she decided to work as a freelance animator and filmmaker due to issues involved with collaborative film projects, and not receiving the proper credit for her work.
In 1987, Gratz established Gratzfilm, her own studio to direct and produce her films.
Once a freelance animator and filmmaker, Gratz continued to be represented by Vinton Studio,
and her success led her to receive commissions for commercials from large companies such as
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...
.
In 1990, Gratz animated a commercial for
United Airlines
United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. entitled ''Natural'', which consisted of her clay painting technique.
After eight years of planning and researching, and two years of working through the creation and animation process, Gratz completed her film ''Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase'' in 1992.
The title of this seven minute long film combines the titles of
Leonardo DaVinci's famous painting, the ''
Mona Lisa
The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a Half length portrait, half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described ...
'' (1503), and
Marcel Duchamp
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
's iconic modernist piece, ''
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2
''Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2'' (French: ''Nu descendant un escalier n° 2'') is a 1912 painting by Marcel Duchamp. The work is widely regarded as a Modernist classic and has become one of the most famous of its time. Before its first pres ...
'' (1919).
Consisting of fifty-five
twentieth-century paintings, Gratz uses her clay painting technique to present her audience with the history and evolution of modern art, beginning with
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
, and continuing until the
Pop Art movement and
Hyperrealism
Jean Baudrillard ( , , ; 27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) was a French sociologist, philosopher and poet with interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as w ...
through metamorphic transitions between each work of art.
The sound and music for the film were provided by composer Jamie Haggerty and
Chel White.
It won the
1992 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film,
and won many other awards at various film festivals around the world.
In 1993, Gratz co-directed and animated ''Pro and Con'' with Joanne Priestly.
Using mixed media including writing and calligraphy, and creating through black clay on white backgrounds, ''Pro and Con'' illustrates a docudrama about prison life seen through the eyes of a prisoner and a corrections officer.
Gratz is also an author. In June 2014, Gratz was a writer and illustrator of My Tesla: A love story of a mouse and her car, a disguised children book for adults.
Accolades
At the Academy Awards, ''Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase'' (1992) won an Oscar for the Best Animated Short Film in 1993.
Filmography
Director and producer
* 1988 ''Candyjam'' - Director
* 1992 ''Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase'' - Director
* 1993 ''Pro and Con'' (co-director)
* 2010 ''Kubla Kan''
* 2014 ''Lost and Found''
* 2016 ''Primal Flux'' - Director
* 2020 ''No Leaders Please'' - Director
As animator
* ''Rip Van Winkle'' (1978)
* ''Legacy: A Very Short History of Natural Resources'' (1979)
* ''The Little Prince'' (1979)
* ''
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
'' (1980)
* ''A Christmas Gift'' (1980)
* ''The Creation'' (1981)
''The Creation'' on Internet Archive
/ref>
* ''Candyjam'' (1988)
* ''Kubla Kan'' (2010)
* ''Lost and Found'' (2014)
* ''No Leaders Please'' (2020)
See also
* Clay painting
Clay painting animation is a form of clay animation, which is one of the many kinds of stop motion animation. It blurs the distinction between clay animation, cel animation and cutout animation.
Clay painting animation (which is also a variation ...
* ''Loving Vincent
''Loving Vincent'' ( pl, Twój Vincent) is a 2017 experimental adult animated biographical drama film about the life of the painter Vincent van Gogh, and, in particular, about the circumstances of his death. It is the first fully painted animat ...
'', a 2013 animated film similar in technique
* Will Vinton
William Gale Vinton (November 17, 1947 – October 4, 2018) was an American animator and filmmaker. Vinton was best known for his Claymation work, alongside creating iconic characters such as The California Raisins. He won an Oscar for his wor ...
References
External links
*
Joan C. Gratz at mostlymovies.ca
Joan C. Gratz at austinchronicle.com
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gratz, Joan
Animators from California
American animated film directors
American women film directors
American women film producers
American women animators
Clay animators
American animated film producers
People from Burbank, California
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Living people
Directors of Best Animated Short Academy Award winners
1941 births
Film directors from California
Film producers from California
21st-century American women