Alexandre Alexeieff

Alexandre Alexandrovitch Alexeieff (Russian: Александр Александрович Алексеев; 18 April 1901 – 9 August 1982) was a Russian Empire-born artist, filmmaker and illustrator who lived and worked mainly in Paris.

He and his second wife Claire Parker (1906–1981) are credited with inventing the pinscreen as well as the animation technique totalization.

In all Alexeieff produced 6 films on the pinscreen, 41 advertising films and illustrated 41 books.

Alexeieff was born in the town of Kazan in Russia.

He spent his early childhood in Istanbul where his father, Alexei Alexeieff, was a military attaché.

Alexeieff had two older brothers, Vladimir and Nikolai.

Vladimir caught syphilis from a Moscow actress with whom he had an affair.

His mother forced him to remain in his room and not touch his brothers.

The pressure of this was such that Vladimir shot himself.

Before he died, he wrote a note to Alexandre saying, "You are very talented. You must keep on drawing".

His second brother, Nikolai, disappeared in Georgia, Russia, during the Russian Revolution of 1917.

He was never heard from again; the family suspected that he died of typhus.

In his unpublished memoir Oublis ou Regrets, Alexeieff wrote that he rarely saw his father due to the fact that he was often away on missions.

He took a daily walk with his mother when he was forced to speak in French instead of Russian.

The rest of the time he was under the care of a nanny.

Alexieff's father died mysteriously in Baden-Baden, Germany on an official trip at the age of 37.

He was shot by a Turk, probably because he knew too much about the Middle East.

His mother traveled to Germany without telling the children where she was going or why and only when she returned did Alexeieff learn that his father had died.

In his memoirs, Alexeieff describes the tribulations his mother went through after the death of her husband.

She first went to stay with her brother-in-law near Odessa, then she went to Riga and finally settled in the town of Gatchina, Russia near Saint Petersburg.

While in Riga, Alexeieff saw a film for the very first time.

This made a big impression on the boy.

He was surprised to find that the image which was projected on the screen could be seen reflected in the lens of the projector, which happened to be close to where he was sitting.

He later realized that the image on the lens was the original one.

When he was seven years old, he was dragged through various government offices by his mother to wait in line in order for the widow to collect the meager pension which had been allotted to her.

”Wait for me here, be a good boy, I shall be back!” she said as she asked the boy to sit and wait on a chair.

When she left the room where her son was, he feared as the door closed behind her that she might never return!

A boy he knew once told him, ”My mother left too, she never came back!”

In Gatchina, Alexandre often walked alone along the wooden fences of the road nearby.

He often called to his brothers who were playing on the other side and said, "Mama died you know... We will have to be kept in school from now on!” He realized later that his mother had sacrificed herself for her sons. However, his mother did return and Alexeieff's family settled in Gatchin, a suburb of St. Petersburg and later moved to nearby Lesnoi.

Alexeieff entered the Cadet School of Saint Petersburg at the age of seven.

His favorite course was drawing.

His art teacher taught the students how to draw from memory.

He would pass various objects, such as a violin, through the class, remove it and ask the students to draw it.

This early training became extremely valuable for Alexeieff later on in life when he became an illustrator.

The teacher would also ask them to portray events such as dance or a holiday feast, or read them text and have the students illustrate it, a task Alexeieff particularly enjoyed.

While in the Cadet School, Alexeieff founded a literary magazine which contained works created by students.

His friends did not take this project seriously.

However, Alexeieff was able to petition for funds and also obtain access to the library which was very valuable to him.

His older brother Vladimir was also a student at the Cadet school.