PHOTOGRAPHS
FROM THE DEL VALLE ARCHIVES
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Within
the dream palace of the cinema there exists an underworld filled with
all the potent images
of the unconscious. This landscape of the mind seems to require a constant
yearning for the fantastic. Since cinema is bound to follow popular
taste to a great degree being the product of an industry it cannot help
but reflect the collective unconscious of pop culture it represents
From the birth of the movies where photographs began to move immortalized
by the celluloid in light, a Pandora’s box of fantasy and horror
spilled onto the psychic hinterland. It is then with the images in
Until Dawn that we can gaze with fascination at the films
of the fantastic that transcends the superficial limitations of genre
headings or aesthetic theory.
"Until
Dawn" was the phrase spoken by Dr. Caligari in that
landmark film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to describe how much
time the heroine had to live. Most all of the images are from that early
period of filmmaking like Haxan-Witchcraft Through the Ages, Nosferatu
and The Magician directed by the great Rex Ingram with the
first Mad Laboratory on film, years before Frankenstein. The
exhibit will also include rare and unforgettable
images from films such as The Golem, F.W. Murnau’s Faust,
Puritan Passions and Carl Dreyer’s Vampyre. Not
to mention photographs from early Germanic versions of Dorian Gray
as well as Jekyll and Hyde. These images illustrate the inspiration
of these early “terror films” on the contemporary Hollywood
horror/monster movie and have become, over the years, icons for our
innermost childhood fears. The majority of
these images have never been presented before in any form and all photographs
are available for sale to the public.
David Del Valle, an avid collector of photographs
for the last twenty-five years has achieved national recognition as
a journalist, columnist, film historian, radio and television commentator
and is one of the leading authorities on the horror/science-fiction/cult
and fantasy film genres. The Del Valle Archives is an in-progress collection
of thousands of still photographs, artwork and ephemera dealing with
the horror/fantasy/sci-fi and cult genres.
David's
monthly column "Camp David" can be found at the Films
in Review website.
drkrm. gallery
2121 N. San Fernando Road, Suite 3, Los Angeles CA 90065
323-223-6867 email: drkrm@mac.com web: www.drkrm.com
Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11am-5pm