JACQUES KAPRALIK

The movies’ premiere caricaturist, Kapralik assembled bits and pieces of straw, felt, yarn, satin and more to create highly imaginative collages depicting stars in setting appropriate to their latest films. Because much of his work was trade-oriented, he was virtually unknown outside of the motion picture industry. Inside, however, he was a wonder. He was at Paramount and Twentieth Century-Fox in the thirties, yet his most notable output was for MGM the following two decades.”

(From “The Lost Artwork of Hollywood” by Fred E. Basten)

The process was called “3-D Paper Structure”, and he maintained drawers filled with tiny props that he’d use to decorate his canvas. Tiny shoes, jewelry, lamps, pots and pans —- whatever he needed to get the effect he was after. There were facsimiles of popular brand name items, like coffee, flour, and cereals. Endless samples of cloth and yarn were used to create realistic backgrounds. Kapralik would often take six or more weeks to get out just one of his little masterpieces.”