BFI

Another showcase for the special effects of illusionist-turned-filmmaker W.R. Booth, Artistic Creation is one of the earliest examples of a film about an artist's creations coming to life - though, in typical Booth fashion (similar effects can be seen in the same year's The Haunted Curiosity Shop) it's a fairly piecemeal process, with a woman's head, body, arms and skirted bottom half being assembled in stages in a neat inversion of the traditional saw-the-lady-in-half routine that Booth would undoubtedly have been familiar with through his past as a stage magician.

Besides the conception itself, there are two particularly witty touches: when the woman has to urge him to complete the job after he looks set to abandon it after leaving her only half-finished, and when she later flees after realising that she's almost certainly going to end up being saddled with the baby that the artist is drawing (when he recognises that she's not coming back, he cheerfully offers it to the camera and, by extension, the audience). This last element turns Artistic Creation, possibly unintentionally, into a metaphorical cautionary tale about the responsibilities that should be borne by both creative artists and indeed the male sex in general.

Michael Brooke

*This film is included in the BFI DVD compilation 'R.W. Paul: The Collected Films 1895-1908', with music by Stephen Horne and optional commentary by Ian Christie.

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