Brushstroke Cinema: The Concept of Matte Painting in the Work of Peter Ellenshaw and Albert Whitlock

Abstract

Matte painting, the creation of a cinematographic space through pictorial methods, is a particular element of film construction that has, until now, been considered of secondary importance in academic research and studies on filmmaking. This article aims to substantiate its value as a practice and demonstrate the importance of the careers and works of two of the most influential matte painters whose contributions had a lasting aesthetic impact on filmmaking at a global level: Peter Ellenshaw, an advocate for the purity of profilmic practical trickery, and Albert Whitlock, whose work explored the limits of matte painting and its dynamic conditions. This study offers a detailed analysis of their work, enabling us to illustrate the different visions of matte painting developed by these two creators as well as their individual contributions to this art form and the ways they utilized this particular filmmaking technique in which cinema is intertwined with painting.