De filmtekeningen van Ton van Saane

Drawings are made and erased at breakneck speed, each followed immediately by the next. These films occupy a space somewhere between animation and filmed performance: it is hard to compare the work of Ton van Saane with that of other animators.

Van Saane made films that deal with small, everyday events in the lives of children, such as going to school or a visit from grandma. For adults, Van Saane – who passed away in 1973 – made films that maintain a mildly ironic distance to the mundane rat-race.

Introduction to an oeuvre

Ton van Saane trained as an illustrator at the Kunstnijverheidsschool (Institute for Arts and Crafts Education, now the Rietveld Academie). In 1962, he started working for the Stichting Film en Wetenschap (Film and Science Foundation) at Utrecht University. From 1967, Van Saane made many short films as a freelance for the public broadcaster VARA.

These included films for Wednesday afternoon children’s programming, and for the quiz show Per Seconde Wijzer (Smarter by the Second). Van Saane often found inspiration for these in his two sons. Several films were made specially for his neurodiverse eldest son, Gijs.

Van Saane left us an oeuvre of some ninety films. His work screened a few more times – for example at the Holland Animation Film Festival in 1985 – but was then soon forgotten.

In 2011, his films were incorporated into the Eye collection and conserved. Eye curator Leenke Ripmeester will talk about Ton van Saane’s work, and the exceptional techniques he developed when making his films.