Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Saturday Art Saves: The Writer, Jaquet Droz

Jacquet droz

Every Saturday I focus on a different artist that I admire. From potters to painters, chefs to collectors, seamstress to songwriters, lifestyle to lovers… anyone who set the paintbrush, pastry brush, hands and heart on fire to create.

 

 

Jaquet Droz "The Writer" – Image by Ariel Adams

 

Click here to watch:

The Writer Automaton, amazing video of how it works. Incredible.

 

BBC four - mechanical marvels - clockwork dreams - the writer automaton by Pierre Jaquet-Droz

Via The Sentence First:

The writer comprises about 6000 parts and contains 40 replaceable interior cams that allow it to write – using a goose-feather quill – any text of up to 40 characters. In other words, it’s programmable. The machine has an uncanny quality charged by the movement of its eyes as they follow the composition of letters and the refilling of the quill with fresh ink (which it briefly shakes, to prevent blotting).

 

 

"The Jaquet-Droz automata, created between 1768 and 1774 by Pierre Jaquet-Droz, his son Henri-Louis and Jean-Frédéric Leschot, are not only wonders of precision, to be admired as masterpieces. These automata from La-Chaux-de-Fonds show the genius of a region, its creativity, its expertise, its future in the watch-making industry and micro technologies and the international recognition that would come as a result.

 


Jaquet Droz "The Writer" – Image by Ariel Adams


 

 

"The Doll is sitting on a Louis-XV-style stool leans his left hand on a small mahogany table and writes with a goose feather quill in his right. While his eyes follow his movements, the quill draws full and loose letters. The writer can write any text that does not exceed forty letters or signs. When he changes line and dips the quill into the inkpot, his facial expression follows his movements.

The draftsman is even more spectacular than the writer, although his mechanism is less complicated. Three different sets of cams, dating from construction, allow the child to produce four drawings because the portrait of Louis XV and “My Pooch” are on the same cams.

 

Automaton jaquet Droz

The musician is regarded as the most beautiful automaton in the world, together with the dulcimer player of Kintzing (National School of Engineering and Technology in Paris). She plays on a type of organ with two stops of flutes, an independent instrument (different to modern automata, where the instrument plays and the fingers only follow the keys). You can see her breathing, how she turns her head from side to side, looking left, then right, how she lowers and raises her eyes, leans forward and straightens up once more. She emphasises her movements when she plays and finishes with a curtsey."

Text and Images Via Neuchatel Automata

 

Comments

7 responses to “Saturday Art Saves: The Writer, Jaquet Droz”

  1. Marilyn

    What beautiful intrinsic details this artist has created. Beautiful!

    Reply
  2. martina

    Breathtaking, such craftsmanship!

    Reply
  3. Kathie B

    Unfortunately I’ve been suffering from unaccustomed writer’s block this week; sure wish I could write as automatically as those automatons. Don’t suppose anyone’s built a modern-day model wearing a T-shirt, Levis and fuzzy slippers, and slaving over a computer keyboard (LOL!).

    Reply
  4. Franca Bollo

    Franca loves the word-a-day widget in the right column!! Here she thought “crépuscule” meant “pus-encrusted”. Boy, was she wrong.

    Reply
  5. Christine Barker

    Thank you so much! I love automatons. Have you seen the movie Hugo?
    Christine Barker
    http://www.ScarletCalliope.com

    Reply
  6. Robin

    All I can say is AMAZING! This is the most lovely thing I have seen. Thanks so much for sharing – I’ve heard of automatons but never saw one so this was an incredible treat.

    Reply
  7. Sara

    I was totally captivated watching the video. Remarkable, beautiful, and somewhat haunting. The computer’s ancestor is such a wonderful piece of art. Thanks for sharing this with us!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Privacy Policy - Terms and Conditions