THE PUPPET EXHIBIT
This exhibit deals with "puppets" - "inanimate objects which are animated for dramatic effect" as one definition says. Just what and is not a dramatic effect is left open to discussion.
Puppets are generally manipulated by animators - people, as opposed to natural forces like the wind. Automata, for example, are figures which spring into action when the wind rotates a "pinwheel" type arrangement which makes a figure move. Similarly, cuckoo clocks often have animated figures moved by weights.
The human operators of the puppets are often hidden from the audiences' view and in this sense, they are not unlike masked actors, who also are hidden from the audience. Some complex "make-up" forms (appliances) do similar things as well. The question of the differences between masks, puppets and make-up is an interesting won which has involved a number of writers.
There are many different kinds of puppets - marionettes, hand or glove puppets, rod puppets, finger puppets, shadow puppets and "dummies" which are generally used by ventiloquists who are one of the few puppeteers that avtually interact with their puppet.
The exhibit shows a number of different types of puppets. The marionette is an American puppet of Hansel from the puppet show Hansel and Gretel one of the more popular fairy tales to be performed by puppets.
The oldest and possibly most famous puppet show in the West is probably Punch and Judy. which is generally performed by "hand" or "glove" puppets. Punch and Judy are represented here by a coin bank which shows the two in their normal occupation of whacking each other with sticks.
The rod puppet is represented by an example from Java of Hanuman the King of the Monkeys who appears in the famous epic known as the Ramayana.
The shadow puppet from Indonesia is that of "Bromo" another important figure in the mythology of that country.
The small finger puppets come from Peru where they are poplar item sold on the streets.
Vietnamese water puppets use water as a "stage floor". The large boat with six rowers has a string which causes the men to row and the man in the back t lean back and forth with them.
For further informatin about these and other puppets, check the web pages listed in the black to the left on you screen.