Wharfie Animator: Harry Reade, The Sydney Waterfront, and the Cuban Revolution

by Max Bannah

Overview

This book examines the life of the Australian artist Harry Reade (1927–1998) and his largely overlooked contribution to animation. It constitutes a biography of Reade, tracing his life from his birth to his period of involvement with animation between 1956 and 1969. It explores the forces that shaped Reade and chronicles his experiences as a child, his early working life, the influence of left-wing ideology on his creative development, his introduction to animation through the small but radical Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit (WWFFU), and the influence he had on the development of Cuban animation as an educational tool of the Revolution.

Key Features

• The text offers an alternative framework for considering the political, social, and cultural themes that characterised 1950s Australia and 1960s Cuba.
• A rare look into the cultural heritage of labor organizations and the populist power of animation to stimulate radical social consciousness.
• The book also crosses a range of intellectual disciplines, including Animation Studies, Art History, Cinema Studies, and the Social and Political Histories of Australia and Cuba.

Max Bannah lives on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Between 1976 and 2010, he worked in Brisbane as an animator producing television commercials, short films, and cartoon graphics. He also lectured in Animation History and Practice and Drawing for Animation at the Queensland University of Technology where, in 2007, he completed his Masters by Research thesis, "A Cause for Animation: Harry Reade and the Cuban Revolution."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367639587
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	12/17/2020
Series:	Focus Animation
Pages:	154
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Max Bannah lives on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Between 1976 and

2010 he worked in Brisbane as an animator producing television

commercials, short films, and cartoon graphics. He also lectured in Animation

History and Practice, and Drawing for Animation at the Queensland University of

Technology where, in 2007, he completed his Masters by Research thesis, A cause for

animation: Harry Reade and the Cuban Revolution.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

About the Author xi

Introduction xiii

Chapter 1 A Wobbly Road 1

Political and Social Influences on Harry Reade's Early Life (1927-1954) 1

Chapter 2 On the Waterfront 21

Harry Reade's Creative Influences and Development (1954-1956) 21

Cultural Context of the Sydney Waterfront 25

The Studio of Realist Art and the Wharfies Art Group 27

The Sydney Wharfies' Mural 32

Readethe Cartoonist 34

Waterside Workers' Federation Film Unit 38

Chapter 3 Wharfie Animation 43

Dominant Trends in 1950s Australian Animation 48

The Waterside Workers' Federation Film Unit and Animation 52

Land of Australia: Aboriginal Art 53

'Click Go the Shears' 57

'Four's a Crowd' 60

The End of the WWFFU 61

The Sydney Push 63

Chapter 4 Our Man in Havana 67

Participating in the National Literacy Campaign 71

ICAIC and the Establishment of Estudios Cubanacán 73

Harry Reade Joins ICAIC 77

Exhibiting Films Produced in Cuba 87

A Brief Period in Moscow: Personal Matters 88

The Pepe Series 91

Departure from Cuba and Animation 94

Back To Work In Australia 96

Cuban Acknowledgement 97

Chapter 5 Harry Reade's Legacy 103

Appendix: Harry Reade's Filmography 109

References 119

Index 125