Arc-en-Ciel

Arc-en-Ciel, Hungarian puppet theatre in Paris from 1929 until 1940 under the leadership of the painter and puppeteer Géza Blattner (1893–1967).

In 1919 Blattner, together with photographer Rónai Dénes, founded a wayang (“shadow”) puppet theatre in Budapest. Blattner then went to Paris in 1925 and by 1928 had formed a company comprising some 40 Hungarian artists. The company made its debut at the International Puppet Congress of Paris in 1929. The decorative avant-garde style of the puppets was based on the contribution of prestigious designers including Károly Koffán, Zsigmond Kolozsváry, Sándor Tóth, Tivadar Fried, and Antal Prinner. A central figure of Arc-en-Ciel was Russian-born Marie Wassilieff, whose restaurant in the Montparnasse section of Paris was frequented by famous Parisian artists. Wassilieff’s African-style puppets and statuettes appeared in many of the company’s performances.

In its first years Arc-en-Ciel mainly performed grotesque puppet-pantomime shows using different types of puppets (wayang, statuettes, and hand puppets) and musical accompaniment. Later, marionette plays with dialogue—some of mystery-play form—were introduced (Aucassin and Nicolette [1935] and The Mystery of Virgin Mary [1938]). One of the company’s outstanding achievements was the performance of Imre Madách’s philosophical play Az ember tragédiája (“The Tragedy of Man”), which won a gold medal at the Paris World Exhibition of 1937. The German invasion of France forced the company to disband. Blattner continued with puppetry until 1958; then he returned to painting.