Animation cels for The Lord of the Rings. Comprising Frodo, Sam, and Gollum.

Two original production cels, together with an original background, showing Frodo, Sam, and Gollum at their first meeting in the crags of Emyn Muil. The character cel appears at 1:35:16 in the film, although the background, comprising a watercolour on paper and detail on acetate, appears a few minutes earlier in the sequence, at 1:32:16. Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film used a hybrid of traditional cel animation and rotoscoped live action footage. It adapted Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring and the first half of The Two Towers. Despite criticism about the truncated narrative, the film was a financial success, and Peter Jackson freely admitted its influence on his own films. After graduating from the High School of Industrial Arts in Manhattan, Bakshi began as an inker (painting the reverse side of animation cels) for Terry Toons, where he progressed quickly and eventually ran the Mighty Heroes series. In 1977 Bakshi made Wizards, in which he started experimenting with rotoscoping techniques. However, Lord of the Rings was a major step forward, and for this picture, Bakshi first produced a full live action feature first, which would be used as a reference for the animators. In an recently released interview with animation historian Jim Korkis, conducted in 1978 and intended for publication in The Comics Journal Magazine, Bakshi says, "I had the actors play it straight. The rotoscope in the past has been used in scenes and then exaggerated. The action becomes cartoony. I wanted to bring another level to animation. I wanted to try to get away from the Wizards cartoon work. It's a rotoscope realism unlike anything that's been seen. LOTR was done with honesty. You can't buy the love that went into the project. It's the finest thing I've done." The background was likely by John Vita (1917-1988). In His Own Words: Ralph Bakshi Talks About "The Lord of the Rings", Jim Korkis, Cartoon Research, June 12 2020 Original character cel (annotated "4 - N - 24" and "37" at foot), background cel (annotated "Key 339, 4N BG2" at foot), and watercolour background on paper, 267 x 318 mm. Mounted, framed and glazed (framed size: 386 x 445 mm). Some minor creases not affecting image: near-fine.…