By Fern Siegel

Pinocchio has garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature — but to explain the artistry behind the magic, MoMA mounted Guillermo del Toro: Crafting Pinocchio.

The exhibition includes the film’s sets, puppets and a behind-the-scenes view of how the imaginative director brought Pinocchio, Geppetto and Cricket to life. For those who revel in behind-the-scenes explorations of movie-making, this thoughtful show is a must.

The time-lapse video installations explain the complicated stop-motion process that charms moviegoers, but is a challenge to artists. Hundreds contributed to the final product.

Each character is moved frame-by-frame to create a sense of flow among the puppets. The production design highlighted here underscores the complexity of texture and detail necessary to realize Del Toro’s vision, while celebrating the beauty of hand-carved models.

The exhibition opens with three editions of Carlo Collodi’s book “The Adventures of Pinocchio” (1883), including the inspirational 2002 edition illustrated by Gris Grimly. That’s a prelude to Del Toro’s production research, which shows how Pinocchio’s village of wood and stone was meticulously fashioned.

The film is a touching reinterpretation of Collodi’s book, but this time it’s set in fascist Italy during Mussolini’s stranglehold on the country, a fitting backdrop to the story’s larger themes.

Or as Del Toro himself said: “No art form has influenced my life and my work more than animation and no single character in history has had as deep of a personal connection to me as Pinocchio.”

Separately, DelToro has curated one of MoMA’s “Carte Blanche” film series, made between 1922-2016. The titles are: horror (“Haxan”), fantasy (“The Arcane Sorcerer”), screwball comedy (“Easy Living”), noir (“Born to Kill”), thrillers (“The Wrong Man”), drama (“Uncle Silas”), and animation (“The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Red Turtle”).

See why at Guillermo del Toro: Crafting Pinocchio, thru 4/15

Carte Blanche film series: Guillermmo del Toro curates, 3/16-3/26

Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 St. NY, NY Hours/Information.