943
Edison’s latest wonder was also to have appeared at
the Chicago World’s Fair, but wasn’t ready in time. From
1888 his assistant William Kennedy-Laurie Dickson had
been in charge of developing what became the kineto-
scope, the fi rst commercial motion picture fi lm machine.
Initial experiments used tiny images set in a spiral on a
sheet of celluloid wrapped around a glass cylinder, and
viewed through a microscope. Soon Dickson adapted the
medium recently adopted by Marey; long strips of cel-
luloid—but Dickson added perforations to register the
pictures on strips measuring 1¾ inches (approximately
35mm) in width—the industry standard still used today.
The unwieldy electric Kinetograph camera was fi xed in
a tarpaper-covered studio with opening roof, the building
movable to follow the sun. Film production started at the
Orange, New Jersey, Black Maria studio in 1893.
Projected moving images of some duration were
shown by artist-inventor Emile Reynaud in Paris
from October 1892. In 1877 Reynaud had invented
the praxinoscope—a spinning-drum toy incorporat-
ing a ring of mirrors to refl ect the sequential color
drawings—followed by a toy-theatre version, and a
domestic projection arrangement. His large-screen
development of the praxinosope projector became
known as the Théâtre Optique. His Pantomimes Lu-
mineuses initially used drawings painted on transparent
squares mounted on a perforated horizontal belt, and
manipulated to-and-fro to produce presentations of 15
minutes with typically 500 pictures. These animated
cartoon fi gures, including Pierrot and Columbine, were
superimposed onto a lantern-slide background. The
show continued for years.
In 1892 Muybridge, recognising the limitations of his
outdated, painted silhouette discs, decided to produce
a new series with photographically-reproduced outline
drawings coloured-in by hand, to show at the World’s
Fair. The result was even further removed from his
chronophotographs.
Photographic motion picture fi lms as a commercial
reality arrived in April 1894, when Edison’s kineto-
scope was fi nally launched in a New York “kinetoscope
parlour” (penny arcade). Subjects included strongman
Eugen Sandow, skirt dancer Annabelle, and boxing
enactments. The kinetoscope peepshow was technically
simple. A long loop of fi lm, rear-illuminated by an
electric bulb, travelled continuously (not intermittently),
each frame viewed for a brief fraction of a second
through a slot in a revolving shutter; a glimpse short
enough to avoid blurring of the image. Kinetoscopes
were shipped around the world, and many inventors were
inspired to develop screen projection of photographic
motion picture fi lms. Soon, many would succeed where
Le Prince, Friese-Greene, and Donisthorpe had failed.
By the time Muybridge had completed his fi nal Zoo-
praxiscope colored discs the Edison kinetoscope had
been launched, and in Germany Anschütz had devised
a twin-disc Electrotachyscope machine for projecting,
with an intermittent mechanism, true photographic
sequences. Anschütz arranged public showings from
November 1894 featuring similar subjects to the kineto-
scope, including a barbershop scene and card players;
but of very limited duration. Photographic moving
pictures had reached the big screen, and Muybridge
abandoned his Zoopraxiscope.
Other chronophotographers also attempted to
project their picture sequences. German teacher Ernst
Kohlrausch worked independently on the analysis of
gymnastic movement. Turning to chronophotography in
1889, he arranged 24 cameras on a wheel. A more so-
phisticated camera arrangement followed in 1892. Kohl-
rausch also studied the gait of mentally ill patients. Keen
to develop a machine to show the results in movementMOTION PH0TOGRAPHY
Muybridge, Eadweard. Horse
Jumping.
The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick
Fund, 1946 (46.160.51)
Image © The Metropolitan
Museum of Art.