Sitting comfortably, popcorn at hand, movie ticket in the pocket, you are about to watch a masterpiece of the 7th art. If you are in this room, it is thanks to Auguste and Louis Lumière. Discover the brief history about the start of the cinema.
Sitting comfortably, popcorn at hand, movie ticket in the pocket, you are about to watch a masterpiece of the 7th art. If you are in this room, it is thanks to Auguste and Louis Lumière. Discover the brief history about the start of the cinema.
Born into a family from Lyon, Auguste and Louis Lumière became interested in the new technologies of their century at a very young age.
Pushed by their father, Antoine Lumière, they studied engineering and Louis was the first to make a fortune thanks to the invention of a "blue label plate" that allowed instantaneous photos to be taken.
Although the two brothers made their first inventions separately, they soon signed both their names. Indeed, they share an unfailing complicity and are inseparable, even to the point of marrying two sisters from the same family and living side by side in a semi-detached house.
In 1894, on his return from a trip to Paris, Antoine Lumière told his sons about the demonstration he had witnessed: that of the kinetoscope. This machine of the American inventor Thomas Edison allows to visualize a photographic work by giving it the illusion of a movement.
Auguste and Louis, passionate about the idea of projecting moving images, began their research and developed the very first cinematograph. Smaller and more manageable than Edison's invention, it made it possible to record several images and project them at the same time.
The main feature of the Lumière brothers' camera was the "fork" they added to Edison's camera: a part that "hangs" the film and makes it drop one frame each time the shutter is closed. This automatic movement repeats itself very quickly, so that 24 pictures per second can be recorded.
The first films
On December 28, 1895, the first public screening took place in Paris in front of about thirty people. 10 short films of 30 to 50 seconds were shown: the 7th art was launched! Many cinematographic creations will follow this first experience. The Lumière brothers will continue for a while in the cinema by becoming filmmakers and directors but will end up leaving this art aside in order to concentrate on other inventions.
To dive into the history of this invention that changed the world, go to the Institut Lumière in Lyon, where it all began.
Aphélie from Comme des Français
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Discover other portraits of artists who have revolutionized art:
- Frank Gehry, the architect that the world is tearing itself away
- Gustave Courbet the scandalous
- The creator of the most famous sculpture in the world
