The Lumière Brothers: Pioneers of cinema and
colour photography
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| Auguste and Louis Luminiere |
Famous for inventing the
cinematograph and the auto chrome, Aguste and Louis Lumière are among the most
significant figures in film and photography history.
With their first cinematographer
show in the basement of the Grand Café in the boulevard des Capucines in Paris
on 28 December 1895, the Lumière brothers have been regarded as the inventors
of cinema—the projection of moving photographic pictures on a screen for a
paying audience. However, they were probably not the first to do this: the
Latham brothers in New York were screening boxing films to paying audiences
from 20 May 1895, using their Eidoloscope projector.
Nevertheless, the
achievement of the Lumière brothers was considerable. Their cinematographer was
the first satisfactory apparatus for taking and projecting films, and its claw
mechanism became the basis for most ciné cameras.
Beginnings
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| Inicios cinematografo |
Aguste and Louis were born
in Lyon, France, where their father, Antoine Lumière, had a photographic
business. At the age of 17, Louis invented a highly sensitive photographic
plate which the Lumière family began manufacturing. It was so successful
commercially that the Lumières built a factory in the Monplaisir suburb of
Lyon. By 1894, they were employing 300 people.
Late that year, Antoine saw
an example of Edison’s peepshow Kinetoscope in Paris and encouraged his sons to
devise an apparatus that would take and project moving pictures. Within a few
months, they produced a successful prototype of the cinematographer, which was
not only a camera but a printer and projector as well. It was patented in
France on 13 February 1895.
The Cinematographer
Compared with other
attempts at producing a movie camera, the cinematographer was remarkably
compact and, unlike the Edison Kinetograph, it did not rely on electrical
power, which few premises had at that time. The cinematographer could be taken
anywhere, either to shoot film or to use as a projector—all that was required
was a magic lantern lamphouse with a gas or limelight illuminate.
At the heart of the
Cinématographe was the film transport mechanism, whereby two pins or ‘claws’
were inserted into sprocket holes at each side of the film, moved it down and
were then retracted, leaving the film stationary for exposure. This
intermittent movement was designed by Louis and based on the principle of the
sewing machine mechanism.
The handle at the rear of
the Cinématographe operated the rotating shutter and the take-up magazine as
well as the film transport mechanism.
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| Cinematografo mejorado |
Making early films
The Lumière brothers’ first
film (in fact, they made three versions) was shot outside their factory as the
workers left at the end of the day. It was shown to the Société d’Encouragement
à l’Industrie Nationale in Paris on 22 March 1895: this was probably the first
public screening of moving pictures (the Lathams’ first public demonstration in
New York took place on 21 April 1895). At the Paris meeting, Louis met the
engineer Jules Carpentier, who undertook to refine and manufacture the
Cinématographe for the Lumières.
Later that year, the
Lumière brothers made a number of other films, all around a minute long,
showing scenes such as Auguste and his wife feeding their baby; a train
arriving at La Ciotât in the south of France; and possibly the first film
comedy, L’arroseur arrosé, in which a mischievous boy tricks a gardener
into being soaked with water and is chased and spanked. Another public
demonstration of the Cinématographe was given to the French Photographic
Congress held in Lyon in June 1895, when the delegates were particularly
impressed at seeing film of themselves taken the previous day.
The public launch of the Cinématographe
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| Primera funcion |
Against his sons’ wishes
(they thought it premature), Antoine Lumière decided to launch the
Cinématographe publicly in Paris on 28 December 1895. The screening was
organised by Antoine and Clément Maurice, with three members of the Lumière
staff in charge of projection. The Lumière brothers and Carpentier were not
there. The first show was given to an invited audience of journalists, theatre
directors (including Georges Méliès) and friends. Thereafter, the public shows
commenced.
Each show comprised ten
films and lasted about 15 minutes. There were twenty shows a day, starting at
10.00 and ending at 01.30 the next morning, with breaks at 12.00–14.00 and
19.00–20.00. Admission was one franc.
There was little public
interest at first—the few papers that reported on it criticised the name
‘Cinématographe’—but curious passers-by who ventured into the hall were
astonished at what they saw and returned with their friends. News soon spread.
On some days, queues extended a quarter of a mile, and the takings amounted to
2,500 francs (more than £42,000 in today’s money).
The Cinématographe in Britain
The first public screening
of the Cinématographe in Britain took place at the Malborough Hall of the Royal
Polytechnic Institution in Regent Street, London on 21 February 1896. There had
been a press show the previous day when, coincidentally, the British cinema
pioneer Robert W Paul had demonstrated his Theatrograph projector at Finsbury
Technical College. In charge of the Polytechnic show was the Lumière brothers’
British agent, Felicien Trewey, a well-known showman and magician.
The opening performance
attracted only 54 customers but, as in Paris, the Cinématographe’s popularity
soon increased. Cinema quickly became part of music hall programmes, and Trewey
started Cinématographe shows at the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square, London
on 7 March 1896.
Lumière Cinématographe,
c.1986 © Science Museum Group Collection
The Cinématographe
goes global
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| Cartel propaganda |
In the first years of the
Lumière film operation, cameramen were sent all over the world to record scenes
in locations such as Russia, Japan and the Holy Land.
In America, the first
Cinématographe show took place to great acclaim at Keith’s Union Square
Theater, New York on 29 June 1896.
In November the Lumière brothers
established their own agency in New York, selling equipment and films. This was
very successful for a few months, but by April 1897 it began liquidating stock,
and shortly afterwards transferred its business to the American agents Maguire
& Baucus. This was partly because the Lumières had fallen foul of the
American customs by importing apparatus and films illegally—their manager had
to flee the country—but mainly because films sprocketed in the Edison format
were becoming the industry standard.
The Lumières began to
issue copies of films in both their original and the Edison format, but
the ubiquity of the latter signalled the obsolescence of the original
Cinématographes. Before the end of 1897, the Cinématographe had largely been
superseded by the Lumière Cinématographe Model B, a projection-only machine
designed for film with Edison perforations.
A move away from cinema
Auguste and Louis continued
to work on technical developments, and in 1900 devised a camera which took
large-format 75mm films. By 1905, however, the Lumière brothers withdrew from
the cinema business. They worked instead on inventing the first successful
photographic colour process—the Lumière Autochrome—in 1907. Louis also worked
on a process of stereoscopic cinematography.
The two brothers lived long
enough to be feted as pioneers of the cinema within their lifetimes. As Louis
stated:
… On December 28, 1895, was
really born the expression: ‘I have been to a movie.’
With affection,
Ruben
