From the Beginning to 1879
Artists, since the days of the caveman, have sought to capture motion in their work. Various
artists have been more or less successful in portraying humans, animals, or objects moving but
movement itself could not be easily shown until a variety of technical inventions that occured in
the Nineteenth Century.
The nineteenth century inventions were at first part of the analysis of movement that has
fascinated philosophers and physicists for centuries. The inventions were made to illustrate
scientific arguments but were quickly adopted as playthings. At about the same time other
scientists who were interested in other optical inventions were creating photography. The
combination of these two strains of invention led to the invention of the motion picture camera
and projector.
Motion pictures allowed for the development of various forms of animation, especially drawn and
puppet types.
1824 1824 1824 1824 1824
December
Peter Mark Roget gives the first explanation of the phenomena of persistance of vision to explain
how we see movement in a presentation to the Royal Society. He describes how objects will
appear to be moving if there is an interruption between the display of each image.
(P. M. Roget, "Explanation of an Optical Deception in the Appearance of the Spokes of a Wheel
Seen through Vertical Apertures", Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol.
115, pp. 131-140. (Great Britain)
1826 1826 1826 1826 1826
no date
John Ayrton Paris (most probably) invents the thaumatrope. This was a disc with separate
paintings on each side. One side had a picture of a bird. The second side of a cage. The disc was
suspended between two pieces of string. When the disc is revolved rapidly the bird appears to be
inside the cage. The thaumatrope has also been attributed to John Herschel, Charles Babbage,
and others but Paris was the first to distribute it commercially. (Great Britain)
1832 1832 1832 1832 1832
no date
Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (1801-1883) invents the phenakistoscope ("spindle viewer")
(also called a fantoscope or phantasmascope). A large disc with a series of drawings around the
circumference is attached on a spindle to another disc made of metal with slots in it. Both are
made to rotate. When the drawings are viewed through the slots in the metal disc they appear to
move.
J. Plateau, "Sur un nouveau genre d'illusions d'optique", Correspondance mathémathique et
physique, vol. VII, pp. 365-369. (Belgium)
1834 1834 1834 1834 1834
no date
The Daedaleum ("daedalum") or Wheel of the Devil is invented by mathematician William George
Horner (1786-1837). A strip of paper with drawings is placed inside a rotating drum. The upper
edge of the drum has slots through which the drawings are viewed. This device became very
popular 30 years later when it was marketed as the zoetrope or Wheel of Life by William F.
Lincoln in the United States.
W.G. Horner, "On the Properties of the Daedaleum, A New Instrument of Optical Illusion",
Philosophical Magazine, vol. IV, pp.36-41. (Great Britain)
1844 1844 1844 1844 1844
December
Emile Reynaud (director, animator, producer) born in Montreuil-sous-Bois. (France)
1853 1853 1853 1853 1853
no date
Franz von Uchatius develops a method of projecting phenakistoscope images as a series of
slides. This is the first form of projected animation. (Austria-Hungary [Austria])
Ludwig Döbler buys von Uchatius' device and demonstrates it throughout Europe. (AustriaHungary [Austria])
1857 1857 1857 1857 1857
January
Emile Cohl (émile Eugène Jean Louis Courtet) (January 4, 1857�January 20, 1938) (animator,
director) born in Paris. (France)
1867 1867 1867 1867 1867 April
William Lincoln applies for a patent for the zoetrope. This was another device that displayed
successive images on a length of paper viewed through the slits of a spinning drum.
September
Winsor McCay (Zenis Winsor McKay) (September 26, 1867-July 26, 1934) (animator, director,
producer) born near Woodstock, Ontario. (Canada)
There is no definite birth record for McCay. He said he was born as late as 1871 in Spring Lake,
Michigan (United States), but this was probably to make him seem younger than his wife.
no date
O'Galop (1867-January 12, 1946) (Marius Rossillon) (director) born in Lyon. (France)
1868 1868 1868 1868 1868
July
Hy Mayer (Henry Mayer) (1868-September 27, 1954) (director, animator, writer, producer) born
in Worms-am-Rhein. (Germany)
September
John Barnes Linnett patents the kineograph (also known as a flip book, paper is bound on one
side so that images that have been placed on the different leaves can be animated when the
pages are flipped). (Great Britain)
1869 1869 1869 1869 1869
July
Walter R. Booth (animator, director) born in Worster. (Great Britain)
1874 1874 1874 1874 1874
January
Raoul Barré (January 29, 1874-May 21, 1932) (director, producer, animator) born in Montreal,
Quebec. (Canada)
April
Arthur Melbourne-Cooper (director, animator, producer) born in St. Albans. (Great Britain)
1875 1875 1875 1875 1875
January
James Blackton (James S. Blackton, James Stuart Blackton) (animator, director, producer) born in
Sheffield. (Great Britain)
1876 1876 1876 1876 1876
July
Anson Dyer (Ernest John Anson Dyer( (July 18, 1876-February 22, 1962) (director, writer,
animator, producer) born in Brighton, West Sussex. (Great Britain)
1877 1877 1877 1877 1877
December
Emile Reynaud patents the praxinoscope. This used mirrors to reflect images from a zoetrope
type device so that a larger number of people could view them. (France)
1879 1879 1879 1879 1879 August
John R. Bray (John Randolph Bray) (producer, inventor, animator, director) born in Detroit,
Michigan.