Émile Reynaud | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1844-12-08)8 December 1844 Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, France |
| Died | 9 January 1918(1918-01-09) (aged 73) |
Charles-Émile Reynaud (8 December 1844 – 9 January 1918) was a French inventor, responsible for thepraxinoscope (an animation device patented in 1877 that improved on thezoetrope) and was responsible for the first projected animatedfilms. HisPantomimes Lumineusespremiered on 28 October 1892 in Paris. HisThéâtre Optique film system, patented in 1888, is also notable as the first known instance offilm perforations being used. The performances predatedAuguste and Louis Lumière's first paid public screening of thecinematographe on 26 December 1895, often seen as the birth of cinema.
Charles-Émile Reynaud was born inMontreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, on 8 December 1844, to Brutus Reynaud, an engineer who moved to Paris fromLe Puy-en-Velay in 1842, and Marie-Caroline Bellanger, a former schoolteacher who educated Émile at home.[1][2] Marie-Caroline was trained inwatercolor painting byPierre-Joseph Redoutéand taught her son drawing and painting techniques. By 1862 he started his own career as a photographer in Paris.[3][4]
Reynaud constructedsteam engines at age 13. He worked as an apprentice forAntoine Samuel Adam-Salomon. At age 19 he metFrançois-Napoléon-Marie Moigno at one of Moigno's lectures and became his assistant. Brutus died in 1865, and the Reynaud family moved to Le Puy-en-Velay. Reynaud was taught Latin, Greek, physics, chemistry, mechanics, and natural sciences by his uncle, a doctor in the area. He was a nurse during theFranco-Prussian War.[1][5]
Reynaud started holding freemagic lantern shows similar to Moigno's in December 1873. He created thepraxinoscope out of a cookie box after reading a series of 1876 articles inLa Nature about optical illusion devices. He patented it in 1877, and received a honourable mention at the 1878Exposition Universelle. He started production on the device and was able to quit his teaching job after its financial success. The device was initially offered atLe Bon Marché stores.Ernest Meissonier displayedEadweard Muybridge'sThe Horse in Motion using a praxinoscope in 1882.[6][7]
Reynaud's son Paul stated that his father's inspiration for theThéâtre Optique came after seeing apenny-farthing. The system was displayed at the 1889Exposition Universelle. He filed a patent on 1 December 1888, and it was issued on 14 January 1889. He received a patent for it in the United Kingdom on 8 February. He signed a contract with theMusée Grévin on 11 October 1892, and its first regular public screenings started on 28 October. The first showing included screenings ofUn bon bock,Le Clown et ses chiens, andPauvre Pierrot.Un Rêve au coin du feu was shown from December 1894 to July 1897, andAutour d'une cabine from December 1894 to March 1900.[8][9][10]
Reynaud received 500 francs (equivalent to $2,234 in 2022) per month and 10% of the box office. The contract disadvantaged Reynaud as he paid for the maintenance of the system and was required to oversee all of the daily showings.[11][9] He closed the theatre from 28 February 1894 to 1 January 1895, and instead had a magician perform so that he could improve his equipment.[12] In 1895,Arthur Meyer, the owner of the Musée Grévin, demanded that Reynaud produce more films, which he painted himself. He created the photo-scénographe, a version of the théâtre optique that could take photographs, in 1895, but it was overshadowed by thecinematograph ofAuguste and Louis Lumière.[13] Reynaud estimated that the 12,000 showings were attended by a total of 500,000 people.[14]
Reynaud hiredGeorge Foottit andChocolat to perform aWilliam Tell routine atParc de Saint-Cloud and recorded them using the photo-scénographe in April 1896. He hand-colored the frames and showed the film from August 1896 to March 1900. A film usingFélix Galipaux was shown from July 1897 to December 1898. However, the success of other filmmakers reduced the popularity of Reynaud's showings and they ended on 1 March 1900. He destroyed the théâtre optique during a fit of despair and years later he threw most of his films into the Siene. However, his son preservedAutour d'une cabine andPauvre Pierrot.Léon Gaumont wanted to purchase the théâtre optique from Reynaud and donate it to a museum, but it was already destroyed.[13]
Reynaud patented the stéréo-cinéma, astereo camera that could take3D film, on 16 October 1902. He made several films with the camera, but was unable to find financial backing.[13]
Reynaud married Marguerite Rémiatte, with whom he had two sons, on 21 October 1879.[15] DuringWorld War I he lived in hospitals and nursing homes before dying on 9 January 1918.[13]
Henri Langlois convinced Reynaud's son to donate surviving praxinoscopes andAutour d'une cabine to theCinémathèque Française in the 1930s. Langlois reconstructed the théâtre optique for the opening of theMusée de la Cinémathèque in 1972. Julien Pappé restoredPauvre Pierrot in 1981, andAutour d'une cabine was transferred to 35mm film in 1985.[16]
The 5Pantomimes Lumineuses were painted directly onto a transparent strip of images ofshellac protectedgelatin and manipulated by hand to create an approximately 15 minute show comprising approximately 500 images per title. The threePhoto-peintures animées (animated photo-paintings) were directed with the Photo-Scénographe, a camera inspired by theChronophotographe à bande mobile ofÉtienne-Jules Marey.
| Release year | Date | Film | Images | Length | Duration | Actors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 October 1892 | 1888 | Un bon bock | 700 | 50 m | 15 mn | few images preserved | |
| 1890 | Clown et ses chiens | 300 | 22 m | c. 10 mn | lost | ||
| 1891 | Pauvre Pierrot | 500 | 36 m | c. 15 mn | all preserved | ||
| December 1894 | 1893 | Autour d'une cabine | 636 | 45 m | c. 15 mn | preserved | |
| 1893 | Un Rêve au coin du feu | 400 | 29 m | c. 12 mn | lost | ||
| Photo-peintures animées | |||||||
| 1896 | 1896 | Guillaume Tell | ClownsFootit andChocolat | few images preserved | |||
| 1897 | 1896 | Le Premier cigare | Félix Galipaux | ||||
| Not released | 1898 | Les Clowns Price | Clowns Price of theAlhambra |
