Essential Films Canon

Eadweard Muybridge’s Sallie Gardner at a Gallop (1878) invites repeated viewing, much as the zoopraxiscope intended. A seminal work in the history of cinema, this early example of chronophotography demonstrated that moving images were not merely a technical achievement but, more importantly, a desir… →

In the search for the earliest moving images of a kiss, we stumble upon Eadweard Muybridge’s The Kiss (1882). Two nude women meet, shake hands and share a loving kiss – imprinting for posterity a moment of homosexual intimacy more often than not torn from the pages of history. Cinema, unlike paintin… →

In its day, the moving images in Émile Reynaud’s The Magic Rosette (1878) must have felt more exciting than some current developments in AI technology. Groundbreaking in both form and content, this is one of the few pre-cinematic works of art that possesses a sense of true magic. Released as part of… →

Eadweard Muybridge stripped to his bare skin in Athlete Swinging a Pick (1881) in order to show the full force achievable through human movement. This pose echoes the art of classical Greece, where the naked human body is celebrated for its architecture. It is as if Muybridge saw himself as a Promet… →

Eadweard Muybridge made Buffalo Running (1883) over one hundred and forty years ago, yet its importance lasts to this day as the first nature documentary. A precursor to his seminal Animal Locomotion series, this short proto-film establishes a foundational framework for the director’s style. The pre… →

Using only two protagonists, one dressed in red and the other in blue, in The Steeple-Chase (1878), Émile Reynaud exploited optical illusion to create a veritable horse race. The rapid alternation of the jockeys evades the capacity of visual memory to imprint images, producing the mental illusion of… →

Two men walk step by step in Eadweard Muybridge’s Athlete Walking 1 (1881). Their pace evokes the determination of two individuals intending to make history through the most ordinary of gestures. This chronophotographic study is clearly aimed less at scientific exploration and more at artistic perfo… →

The Slide (1878) can be identified as the first example of applying linear perspective in the history of moving images. Émile Reynaud depicted three boys taking turns on an ice slide before finally jumping over a vault. The setting provides the opportunity to position the human figure deep within th… →

Given the extraordinary space images we have grown used to seeing today, watching The 1882 Transit of Venus (1882), the telescopic chronophotographic work by David Peck Todd, is a remarkable experience, pointing to the invaluable role photography and film have played in astronomy. When Janssen exper… →

Étienne-Jules Marey had a towering impact on the development of cinema both technologically and aesthetically. His earliest work, The Mechanical Man (1885), is a curious and groundbreaking animation for its time. On the one hand, its tricks are meant to serve the technical purpose of reproducing mov… →

Boxing was probably the most popular sport to gain exposure through motion pictures in the nineteenth century. In Eadweard Muybridge’s early chronophotographic output we also find Athletes Boxing (1881), a vivacious encounter between two pugilists in combat. Prior to the reincarnation of the modern … →

Among Émile Reynaud’s first series of animated strips, The Roaster (1878) appears as one of the most accomplished works of the cycle. The human movements are mainly limited to the cook bending and pouring the roasting mixture over the rotating spit roast before an open fire. At first glance, there i… →

At fifty years old, Eadweard Muybridge sported an athletic physique, and it is therefore unsurprising that he featured in many of his own photographic studies. Athlete Running 2 (1881) presents a bearded gentleman sprinting at full speed, lending his body to the study of human locomotion. The images… →

The Aquarium (1878) is the first title in Émile Reynaud’s first series of praxinoscope strips and may therefore claim the distinction of being the earliest animation exhibited that was purpose-built for motion display. Reynaud’s decision to debut his invention at the Paris Exhibition with this work … →

Jules Janssen allowed the world to gaze at stellar objects for the first time on film in Passage of Venus (1874). He gave hope that one day images in motion could become part of our quest to understand the world we inhabit. This series of photographs explored the use of moving images for scientific … →

The history of animation lies at the heart of cinematic archaeology, and the French inventor Émile Reynaud was a key figure during its experimental years. His invention of the Praxinoscope allowed viewers to perceive moving action generated by the rapid rotation of static images, with significantly … →

Émile Reynaud managed to reproduce unfiltered joy in his strip The Swing (1878). The two children are not merely subjects in an animated experiment; they come alive with each movement of the rudimentary apparatus. Their faces burst with laughter, creating an optical illusion that convinces the viewe… →

The sportsman in Athlete Running High Leap (1881) executes a rather impressive leap over a hurdle. This routine seems most suitable for effectively utilising the full track laid out by Eadweard Muybridge at Palo Alto Stock Farm. Given the speed of the action and the shifting point of view, the camer… →

Sound emerged as a key technical concern for motion-picture pioneers, largely because it was regarded as a necessary component in reproducing reality. For animators, however, sound functioned primarily as an enhancer of a work’s artistic or entertainment value. In Dzing. Boom. Boom! (1878), Émile Re… →

With The Lady Charmer (1878), Émile Reynaud pre-empted Étienne-Jules Marey’s more celebrated chronophotographic gun studies of the 1880s, later collected in Marey’s anthology The Flight of Birds (1890). Avian flight proved capable of delivering visual poetry and thus attracted artists focused on mov… →

Eadweard Muybridge’s early studies of locomotion will always impress with their ambition. At a time when photographs required longer exposure times, capturing rapid movement such as that shown in Athlete Back Summersault 1 (1881) was a technological feat. What it lacks in clarity, this sequence of p… →

A young lady throws corn to chickens that eagerly feast upon it. This simple premise gives rise to one of the more complex scenes animated by Émile Reynaud. Feeding the Chickens (1878) combines the regular motion of the human figure with the irregular activity of two birds, alongside the gradual des… →

Of all circus acts, juggling seems best suited to loop animation. In The Juggler (1878), Émile Reynaud enhanced the routine by adding to the juggled knives a multicoloured rotating plate, supported on a pole balanced on the performer’s face. Drawing might have allowed the artist to pursue greater ac… →

Water ripples calmly around a figure partly submerged in water, performing the breaststroke. In The Lady Swimmer (1878), Émile Reynaud continued his experiments with colour layering to fascinate the viewer with the beauty of animation. The resulting image offers a serene passage into a sense of infi… →

In The Butterflies (1878), Émile Reynaud breathed vivacity into a scene that his contemporaries would have chosen to give a still-life treatment. The insects play a colourful dance around a vibrating flower, thereby celebrating the wonder of living nature. The simplicity of the setting enhanced the … →