It's just an illusion

Magic lantern thaumatrope circa 1890

I'm sure you've all seen a kaleidoscope before and I wrote about thaumatropes here but what a a zoetrope or a praxinoscope?

Advertisement from Emile Reynaud's praxinoscope

Inspired by my recent visit to the film museum in Paris and the wonderful exhibition on magic lanterns, painted film and 400 years of cinema, I've been looking for some of examples of optical toys and early forms of animation.

Thaumatrope, circa 1880

Detail of a magic lantern slide - The magic lantern and bear showman, Lapierre, circa 1850

Animation is a fascinating subject. I have a few magic lantern slides and flick books at home but nothing quite as beautiful as these shadow cards

A set of 12 shadow cards, circa 1880

or these mechanical slides

Handpainted mechanical slide

I'd love to start collecting zoetrope and phenakitiscope disks like these (there are some absolutely beautiful ones in the exhibition).

Zoetrope disc, circa 1860

French phenakitiscope disk, A.Giroud, circa 1850

French phenakitiscope disk, A. Giroud, 1850

French phenakitiscope disk, A.Giroud, circa 1850

The V&A's Childhood Museum is a reliable source of information if you're interested in finding out more about early animation techniques and can't get to Paris to see the magic lantern exhibition. All of these examples above came from François Binetruy's Orangerie antique shop in Versailles. François has been collecting items for over 40 years and has acquired some amazing pieces, which he has put on line here. Go and explore his site, it really is a treasure trove for lovers of vintage toys and all things animation-related.

à suivre...

Une semaine à Paris

Pauvre Pierrot - 1892 by Emile Reynaud

Last week was Dylan's week. Toute une semaine devoted to film in Paris. It was the first time we'd been away together for so long, and also the first time I'd left Savannah and Miles at home with Papa... all quite strange, and difficult at times for les petits. I left with a long list of places and exhibitions to visit but nothing went to plan. Mon grand (in more ways than one - almost 14 years old and 1.85m tall!) went to Paris for a stage d'observation, a work placement, to get an idea of what it's like out there in the real world and help teenagers decide what they want to study at the Lycée. Dylan is very artistic, he dances, sings, draws, acts... you name he does it, so he's obviously interested in a bac littéraire.

We both spent our week in Paris immersed in the film world. Dylan's stage was at the CNC (French Film/TV institute/archive/regulatory authority). He managed to get a good look around the various departments, learn how films are made, discover various genres, take part in two film classification commissions and visit one of the top French film schools La Femis in the former Pathe Studios where he met Elisabeth Depardieu. Quite a week! One of the highlights for me was our trip to the Cinématèque française, and the oh so magical exhibition Lanterne Magique et film peint - 400 ans de cinéma. If you're lucky enough to be in Paris between now and 28th of March, please go and visit this exhibition, you'll love it!

I paid a quick visit to the Playmobil exhibition that everyone is talking about but was a tad disappointed, probably because I never really played with Playmobil. My annual trip to see the Egyptian Antiquities collection at the Louvre was as fascinating as ever, however.

On a lighter note, it was great to spend some time with my sister, who flew to Paris for a couple of days (in a plane, I hasten to add, but she has just done her first parachute jump, so bravo Rach!).

Back in a jiffy with some nice pics...