Folioscopes

Object On display
Photograph by Egmont Contreras, ACMI.

They’re called folioscopes in France and translate to ‘thumb cinema’ in German, but they’re best known as flipbooks. Images come to life when you rapidly flip through pages of sequential illustrations or photographs. Popular since the 1860s, flipbooks have been used as promotional tools, cereal box prizes and artworks. They have animated everything from boxing matches and erotic dances to political propaganda and cartoons.

Works in this group

Le Ballon (The Ball)

France, c. 1900

Une Batterie (A Battery)

France, c. 1900

Living Pictures Cinematogaph: Clown

Germany, c. 1920

Living Pictures Cinematograph: Billy Goat

Germany, c. 1920

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Collection

Not in ACMI's collection

On display until

16 February 2031

ACMI: Gallery 1

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

Curatorial section

The Story of the Moving Image → Moving Pictures → MI-02. Play and Illusion → MI-02-C02

Collected

3457 times

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

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If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/100514--folioscopes/ |title=Folioscopes |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=4 December 2023 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}