Auguste and Louis Lumière Facsimile

France, c. 1895

Courtesy ullstein bild - Will / Granger

Object On display

After learning about Thomas Edison’s Kinetograph in the early 1890s, Auguste and Louis Lumière set out to free motion pictures from Edison’s bulky contraption. In 1895 they succeeded, patenting the Cinématographe, which could record, develop and project film. The Lumière brothers’ all-in-one device was lightweight, portable and operated by hand crank instead of electricity. But its biggest achievement was projection: while only one person could look through the Kinetograph’s peephole at a time, audiences could watch Cinématographe films together.

Alongside their invention, the Lumière brothers premiered 10 short films on daily life, known as actualités, including the famous Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896). The Cinématographe even inspired the new art form’s name: cinema.

The Lumière brothers famous Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1895)

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

On display until

16 February 2031

ACMI: Gallery 1

Credits

Production places
France
Production dates
c. 1895

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

P180319

Curatorial section

The Story of the Moving Image → Moving Pictures → MI-04. Materiality → MI-04-C01

Object Types

2D Object

Exhibition Prop

Photographic print/Pictorial

Materials

graphic

Collected

830 times

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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/100597--auguste-and-louis-lumiere/ |title=Auguste and Louis Lumière |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=28 March 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}