In the mid-1880s, George Eastman invented a process for coating a photographic emulsion onto a flexible material…put more simply, he invented film. Not only was that a giant leap in the evolution of photography, but the new medium also opened the door for the development of motion pictures.
A decade later, Thomas Edison unveiled the Kinetoscope, a cabinet-like device that allowed a person to view a short film running on a loop. Two years, the Lumière Brothers introduced France to the Cinematograph, a device that took the film loop out of the cabinet and projected it onto a screen so several people at once could view the movie.
Though popular history generally credits the Lumière Brothers as being the first to project a movie before a paying audience, there are those who disagree…including two men who came to Atlanta for that exact purpose. We break it down in Part 2 of our tale about “The Peepshow,” on this week’s Stories of Atlanta.
Great article, highlighting important developments in the history of cinema. The evolution from George Eastman’s film to the inventions of Edison and the Lumière Brothers tomb of the mask shaped the way we enjoy visual art today. Looking forward to the next installment of “The Peepshow”!