Director: Eadweard Muybridge
United States (currently United States of America)
1878

Eadweard Muybridge's "Sallie Gardner at a Gallop" (1878) seems to invite repeated viewing, just as the zoopraxiscope intended. A seminal work in the history of cinema, this early example of chronophotography proved that motion images were not just a technical achievement, but most importantly a desirable product that enhances the appreciation of our world. Galloping ad infinitum, Sallie Gardner is the mare to which an art form owns its original excitement and glory in entertainment. WIth Gilbert Domm in the saddle, the pair have not only helped contribute significantly to the study of locomotion, they made history as the first beings moving through photography.

Director: Émile Reynaud
France (formerly French Republic)
1878

In its day, the moving images in Émile Reynaud's "The Magic Rosette" (1878) must have felt more exciting than some of the current developments in AI technology. Ground-breaking in form and content, this is one of the few pre-cinematic works of art that possess true magic within them. Released in his second series of praxinoscope strips, this proto-animation predates by about three decades the development of abstraction in Western painting by artists such as Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky. A century on, Reynaud with this modest experiment in animation would also become a key influence for digital art produced by early computer models.

Director: Pierre Janssen
France (formerly French Republic)
1874

Pierre Janssen allowed the world to gaze at stellar objects for the first time on film in "The Passage of Venus" (1874). He gave hope that one day images in motion can become part of our quest to understand the world that we inhabit. This series of photographs explored the use of moving images for scientific purposes, thus paving the way for an effective collaboration between art and science ever since. It also set the race for the discovery of cinema, outlining the basic technical requirement of needing a succession of rapidly changing static photos, a concept that fundamentally remained unchanged in the last 150 years.

Director: Émile Reynaud
France (formerly French Republic)
1878

The history of animation is at the heart of cinematic archeology, and the French inventor Émile Reynaud was a key personality of the experimental years. His invention of the Praxinoscope allowed the viewer to perceive moving action generated by the fast rotation of static images with much improved ease compared to classical zoetropes. “Learned Dogs” (1878) is one of the first ten strips to be exhibited to the public. The circular composition of the image set within a cylindrical setting provides a seamless sensation of infinite movement, making the animated dogs and the artiste appear almost life-like, thus aligning animation with the same ideals as live-action films.

Director: Émile Reynaud
France (formerly French Republic)
1878

"The Tight-rope Dance" (1878) is a delicate work, reminding us that Émile Reynaud's animation experiments are a genuine delight. Included in his first series of strips, it features a young female acrobat, dressed in a lovely pink dress, dancing on a tight-rope. The geometrical lines create the perception of harmonious movement, seamlessly generating an internal score that accompanies the heroine’s dance. The lasting effect is full of charm, enhanced by the warmth of the chosen colours. This is another example in which Reynaud’s artistry takes precedence over his technical achievement, a feature characterising most of his early praxinoscope works.

Director: Émile Reynaud
France (formerly French Republic)
1878

Sound emerged as a key technical concern for motion pictures mavericks, mainly because it was seen as a necessary component in reproducing reality. For animators, however, sound acted as an enhancer to the artistic or entertainment value of a work. In "Dzing. Boom. Boom!" (1878) Émile Reynaud combined the illusion of movement with the illusion of sound to create a full sensory experience. Albeit silent, each motion in this praxinoscope strip makes us sing in unison the words of the title ad infinitum. As a result, this is the most complete example of onomatopoeic cinema, hailing from the proto-history of the medium.

Director: Émile Reynaud
France (formerly French Republic)
1878

Émile Reynaud's animated work predates the successes in moving photography. His drawings were brought to life by his praxinoscope. One of these works from his second series of strips is "The Musician Monkey" (1878). Charming and simultaneously creepy in its visuals, this proto-animation harks back to the heyday of magic lantern shows, aiming to entertain its audience with beauty and humour. The functional composition is rudimentary in this case, as it focuses mainly on movement, rather than on artistic skill. Nonetheless, this experiment with simian anthropomorphism announced to the world that pictures were no longer still.