Orlov’s Magic Lantern Experience
Magic Lantern Slide Show is a truly unique way for audiences
to travel back to the time before computers, television, movies and even
radio. This two-part show, which includes over 100 original slides
from 19th and early 20th centuries, is
sure to be fun and educational for all audiences. Original 1917 Magic Lantern is used to project images up to 30ft across, depending on the size of the available screen.
Viewers are first made familiar with the history of the Magic
Lantern as a medium. Anton Orlov’s
collection of Lantern Slides covers use of The Lantern
as a tool for amusement, learning and advertising. Slides that were a direct precursor to the
modern-day movies are sure to dazzle and amuse the audience.
During the second part of the show Anton exhibits select
images from his recent discovery of an astounding and entirely unique
collection of Lantern Slides taken in the winter or 1917-18 in Russia, China
and Japan. These hand-selected images
are of real historic and artistic value and as such have been recently featured
by a variety of news sources all across the world. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-21025445
The show requires only a darkened room with a projection screen. Please contact
Anton Orlov at to book a date for your own thrilling Magic Lantern experience.
Terms
reasonable.
Chromatrope Slide courtesy of http://www.luikerwaal.com
More about Magic Lantern
Magic Lanterns have been with us since the middle of 17th
century. They are the original
projection devices employing the use of a concave mirror behind a light source,
which shines the light of various sources through a transparent image projected
on a screen by the means of a lens.
History
The invention of this device is widely credited to a Dutch
scientist and inventor Christiaan Huygens.
He describes a projection lantern in a manuscript dated 1659 and
actually names it ‘La Leterne Magique’.
Some sources still site Athanasius Kircher as being the father of Magic
Lantern, but that is being disputed more and more these days. Some authors also point to the Lantern being
foreshadowed by the 15th century engineer Giovanni Fontana and his
description of a projection apparatus with similar properties. Whatever the case may be, by 18th
century a plethora of Magic Lantern séances have sprung up all over Europe with
most popular and well known being the Phantasmagoria by Etienne-Gaspard Robert
(stage name Robertson). The Magic
Lantern has made its way to America by the early 19th century and
many showmen traveled the country giving shows to the eager public.
Prior to the invention of photography all slides were hand
painted on glass with transparent watercolor paints. It was a tedious task, but the results
achieved can be astoundingly beautiful.
Scenes with a single drawing soon drew the imagination of artists to
come up with images that changed upon the screen. These included simple slip-slides with two or
more pieces of glass with various scenes parts of which sometimes were being
masked off by black paint. There were also
slides called Chomatropes – a type of a kaleidoscopic image produced by two
discs with painted designs, set in gears and rotated opposite of each other by
a hand crank. These can be mesmerizing
to watch. Motion slides are credited
with inspiring a series of inventions by various people, which led to the
eventual development of motion cameras by Lumiere brothers.
Uses
At first Magic Lanterns were being used by magicians and
charlatans to trick the public into believing they could summon ghosts and
spirits. There are cases of clergymen
projecting images of saints into trees, walls and rocks having the public believe
that a apparition has taken place and setting up holy sites at those
locations. Eventually Magic Lanterns
were employed for much more sensible uses such as education, cataloging and
entertainment. Multiple manufacturers
produced Lanterns of all shapes and sizes with some being small enough to be
sold as children’s toys (believe it or not, children playing with fire was
rather common practice in the Victorian era).
Magic Lanterns were used by educational institutions to show students
complex diagrams and charts. Museums employed
Lanterns to document their collection and to propagate the images to libraries
around the world. Keystone Viewing Company and alike employed photographers to
produce numerous sets of slides, bringing far-away corners of the world right
into the living rooms of their customers.
Individuals could also have their negatives converted into Lantern
Slides in order to share their images with a wide audience during a
lecture-show. Customers were also offered to have their
black and white images hand-colored.
When in the 1950s Mr. Land invented Polaroid film one of the products
offered was a film type 46-L - it produced transparencies for projection by
Magic Lantern.
The demise of the Magic Lantern came only in the 1960s with
the perfection and spread of use of smaller and easily reproducible 35mm slides. Since many libraries and universities already
held large collection of Lantern Slides their use continued in some places into
70s. Today many people will sooner
associate the words Magic Lantern with a firmware made for digital Canon
cameras than with the beautiful and rich tradition that was known by that name
for centuries. Currently there are only a few Magic Lantern Shows in the world and The Photo Palace Bus is looking forward to adding to this rich tradition by hosting shows in your area.
Great information -thanks!
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