Case Eight

Case 8:  Vision, Optics, and the Living Image

Many of the technologies used in the toys in this section were developed as a result of experiments intended to help understand scientific phenomena or the physiology of vision. Optical illusions and animation effects created using light, mirrors, and movement were later commercialized, becoming popular entertainments. Toy theatres were introduced into homes that were already accustomed to playing with and learning from some of these technologies.

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54. Henry Aston Barker’s Panorama, Leicester-Square. View of the City of St. Petersburg, Taken on the Tower of the Observatory. The Battle of Waterloo Is in the Lower Circle. London? H. A. Barker, 1817.

The panorama was a form of immersive sensory spectacle that allowed viewers to feel they had travelled in space and time. A large, static, circular canvas was shown in a darkened interior, often accompanied by live music, moving set pieces, and special lighting or projections. It was soon followed by the moving panorama, which used illustrations on two rollers that scrolled past the viewer.

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55. Ombres chinoises. B. Coudert illustrator. Paris: L. Saussine, c. 1870.

Shadow theatre was brought to France in the eighteenth century, and performed in large theatres such as the Théâtre d'ombres au Chat Noir in Montmartre. This scaled-down children’s toy lacks the detail and movement of the original shadow plays but allows children to create simple shows using cut out paper, a prebuilt proscenium, and prompts from a booklet. The name Ombres chinoises refers to the fact that it was introduced to France via China.

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56. L’arche de Noè. Paris: Saussine-Editeur, c. 1890.

Combining moving panorama with shadow theatre, a hand-cranked scroll on rollers tells the story of Noah’s Ark using sheets of tracing paper printed with animal silhouettes. Animals move through the frame two by two, and the set includes a sheet of extra animals to be cut out, attached to metal rods, and manipulated by the user to enhance the action.

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57. Shadow puppet. Shaanxi Province, China, no date. Gift of Janet Dewan. Courtesy of the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, University of Toronto.

Shadow-puppet theatre has a long and international history. The Chinese piyingxi has been popular since at least the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE), and other international versions such as the Indonesian wayang and the Turkish Karagöz have equally rich traditions. Painted and perforated figures are manipulated behind a screen by puppeteers using rods. Accompanied by music and singing, shadow shows entertain and share history and social customs.

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58. Le cinématographe-jouet/The Cinématograph-Toy. France: M. Mathieu, c.1902.

This small mutoscope operates in the same way as a flipbook. Image cards are attached to a circular core which, when suspended in the box and balanced with a stone counterweight, can be animated by turning the crank. This toy won a gold medal at a French invention competition and comes with four ‘movies’ showing a ballerina dancing, a boxing match, tumbling acrobats, and fighting pastry chefs.

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59. Les images vivantes: tableaux animés. Paris: Mauclair-Dacier, c. 1890–1900?

The zoetrope is an optical toy which may have origins as far back as 180 CE in China. This early form of interactive media requires the user to spin the drum while peering at illustrations through a series of slots that function as a shutter and create a motion picture effect. The zoetrope gained popularity in Europe in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, and this model includes twenty-five double-sided colour-lithographed strips, many reinforcing negative stereotypes of the period.

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60. Thomas Talbot Bury. Fantascope. London: Ackermann & Co., 1833.

Each of the six hand-coloured aquatint discs of the fantascope depict a different scene. Like the zoetrope, the disc is spun and the viewer peers through the slits to see the scene animated, though in this case they must be looking into a mirror to see the effect.

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61. Undated magic lantern viewer containing glass slide from Alice in Wonderland. London: W. Butcher & Sons, 1910–1919.

A simple form of magic lantern using a candle, lens, and mirror to project an image was demonstrated as early as the 1750s, and magic lantern shows quickly became a popular form of entertainment. Travelling shows with narration were presented to the public, and the wealthy had lanterns and slides in their homes. It might illustrate lectures, display artwork, or create the illusion of ghostly apparitions in seances or the theatre. The operator could achieve an effect similar to a motion picture by moving slides with sequential images past the light and lens.

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