Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1949)

MOVIE MAKERS 467 Eastman House opens In Rochester, N. Y., the world's greatest museum of photography opens as a memorial to George Eastman WITH the symbolic cutting of a strip of motion picture film, George Eastman House, in Rochester, N. Y., was formally opened to the public at 2:00 o'clock on the afternoon of November 9, 1949. Mrs. George B. Dryden. the niece and only living relative of the late George Eastman, was the one chosen thus to swing wide the doors. It was justly so. For, this unique institute — "to further the knowledge of photography's means, accomplishments and potentialities in every field" — is housed in the former home of photography's greatest benefactor. Here Eastman, the artisan, worked with his hands in a small workshop. Here Eastman, the music lover and philanthropist, listened with friends to the great pipe organ installed in the splendid central hall of his mansion. And here too Eastman, the industrialist, spun those dreams of mass manufacturing which made "kodak" a generic word for camera and put photography within the reach of all. One's visit to Eastman House begins as you approach the Corinthian columned portico of the stately Georgian Colonial mansion. Within the main entrance is a spacious entrance hall from which a grand staircase sweeps up to the second floor. To the right of this hall is the East Living Room, where the first portions of the photographic collection are displayed. One sees here an amazing amount of material leading up to the first real photographs. A small camera obscura — the first means of imaging an outdoor scene on a wall, table or ground glass — is displayed. Included in this exhibit is an original 1839 camera bearing Daguerre's personal stamp of approval, precise replicas of Fox Talbot's first cameras and a copy of his great book. The Pencil of Nature. In the great Music Room — which is the largest room in the house — visitors will get their first glimpse of many priceless historical items which reveal the actual beginnings of the photographic processes. Here, for example, are Daguerreotypes, Talbotypes, pictures made by the wet plate process and with dry plates, as well as examples of the equipment used in all such processes. In this Music Room stand units with which, by pressing a button, one can see three minute color motion pictures showing how a Daguerreotype or a Talbotype was made, or how pictures were created by the old wet plate process. Also on exhibit are an unusual collection of detective cameras and the com BEAUMONT NEWHALL, curator, holds a Model A Cine-Kodak as he checks stored equipment. ALL EXHIBITS, as with this early projector, are reconditioned before going on display. plete photographic outfit owned by Dr. Bemis — one of the first photographic kits in the United States — together with the original bill of sale. Adjoining the Music Room is the Dining Room, where the exhibits are devoted to items related to George Eastman personally. His biography is told in pictures, documents, words and objects, including portraits, his first account book, experimental photographs taken on his first film and, among many other exhibits, the first Kodak cameras. The exhibits on the first floor also include two galleries rebuilt for conferences and the display of photographs and a corridor leading to the contemporary photographic exhibits in another building. A history of a hundred years in photographs is currently displayed in the galleries, while in the corridor is being shown the history of lenses, from the first specially constructed photographic objectives of Chevalier and Voigtlander to the anastigmats of Goerz and Zeiss. On the second floor of this remarkable institute the development of amateur photography is traced in many different ways. A spectacular diorama portrays A PRAXINOSCOPE, early simulator of movies, can be operated by visitors to Eastman House. a wet plate photographer of the 1870's, complete with assistant and authentic portable darkroom, preparing to photograph the lower falls of the Genesee. The evolution of shutters and improvements in amateur cameras, from plate magazine to roll film and film pack cameras, are also shown. On this floor, as well, one can see a typical portrait studio of the 1890's — complete with painted background, subject and photographer. Another exhibit of more than passing interest is one that traces the development of the "miniature" camera — which, dating back to 1860, is not of quite such recent vintage as one might think. No exhibit in the institute, however, is more interesting than the one which traces the development of motion pictures. Here everything moves. One can press a button and watch a praxinoscope, a phenakistoscope or a zoetrope — in which colored drawings were made to appear animated — in motion. The same thing is true of projectors and cameras produced by such early experimenters as Lumiere, Demeny, De Bedts and Armat. Here, too, one will find negatives, prints, apparatus and notebooks compiled by Eadweard Muybridge. the early photographer who made some of the first successful studies of motion. Other early motion picture displays include printers, cameras and perforators of the period from 1900 to 1920, and some of the earliest substandard home movie outfits. Director of Eastman House activities will be Oscar N. Solbert, an intimate of George Eastman and formerly on the executive staff of the Eastman Kodak Company. Beaumont Newhall, photographic historian and author of the recent History of Photography, will be curator of exhibits. Eastman House will be open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and from 1:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Sundays. There will be no admission charge.