Lumière, Louis Jean and Auguste

French pioneers in motion-picture photography.

Louis Jean Lumière. Born Oct. 5, 1864, in Besançon; died June 6, 1948, in Bandol. Inventor of the motion-picture camera; pioneer in French film production and direction. Member of the French Academy of Sciences (1919).

Lumière graduated from an industrial college and became a photographer; he then worked at his father’s factory, which produced photographic materials. In 1895 he invented a commercially feasible camera for making and projecting “moving photographs.” The camera was patented and called the Cinématographe. The first paid public performance was held Dec. 28, 1895, in the basement of the Grand Cafe on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris. Lumière’s first film programs showed short candid scenes, such as “Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory,” “Arrival of a Train,” “A Child’s Breakfast,” and “The Drenched Pourer.” After 1898, Lumiere was exclusively occupied with the manufacture of motion-picture equipment. A few years later he sold his patents but continued his experiments on three-dimensional and color cinematography. France has a Louis Lumière Prize for documentary films.

Auguste Lumière. Born Oct. 20, 1862, in Besanç.on; died Apr. 10, 1954, in Lyon. Brother of Louis Jean Lumiére; took part in his work on the invention of the motion-picture camera.