The first of a lost art

Stop-motion animation was at a certain point in history, a primary source of media for animation, whether in animated film or as a practical effect in live action media. For example, in the 1933 monster classic King Kong, a model was made using a metal skeleton coated with rabbit fur to make up a fully articulated stop-motion puppet animators would set in position and move frame by frame. The same concept is used in the animated shorts Wallace and Gromit; unlike in King Kong where the puppet was animated in correspondence to live actors, was fully animated, and allowed for more creative freedom.

Stop-motion animation in no way is a new form of media in today’s era. We rarely see it used in recent films. Aside from the animation company Laika that brought us films like Kubo and the Two Strings, or as an affect in Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, revealing a brief shot using stop-motion animation.

The question left to wonder is when this style of animation was first introduced as a new form of media. Multiple sources on Google points to an animated short titled The Humpty Dumpty Circus.  The film was made in 1897 by director J. Stuart Blackton along with Albert E. Smith. As the title suggests, it featured a circus with acrobats and animals which according to Smith, were actually his daughter’s circus dolls. There is no actual recording of the film to be found, nor are there any recorded details explaining what happened to the film. Only a few images of the film exist.

One other early example of stop motion animation heavily used in film, was the 1925 silent film The Lost World, animated by Willis O'Brien. 

Frame by Frame

The introduction to Michael Rush’s New Media in Art reflects upon the branching of classical printed art forms to technological mediums which allowed artists to experiment within the concepts of time and space, which lead to the influence of time-based media. For years it’s been a substantial a basis for entertainment and advertising in modern society. Animation, audio, video, and film are all products to “time art,” revolving especially around motion. Many painters and photographers have experimented with the concepts of motion through various mediums, for example, the painting Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash by Giacomo Balla explores the vibrant actions of a walking individual with their dog  across a path.

 Edweard Muybridge had explored movement by an assemblage of photographs which line up in a linear direction, showcasing the motion of the subject within the image. The book demonstrates by showing two of Muybridge’s work; Decending Stairs and Turning Around, and Studies in Animal Locomotion.

Etienne Jules Marey worked with more than several other examples of motion-based imagery, aside from the book’s provided example, Gymnast Jumping over a Chair, Marey had worked on other examples prior to which, including one of a flying pelican in 1882. He, along with other artist discovered new possible techniques to record phases of movements collaborated in a single image. 

Other examples relating to, but not showcased in the text include a 400 year-old mural in an Egyptian burial sight discovered in the tomb of Khnumhotep at the Beni Hassan cemetery. The mural reveals segmented events in a wrestlers match, relating closely to Muybridge and Marey's work. 

Another abstract example, is an animated gif of a phenakistoscope disc created by Eadweard Muybridge in 1893.