The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced that it, along with the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library, is the recipient of the Richard Balzer Collection, widely considered to be the world’s foremost collection of pre-cinematic optical toys and devices. Comprising more than 9,000 objects—including magic lanterns, magic lantern glass slides, prints, praxinoscopes, figurines, paintings, peepshows, shadow puppets and theaters, and more, dating as far back as China’s Ming Dynasty—the Balzer Collection provides the Academy Museum an unparalleled resource for telling the full story of the development of motion pictures.
“The magic of the movies began with a sense of wonder at seeing still images come to life,” Jessica Niebel, Exhibitions Curator at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures said. “No one was more dedicated than the late Richard Balzer to the marvelous history of pre-cinema. No one did more to preserve these riches and make them available to the public. We are honored to steward the Richard Balzer Collection and present these extraordinary objects to the public.”
Matt Severson, Director of the Margaret Herrick Library, said, “This extraordinary collection of pre-cinematic material, so carefully collected and preserved by Richard Balzer, will be studied and appreciated for generations to come at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and the Margaret Herrick Library. Patricia S. Bellinger and the late Richard Balzer have my utmost gratitude for what they are gifting to the Academy, film scholarship, and movie lovers everywhere."
Richard Balzer (1944–2017) collected pre-cinematic devices for over 40 years. Fascinated by the history of visual entertainment, he amassed a large collection of pre-cinema objects from Europe, Asia, and America dating as far back as the 17th century. The collection was generously donated by Patricia S. Bellinger, the widow of Richard Balzer. Bellinger, business leader and philanthropist, currently serves as the Chief of Staff and Strategic Advisor to the President of Harvard University and joined the Academy Museum’s Board of Trustees earlier this year.
Patricia Bellinger said, “Gifting this collection to the Academy is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. My husband Dick’s passion for collecting pre-cinematic objects was profound, but it was his passion for teaching, storytelling, and wonderment that brought him and the collection to life. With these objects permanently in the Academy Museum and Margaret Herrick Library collections, Dick’s dedication to sharing pre-cinema’s legacy and historical memory with the public will live on in perpetuity.”
Objects from the collection will comprise one of the Academy Museum’s inaugural exhibitions titled The Path to Cinema: Highlights from the Richard Balzer Collection, located in the Special Collections Gallery on the third floor of the museum’s Saban Building. The exhibition will explore the long history of visual entertainment which led to the invention of cinema; from shadow play, peepshows, magic lanterns, zoetropes and praxinoscopes to the Cinématographe Lumière, the world’s first successful film projector. Visitors to this exhibition will experience these marvelous inventions first-hand and take in the wonders of a magic lantern show especially created for this exhibition.
Highlights from the Richard Balzer Collection include:
- Magic Lanterns:
- Phantasmagoria magic lantern: this device, designed by Philip Carpenter in 1821, was used for rear projection instead of frontal projection like other magic lanterns. The tin apparatus was hidden to create magical and frightening appearances onscreen, particularly during phantasmagoria shows. These types of lanterns were often placed on carts that were pulled back or forth to create image zooms, which were particularly effective in scaring audiences. Phantasmagoria shows are considered to be the predecessors of the cinematic horror genre.
- Eiffel Tower magic lantern: a rare single-lens device designed by Louis Aubert is shaped like the Eiffel Tower and is made of hand-painted metal. The piece dates back to 1890.
- Toy magic lanterns: the Museum received an assortment of toy lanterns which depict global locales, inspiring a sense of wonder for travel. These types of pieces were smaller in scale and were typically used by children in domestic settings rather than for public entertainment.
- Engraving of female traveling magic lanternist: considered the most well-known illustration of a woman lanternist from the 18th century, L'Orgue de Barbarie and La Lanterne Magique were designed by Edmé Bouchardon. The two engraved plates were created for use in the 1737 publication Études prises dans le bas peuple ou les cris de Paris. Showpeople traveled from town to town to bring the wonder of magic lanterns to new audiences. In the print, the lanternist carries a box of magic lantern slides on her back and her magic lantern on top. She also carries a stringed instrument called a hurdy gurdy.
- Praxinoscopes:
- Émile Reynaud invented the praxinoscope, many of which are included in the Balzer Collection. Praxinoscopes use a strip of images around the inner surface of a manually-spun cylinder. These images are then reflected in opposing mirrors to create the illusion of a moving image. Reynaud continuously worked to advance the capacity of the praxinoscope, resulting in the praxinoscope théâtre (also part of the collection), the projecting praxinoscope, and at its most advanced stage, the Théâtre Optique, which was used to project hand-painted filmstrips to paying audiences. Théâtre Optique shows are considered to be the original iteration of animated film screenings.
- Praxinoscope glass slides: these rare slides—which were never made commercially, only by Reynaud—are black and are inserted upside down in the cylinder of the projecting praxinoscope.
- Steam driven praxinoscope: designed by Ernst Plank in 1904, the steam driven praxinoscope exemplifies the attempt to automate the moving image rather than relying on a hand-cranked device.
- Vues d’Optiques: these optical illusions play with the effect of lighting from different angles, depicting daytime scenes when lit from above that transition into nocturnal scenes when lit from behind.
- Peepshows: to engage with a peepshow, audiences would look into a box through a small hole to see an array of illustrated, painted, or photographed images.
In tandem with the gift to the Academy Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), has also received more than 100 works from the Balzer Collection. In 2018, the Museum featured a selection of works from the Collection in Phantasmagoria, an exhibition that was a collaboration between Balzer and the MFA. The MFA gift includes a number of objects featured in Phantasmagoria, but is broader than the exhibition, capturing, in microcosm, the full range of the stories and puzzles represented by the Balzer Collection—works that play with perception and challenge viewers' sense of what is real and what is illusion.
About Richard Balzer and the Richard Balzer Collection
Author, documentary photographer, organizational consultant, and passionate explorer of the pre-history of cinema, Richard Balzer collected pre-cinematic materials for over 40 years and eventually amassed more than 9,000 objects from as far afield as Asia and Europe. He is considered the world’s most prominent collector of pre-cinematic objects.
He served as Charmain of The Magic Lantern Society of the United States and Canada from 1984–1989, was a vital member of the British Magic Lantern Society, and in 1998 published the book Peepshows: A Visual History.
Balzer was also a well-regarded photographer, whose work is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. His books on photography include Street Time, a collection of his photographs of New Haven; China: Day by Day, photos from a 1972 trip to that country; Next Door, Down the Road, Around the Corner: A Family Album, a photographic journey through all 50 states; and Clockwork: Life In and Outside an American Factory, drawn from his months working at Western Electric in the Merrimack Valley.
In 1967, Balzer founded Balzer & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm that coached the CEOs of global companies. He was the co-founder of the Petra Foundation, which established fellowships for people combatting social injustice, and was a senior fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was active in Vista, the national anti-poverty service program, and in the civil-rights movement. He also worked as a consultant and strategist for unions such as the United Automobile Workers and the United Steelworkers. Balzer was a graduate of Cornell University and Yale Law School.
Exhibition Credit Line: The Path to Cinema: Highlights from the Richard Balzer Collection is organized by Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Exhibition Curator Jessica Niebel and Assistant Curator Ana Santiago. The Richard Balzer Collection is a gift to the Academy Museum and the Margaret Herrick Library from Patricia S. Bellinger.
About the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
The Academy Museum will be the world’s premier institution dedicated to the art and science of movies. Opening on April 30, 2021, the Museum will be simultaneously immersive, experimental, educational, and entertaining. More than a museum, this dynamic film center will offer unparalleled experiences and insights into movies and moviemaking. Designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Renzo Piano, the Museum is restoring and revitalizing the historic Saban Building—formerly known as the May Company building (1939)—at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. The Saban Building will feature six floors, including exhibition spaces, the 288-seat Ted Mann Theater, the Shirley Temple Education Studio, special event spaces, conservation areas, a café, and store. The new spherical addition will connect to the Saban Building via glass bridges and will feature the state-of-the-art 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater and the rooftop Dolby Family Terrace with its sweeping views of the Hollywood Hills.
