Early Animation – The Richard Balzer Collection

Wow, what to say about this? I can’t remember how I actually stumbled upon these animations, but the hypnotic, repetitive and macabre nature of them stuck with me. They seemed old as well, like really early animation stills revolving on a turntable. Well they date mostly from the 19^th century and are in the collection of one Richard Balzer, who has been converting them into GIF’s and publishing them in his virtual online museum. A hobby dating back some 40 years, he apparently has thousands of illustrations and machines.

Transferring what people using devices such as the Phenakistoscope (1832) and the Zoetrope (1833) used to experience (respectively a circular disc and cylindrical drum spun by hand, creating the illusion of a looping animation) into digital form is I think invaluable, both from a historical and artistic point of view. Each illustration was photographed and then sequenced in Photoshop. It’s fascinating to see current technology bringing the past back to life since most of us are unlikely to own one of the original machines.

Really, I’m just scratching the surface here. For more in depth information check out the links below:

The Richard Balzer Collection

The psychedelic and grotesque proto-GIFs of the 19th century