Institut Lumiere - Musee - Breve histoire Lumiere

A brief history of the Lumière family

Born in the French Department of Haute-Saône in 1840, Antoine Lumière had a strong personality and an artistic nonconformist nature exhibited not only by his attraction for painting and singing but above all by his way of initiating and, from 1894 onwards, looking after his sons’ invention. Married at the age of nineteen, Antoine first established himself as a painter then a photographer in Besançon. It was in this town that his first two children were born: Auguste, in 1862, and Louis, in 1864. In 1870, the Lumière family moved from Eastern France to Lyon in the face of the Prussian threat. A born businessman, Antoine opened a photographic studio in the city center. He kept a close watch on the progress of inventions in the motion picture field whilst never failing to cast a watchful eye on his sons’ schooling: Louis and Auguste were educated at La Martinière, Lyon’s largest technical high school.

Antoine Lumière (1840-1911)

It was the younger boy, Louis, who designed the instant dry photographic plate christened the Etiquette Bleue (blue label), which effectively ensured the reputation and financial success of the family company. Antoine Lumière then procured an extensive site in Monplaisir on the outskirts of Lyon to manufacture and market the plates. Rapidly amassed, the family fortune was made.


Louis Lumière (1864-1948)	Auguste Lumière (1862-1954)

In the fall of 1894, Antoine Lumière spoke to his two sons Louis and Auguste asking them to develop an interest in these so-called motion pictures, which were proving to be a stumbling block to Thomas Edison and several other magnificent pioneers. This paternal incentive was the starting point of a venture which resulted in the invention of the " Cinématographe Lumière ", the centenary of the birth of which was celebrated by Lyon, France and the world in 1995.

We are indeed fortunate in Lyon to have been able to conserve traces and evidence of the Lumière family around the Institut Lumière. Historical traces, which allow us to reassert with conviction that it was indeed the Lumières who invented the Cinématographe, the final link in a long chain of discoveries to which Louis Lumière always considered himself indebted, not to mention their many other inventions and extensive research in the fields of photography, 3-dimensional cinema, medicine, etc. Material evidence provided by such symbolic remains as the “Château Lumière” mansion, the “Hangar” factory transit shed, the street named the rue du Premier-Film..... and the ultimate living proof : their films.

Auguste Lumière & Louis Lumière (1895)

These 1408 rediscovered Lumière " scenes " remind us of the extent to which this work is both important and yet unknown. We remain truly dumbfounded when confronting the creative potential of the Lumières and their operator-technicians, who, from 1896 on, scoured the planet in search of living pictures. Above all, how can one not be overcome with wonder when viewing " La Sortie des Usines Lumière " (Leaving the Factory), the first Cinématographe film; the first time that men filmed themselves, we might even say talked to each other because the invention of motion pictures bears such a close relation to the invention of language. If we may be so bold, we would like to express our unmitigated pride in recalling that this fundamental turning point occurred in Lyon in mid-March 1895 (probably the 19th) in the street now called the “rue du Premier-Film”.

The doors opened both at the Lumière factory exit and on the history of film-making. Two inventive, curious, determined men perfected a scientific venture and conclusively launched the fabulous motion picture venture. Both the phenomenon and its message were universal and continue to spread today.