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| Theatrum
Mundi - Dreamlands - Theatre of Arts
Paris
/
Ghent
- Grand Théâtre
Mécanique Frère Morieux -
Ghent /
Paris
Fairground
Exhibitor
'Léon
Van de Voorde'
Fairground
Exhibitor
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1901
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Some rare items from a Gent based 19th.
Century fairground
attraction in the Early Visual Media collection.
The Théâtre
Mécanique Morieux arrived
for the first time in Gent round 1810. This mechanical
Theatre (Theatrum
Mundi)
was founded by engineer Morieux, based in Paris,
and became also successful on Belgian Fairgrounds,
exploited by the academic painter Léon
van De Voorde round 1888. This mechanical
Fairground show became famous for their huge diorama
paintings, moving
panorama's or cyclorama's
and mechanical marionettes
made in painted iron, the main characters of the
show.
In 1890 the Morieux theatre attended the Fairground
in Kortrijk, Belgium, and offered most successful
shows to the visitors: 'A
visit to the World Fair in Paris',
1900, became one of their most popular attractions
on Belgian fairground. This World Fair panorama
is 60 meters long.
A panoramic painted decor
with transparent effects was populated
by odd and peculiar mechanical characters, Chinese,
Africans, Russian Cossacks, Spanish Bullfighters,
soldiers, etc. The transparent moving panorama
painting was depicting the 1900 world fair of
Paris as can be seen in the Eiffel Tower and the
disappeared 'Globe Celeste' among other typical
world fair buildings.
A pencil panorama sketch, preceding the fairground
painting for the Paris World Fair show, was recently
discovered on a flea-market. See the 4 panorama
parts below, indicating the use of transparent
effects similar to the Daguerre Diorama.
On the left, a colored lithographic poster glued
on linnen, 1901,
depict a myriad of themes offered by the Théâtre
Mécanique Morieux. The poster
is printed by E. Cockelaere
in Gent. (94 cm. x 64 cm.)
Further on this page, some of the typical Morieux
Marionettes can be admired with the illusion of
movement-on-mouse-over.
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on poster to see larger image in Google Group
Move
mouse over.
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Theatrum
Mundi or Mechanical Miniature Theatres |
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Below, in four parts, the original pencil
sketch in the Early Visual Media collection,
used for the realisation of the Paris 1900
panorama, served as a basis for the realisation
of the huge canvas painting which was recently
on display
in Centre Pompidou, Paris. |
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(pencil sketch
for Paris worldfair moving panorama,
collection Thomas Weynants)
A virtual
Fairground visit to the World Fair
in Paris, 1900
Media Archeology
on the Fairground - Grand Théatre
Variétés et Impériator
Bio
Click
on one of the four panorama parts
to see all parts together in the
GOOGLE group
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.Click
on Horse to see larger image in Google Group
- Move
mouse over
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.Click
on horse to see larger image in Google Group
Move mouse
over.
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Rear
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(50
cm x 56cm) - Front.
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(pencil
sketch for Paris worldfair moving panorama,
collection Thomas Weynants)
Read in the original Notebooks of the
Théâtre Morieux
Their Representation
& Their
Automates
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Move
mouse over. |
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The
postcard on the right, depicting
a Mechanical Theatre attraction
among many others fairground buildings,
was send to the Théâtre
Morieux by Rob Melich, owner
and manager of the famous 'Theater
Rob Melich'.
Move mouse over to see the mechanical
theatre on the left, just above
the 'Merry-Go Round'.
As can be read on an extensive
programm of the Théâtre
Morieux, this popular fairground
attraction offered a wide field
of 'new media'
based entertainment, including Magic
Lantern Shows and early cinematograph
projections.
'The visit
to the World Fair in Paris',
1900, for example, was a moving
panoramic kind of entertainment
using diorama
light effects. The 4 original
panoramic pencil drawings, depicted
above and below, enable us to imagine
how this part of the program was
constructed. Details on the drawings
for light effects are marked 'Transparent'.
The 4 respective
parts measure 65 cm. x 17 cm.
each.
The four pencil drawings are numbered
from scene 1 to 7 and and show one
long panoramic view when placed
next to each other in the correct
order.
Larger images and a computer generated
reconstruction of the whole panorama
can be seen at this website's Visual
Media GOOGLE group. |
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(pencil sketch for
Paris worldfair moving panorama,
collection Thomas Weynants)
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(Detail)
Click on panorama to see the more information
on the Musée des Art Forains website
(original
Paris
worldfair moving
panorama, collection
Jean-Paul Favand) |
(©
Pavillons
de Bercy) The complete moving panorama or
Cyclorama is 60 meters long |
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The
Panoramic
sketches are not signed but
it's likely that they where drawn
by Léon
van De Voorde, painter &
manager of the Théâtre
Mécanique, himself. Some
of his academic study's, seen in
the mechanical theatre notebooks,
are signed by him and shown on this
page. Move
mouse over image to see Van de Voorde's
signed academic study's.
On the left we see a 'sample color
card' in the same theatre notebook
for what seems to be instructions
for painting 'Figuren'?
Besides the 'Visit
to the 1900 World Fair in Paris',
the program
was offering Chromatropes,
A journey
round the world in 20 minutes,
The Panama
Canal, Diorama
Daguerre, Eruption
of the Vesuvius in Naples,
'Die Rattenfanger
von Hameln', dissolving
views, etc.
'The program mention more than 6000
mechanical instruments. (Magic
Lantern Slides & Marionettes)
The carte-de-visite
photographs, showing time differences,
announced via the Visual Media GOOGLE
Group, depicted on the research
page
originated from the same
theatre source.
Perhaps these intriguing timeless
images are depicting one of the
many mechanical fairground attractions
on display in the Théâtre
Morieux?
Please send all information about
this and related subjects to Thomas
Weynants. |
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Max
Rosseau, in the "De
Gentse Foor in de goede oude tijd"
(1960) writes
that the show ended with transparencies,
precursors of the cinematograph.
Some major Belgian collections have Magic
Lantern slides previously owned by the
Theatre Morieux.
The letterhead below indicates that the
Morieux theatre was familiar with cinema
projections.
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(pencil sketch for
Paris worldfair moving panorama,
collection Thomas Weynants)
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A
chronological list of fairs attended by
the Théâtre Morieux was compiled
by the Belgian Circus & Fairground historian
André De Poorter.
Besides many fairs in Belgium and obviously
in France, the theatre was also active in
German city's such as Köln, 1879 -
Bregenz, 1887. The Huis van Alijn (Folk
Art museum in Gent) preserves the collection
of De Poorter. See 'The
Belgian Circus Archive'. In the
year 1909 this list confirms the use of
'Vue Cinémathographique'
on the fair in Brugge. André De Poorter
is also the author of several books about
the history of Circus and Fairground in
Belgium. |
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Group
of 12 Soldiers painted on both sides
.Click
on Soldiers to see larger image in Google
Group
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See
a similar Theatrum Mundi Marionet
group of French
Soldiers in
Stefan Nagel's PDF file. |
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Portrait sketches from theatre
notebook
'Explication
des Tableaux
du Théâtre
Morieux'
1876
Starting with
'Cendrillon'
Conte en sept tableaux
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The
Morieux Marionettes operate by clever
mechanisms to imitate lifelike movements
as seen in the Horse legs below.
"Here
you see the more unique and more
difficult work in the art of mechanics
invented until today. These automats
are never seen before in any theatre
and are invented and produced by
Mr. Van de Voorde (Morieux)"
From
'theatre notebook', 1876.
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Drawnings
by Léon van De Voorde - Move
mouse over |
Running
horse. |
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The
above quote from the theatre notebook illustrate
a good example of self-promotion. Evidently,
these kind of marionettes is not an invention
by the Morieux theatre but simply a late 19th.
Century example of the 'Theatrum Mundi'
tradition.
Read more about Popular
Fairground Shows at Schaubuden. |
.Click
on Soldiers to see larger image in Google
Group |
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The
majority of the Morieux Theatre marionettes
and other important Morieux accessories
are preserved by Jean-Paul Favand
in his spectacular private museum, 'Musée
des Art Forains'
housed in
Les
Pavillons de Bercy in
Paris. This museum is continuing the tradition
of demonstrating historical fairground art
combined with today's high technological
possibilities to create a phantasmagorical
dreamlike experience. |
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The
Théâtre
Mécanique Morieux
was recently discovered in Gent (Belgium)
and acquired by The 'Musée
des Art Forains'
in Paris.
The finding is withouth precedent and shows
the wooden fairground building, fairground
statues, mechanical marionettes, magic lantern
slides, moving panorama's, diorama's, magic
lanterns, posters,
theatre notebooks, photographs, programme
brochures, etc. |
Letterhead of the Morieux Mechanical Theatre
mentioning
'Projections.
Genre de Spectacle Unique au Monde'
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Move
mouse over to see mechanisme of Horse legs |
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Two
Albumin
Carte-de-Visite photographs
also come from the same Théâtre
Morieux source.
BELGIQUE:
'Heure exacte de ses principales
villes, Lorsqu' il est midi juste a Bruxelles'
MONDE:
'Heure exacte de ses principales
villes, Lorsqu' il est midi juste a Paris'
Perhaps they depict a mechanical curiosity
on shown on Fairground?
Or match in the explanation as found in
the book 'New Media
1740 - 1915',
being a comparative time-table as an aid
in a period when there was no Standard
Railroad Time?
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The
Théâtre
Morieux Notebook,
(1876) in French
handwriting, unveils interesting historical
information.
See part III of one of their shows, translated
into English:
III
"In
the following part we show the famous articulated
marionettes.
I ask the people not to confuse these marionettes
with marionettes on strings. Here you see
the more special and more difficult work
in the art of mechanics invented until today.
These automats are never seen before in
any theatre and are invented and made by
Mr. Van de Voorde (Morieux)" |
Move
mouse over
(84
cm x 37 cm)
Click
onSoldier to see larger image in Google
Group |
The
marionette of
the shooting soldier has a trigger
to
enable gunpowder to
explode |
Move
mouse over.
(84 cm x 37 cm)
Click onSoldier to see larger image
in Google Group
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"(III)
Dans le prochain numéro
les celèbres automates, acrobats
gymnasiargues, je prie la sociète
de ne pas confondre ces automates avec les
marionettes à la corde qui sont tirées
ou diagées par des ficelles.
Ceci est le plus grande et le plus difficile
travail dans l'art mécanique qui
a été inventé jusqu'a
ce jour. Les automates n' ont pas encore
été vus dans aucun théâtre,
ils sont inventés et excécutés
par Mr. Vandevoorde (Morieux)"
(sic)
It is not known if the Morieux theatre was
using an automatic organ during some of
their shows. However, in the same lot of
Theatre Morieux rarity's were also three
fairground organ catalogues included.
Limonaire,
Gasparini
& Marenghi.
Click Limonaire
cylinder organ catalogue
to see
one of the larger models.
See more Fairground
related links.
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Click on ticket to see larger
image in Google Group
Move
mouse over
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Woman
carried by soldiers.
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