Tangible Media: Removable Storage of Image, Sound, Motion and Data
Tangible Media: Removable Storage of Image, Sound, Motion and Data
Tangible Media: Removable Storage of Image, Sound, Motion and Data
Frames
Giroux Phenakistiscope

Title:

Woman Beating Husband

Artist:

Alphonse Giroux

Date:

c. 1840

Material:

Lithography on paper, hand-watercolored

Dimensions:

7 in. (18 cm)

Company:

Alphonse Giroux & Cie.

Location:

Paris, France

A disc by Alphonse Giroux, who began producing phenakistiscopes in France in 1833, soon after their invention by Joseph Plateau. In Giroux's version, unlike Plateau's, the slotted disc is separate from the illustrated disc. The discs are mounted together on the spindle of a wooden and brass handle. With the illustrated disc facing a mirror, the viewer looks through the slotted disc at the reflection and spins the wheel to see the animation.

Giroux called his version of the device a phenakisticope. Today, the name is more commonly spelled phenkistiscope or phenakistoscope.