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VOL. 43, NO. 5 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2012
Mechanical Wonders Of The Nineteenth Century
utomata - mechanical figures that mimic human and animal behavior, often accompanied by music.
Long before movies and television, many folks were entertained by a unique category of mechanical engineering know as the automaton. The history of automata (plural) parallels humanity’s undiminished and continuous quest to create an object that has the appearance of moving like a human or an animal. The word is derived from the Greek automatos, meaning “self-moving.” Attempts to mechanically reproduce the movePierrot Écrivain, G. Vichy, Paris, France, circa 1875. Photo: SFO Museum.
ments of t h e human b o d y began in ancient Egypt. Statues of certain gods were rigged with hinges to mimic human speech and movement - one example is in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Centuries later, the Greeks and Byzantines accomplishments in physics and mechanics provided Phylon of Byzantium and Heron of Alexandria with the knowledge to render draw-
duction technology to produce musical automata, musical dolls, clockwork singing birds, and tableaux méchaniques (mechanically animated scenes) to meet the increasing demand for these new forms of entertainment.
Oriental Juggler, G. Vichy, Paris, France, circa 1860.
ings for the first actual automata. During the Middle Ages, the Arabs were the first to apply the principles of automata construction based on the work of Heron and Phylon. In Western Europe, clockmaking and automata were combined to form grand animated statues, jacquemarts. The jacquemarts rang the cathedral bells to mark the time of day. Before the Industrial Revolution, automata were created mainly as one-of-a-kind scientific experiments, political or religious theater, and given as diplomatic gifts. Eventually they became promotional devices to attract sales. French manufacturers later incorporated mass-pro-
From the mid-1800s to the 1900s, automata served as parlor entertainment. Many skilled artisans were required to manufacture these clockwork machines. They were not considered toys for children, but rather items of social privilege and status. The manufacture and production of automata reflect the interests and preoccupations of French society at the turn of the nineteenth century. This included a passion for travel and an interest in exotic, foreign places. Clowns, artists, conjurers, musicians, and dancers represented the public’s fascination
and desire for the extraordinary and the unusual. In the first half of the 1800s, mechanical movement clockwork and music box cylinders were perfected and methods of production improved. Automata entertainment expanded beyond the theater and circus into the parlors and living rooms of the middle class. A fabulous new exhibit opened recently within the Internat i o n a l Terminal Building at S a n Francisco International Airport (SFO). Running through May of this year, “Automata: Mechanical Wonders Of The Ninet e e n t h Century” features eleven Automata from the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of the Morris Museum, in Morristown, New Jersey. The museum’s Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of Mechanical M u s i c a l
Tharin, Renou, Roullet & Decamps, and Vichy. There’s a handsome hardcover book about the entire collection, published by the Morris Museum. It contains an essay by Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume. In his Foreword to the book, Executive Director of the Morris Museum, Steven Miller, states, “During his lifetime, the late Honorable Murtogh D. Guinness (1913-2002) painstakingly, and with obvious glee, assembled one of the world’s finest collections of mechanical musical instruments and automata. The beautiful, ingenious, fascinating and even mysterious machines he so carefully gathered together provide evidence of a oncecommon form of popular culture a l m o s t unknown now. In sum, they document the first chapter of the birth of the modern, on-demand, repeatable, replayable entertainment industry so familiar to us today.” Born in London in 1913 into a prominent Anglo-Irish brewing f a m i l y, Murtogh D.
Instruments and Automata, consists of 750 objects plus over 4,000 pieces of media, representing one of the most significant collections of its type in the country. Jere Ryder is Conservator of the Guinness Collection. He appears in a segment by New Jersey Arts News, where he gives an overview of the wide range of the collection. (www.njartsnews.org/2011/05/08/g uinness-collection-of-mechanicalmusical-instruments-2/). The SFO exhibition offers a broad range of automaton production from the second half of the nineteenth century, and includes a late twentieth-century creation using nineteenth-century parts and production methods. Most are set in motion by a mechanical spring motor and possess a music box. The best makers of the era are represented: Lambert, Phalibois,
Musical Dandy, G. Vichy, Paris, France, circa 1900. Photo: SFO Museum.
Guinness became interested in mechanical musical instruments and automata when he was only six years old. On a visit to Paris, his mother took him to Breguet, a shop that sold clocks, watches, and related items. She bought him a pop-up mechanical singing bird that he picked out himself - an event that marked the start of a lifelong passion. It was not until some 20 years later, though, that Guinness began collecting mechanical musical instruments and automata in earnest. By the time he settled in New York City - where he bought twin townhouses to accommodate his collections - he had gathered together music boxes, fairground organs, orchestrions featuring pianos, cymbals and bells, and more from all over the world. Visitors to his home recall a virtual
wonderland of what one g u e s t described as “conjurors, illusionists, acrobats... a fantastic collection of mechanical pieces.” Those who remember Murtogh D. Guinness, however, recall not just his collections but his great hospitality. Over the years he had amassed not just a stellar group of objects, but an enthusiastic circle of friends who shared his passion for mechanical musical instruments and automata. As the Morris Museum displays and interprets his collection, it satisfies Guinness’s wish of having the public enjoy the collection in its entirety just as much as he did. Guinness regarded the collection as his Flute Player (life size), A. Théroude, Paris, France, circa 1869-1877.
life’s work, and he persistently traveled the globe to search for the finest surviving instruments of their kind. (It seems only fitting that a portion of the collection is being presented to international travelers, via the SFO museum display.) The Morris Museum unveiled a permanent installation of the spectacular exhibition Musical Machines & Living Dolls: Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata from the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection in November 2007 in a brand-new 4,300-square-foot gallery. The exhibition features more than 150 pieces from the spectacular collection and takes visitors on a journey through the history of on-demand musical entertainment. Live demonstrations of several of the objects from the Guinness collection are held daily. Visit the Morris Museum online at www.morrismuseum.org. Created in 1980, SFO Museum was the first cultural institution of its kind located in an international airport. An everchanging schedule of exhibitions on a diverse range of subjects provides an educational and cultural experience for the nearly 40 million passengers who use the airport annually. From antique Microscopes, and Motorcycles to Records and Television, the exhi(Continued on page 2)