Louis Lumière
Louis Jean Lumière (5 October 1864 – 6 June 1948) was a French engineer and industrialist who played a key role in the development of photography and cinema.
Also recorded as Louis Jean Lumiere · Louis Jean Lumière · Louis Lumiere
Louis Lumière
Unidentified photographer · https: onb.digital/result/10FEF6C9 · Public domain
- Birth Name
- Louis Jean Lumière
- Birthplace
- Besançon, France
- Place of death
- Bandol, France
- Born
- 1864 · Besançon.
- Died
- 1948 · Bandol.
- Nationality
- France
- Occupation
- inventor · engineer · photographer · entrepreneur · chemist · cinematographer · director
- Honours
- Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour · National Inventors Hall of Fame · star on Hollywood Walk of Fame · Elliott Cresson Medal · Great Gold medal of the Société d'Encouragement au Progrès · Knight of the Legion of Honour
- Languages
- French
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Documentary connections
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1962284 · wikipedia · Louis Lumière
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Getty Union List of Artist Names
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Biography
Biography
The recorded working language is French. Places of work recorded in the authority are Paris. Employment is recorded with Société Lumière. Work by Louis Lumière is recorded in the collections of Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, J. Paul Getty Museum and CNC French Film Archives. Distinctions recorded are Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, National Inventors Hall of Fame, star on Hollywood Walk of Fame and Elliott Cresson Medal.
Documentary record
Louis Lumière lived from 5 October 1864 to 6 June 1948 and was a cinematographer, chemist, film-maker, inventor and photographer. The birth of Louis Lumière is recorded on 5 October 1864 in Besançon (Doubs), and the death on 6 June 1948 in Bandol (Var).
Postcard of female and male impersonators and transvestites, from the Cornell University Library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, photograph taken in 1902. This photo was taken to promote the New Circus show "Joyeux Nègres", filmed by Louis Lumière. Apparently a promotional photo for the Nouveau Cirque show "Joyeux Nègres", which was filmed by Louis Lumière. Black couple with one man
Nattes à chat
Louis Lumière fotografato da Agence Rol nel 1926
Unidentified photographer · Bibliothèque nationale de France
Key facts
Key facts
• Birth Name — Louis Jean Lumière • Birthplace — Besançon, France • Place of death — Bandol, France • Relatives — Auguste Lumière (brother) • Significant Awards — * Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (1939) • star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1960) • Significant Projects — cinematograph
Early life and education
Early life and education
Lumière was one of four children of Claude-Antoine Lumière, a photographer and painter, and his wife Jeanne-Joséphine (née Costille). At the Martinière Technical School he gained highest marks in his class.
Career
Career
• Illustration — Louis Lumière, examining film (1935) At age 17, Lumière invented a new process for film development using a dry plate. This process was significantly successful for the family business, permitting the opening of a new factory with an eventual production of 15 million plates per year. Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope inspired his and his brother's subsequent work on the cinematograph. Louis Lumière is most often associated with his brother, Auguste Lumière, under the name of the Lumière brothers. This comparison is a little excessive with regard to the invention of the cinematograph, since in reality, Auguste failed in his attempt to manufacture the first machine and passed it to his brother who made the invention succeed. On the other hand, Louis was also the director of all the first animated photographic views of the Lumière Society, which Auguste sometimes attended only as an amateur actor (Le Repas de bébé, La Pêche aux poissons rouges, Démolition d'un mur, etc.). But the contract signed between the two brothers provided that they be systematically associated, both morally and financially, in all their work and discoveries.
Identity
Identity
Louis Lumière is recorded as inventor, engineer, photographer, entrepreneur and chemist.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1948
Louis Lumière died at Bandol.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Besançon.
Birth place
Bandol.
Death place
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Louis Lumière, revision 1366650548 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1962284: Louis LumièreWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
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