Erotic depictions of sexual acts are as old as civilization. Erotic depictions include paintings, sculptures, photographs, music and writings that show scenes of a sexual nature. Though pornography is included, the concept of pornography as understood today did not exist until the Victorian era. Its current definition was added in the 1860s, replacing the older one meaning writings about prostitutes.[1] It first appeared in an English medical dictionary in 1857 defined as "A description of prostitutes or of prostitution, as a matter of public hygiene." Within 5 years though, the second, obscene definition appeared in Webster's Dictionary. "Licentious painting or literature; especially, the painting anciently employed to decorate the walls of rooms devoted to bacchanalian orgies."[2] Previous to that time, though some sex acts were regulated or stipulated in laws, looking at objects or images depicting them was not. In some cases, certain books, engravings or image collections were outlawed, but the trend to compose laws that restricted viewing of sexually explicit things in general was a Victorian construct.
When large scale excavations of Pompeii were undertaken in the 1860s, much of the erotic art of the Romans came to light, shocking the Victorians who saw themselves as the intellectual heirs of the Roman Empire. They did not know what to do with the frank depictions of sexuality, and endeavored to hide them away from everyone but upper class scholars. The movable objects were locked away in the Secret Museum in Naples, Italy and what couldn't be removed was covered and cordoned off as to not corrupt the sensibilities of women, children and the working class. Soon after, England's (and the world's first) laws criminalizing pornography was enacted with the passage of the Obscene Publications Act of 1857.[2] The Victorian attitude that pornography was for a select, male, educated few can be glimpsed in the wording of the Hicklin test stemming from a court case in 1868 where it asks, "whether the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences." Despite their repression, depictions of erotic imagery are common throughout history, and remain so.[3]
Early depictions
Among the oldest surviving examples of erotic depictions are Paleolithic cave paintings and carvings. Some of the more common images to be found are of animals, hunting scenes and depictions of human genitalia (thought to be fertility symbols). Nude human beings with exaggerated sexual characteristics are depicted in some Paleolithic paintings and artifacts (e.g. Venus figurines). Recently discovered cave art at Creswell Crags in England, thought to be over 12,000 years old, includes some symbols that may be stylized versions of female genitalia. However there is no indication that these were made for erotic stimulation, so it is far more likely that these were objects used in religious rituals.[4]
Archaeologists in Germany reported in April 2005 that they had found what they believe is a 7,200-year-old scene depicting a male figurine bending over a female figurine in a manner suggestive of sexual intercourse. The male figure has been named Adonis von Zschernitz.[5] However, it is not certain that the purpose of these artifacts was individual sexual arousal. Instead, the images may have had a spiritual significance and are probably connected with fertility rituals.
The ancient Greeks often painted sexual scenes on their ceramics, many of them famous for being some of the earliest depictions of same-sex relations and pederasty.
There are numerous sexually explicit paintings on the walls of ruined Roman buildings in Pompeii and Herculaneum but the original purposes of the depictions can vary.
On one hand, in the "Villa of the Mysteries", there is a ritual flagellation scene that is clearly associated with a religious cult. This can be seen as religious rather than sexual. On the other hand graphic paintings in a brothel advertise various sexual services in murals above each door. In Pompeii, phalli and testicles engraved in the sidewalks were created to aid visitors in finding their way by pointing to the prostitution and entertainment district. The Romans considered depictions of sex to be decoration in good taste, and indeed the pictures reflect the sexual mores and practices of their culture. Sex acts that were considered taboo (such as those that defiled the purity of the mouth) were depicted in baths for comic effect only. Phalluses were often used near entryways, for the phallus was seen as a good luck charm, and the carvings were common in every home. One of the first objects excavated when the complex was discovered was a marble statue showing the god Pan having sex with a goat, a detailed depiction of bestiality considered so obscene that it is not on public display to this day and remains in the Secret Museum in Naples.[2]
The Moche of Peru are another ancient people that sculpted explicit scenes of sex into their pottery. Their purpose however, was much different that that of other early cultures. The Moche believed that the world of the dead was the exact opposite of the world of the living. Therefore, for funeral offerings, they made vessels showing sex acts such as masturbation, fellatio and anal sex that would not result in offspring. The hope was that in the world of the dead, they would take on their opposite meaning and result in fertility.[2]
There has been a long tradition of erotic painting in the east. Unencumbered by Christian dogma, Japan, China, India, Persia and other lands produced copious quantities of art celebrating the human faculty of love. The works depict love between men and women as well as same-sex love. In Japan, the erotic art found its greatest flowering in the medium of the woodblock prints. The style is known as shunga (春画 pictures of spring) and some of its classic practitioners (e.g. Harunobu, Utamaro) produced a large numbers of works. Painted hand scrolls were also very popular. Shunga appeared in the 13th century and continued to grow in popularity until the 19th century when photography was invented.[6] The Chinese tradition of the erotic was also extensive, with examples of the art dating back as far as the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). The erotic art of China reached its peak during the latter part of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).[7]
Erotic scenes in medieval illuminated manuscripts were also common but meant only for those who could afford the extremely expensive hand made books. Most of these drawings occur in the margins of books of hours. Some think that the pictures satisfied the medieval cravings for both erotic pictures and religion in one book, especially since it was often the only book someone owned. Others think the drawings in the margins were a kind of moral caution, but the depiction of priests and other ranking officials engaged in sex acts suggests political origins as well.[2]
It was not until the invention of the printing press that sexually explicit images entered into any type of mass circulation. Before that time, erotic images, being hand made and expensive and were limited to upper class males who deliberately kept them away from the working class, fearing the effect such things would have on the animal lust of the uneducated. Even the British Museum had a Secretum filled a collection of ancient erotica donated by the upper class doctor, George Witt in 1865. The remains of the collection, including his scrapbooks, still reside in Cupboard 55, though the majority of it has recently been integrated with the museum's other collections. The secrecy was thought neccesary to prevent the corruption of women, children and most importantly, the lower classes as they were considered morally unfit to view such things.[8]
The beginnings of mass circulation
Printing
in the sixteenth century an attempt to print erotic material caused a scandal when Italians Pietro Aretino and Marcantonio Raimondi, produced the I Modi in 1524, an illustrated book of 16 "postures" or sexual positions. Raimondi had actually published the I Modi once before, and was subsequently imprisoned by the Pope Clement VII and all copies of the illustrations were destroyed. Raimondi based the engravings on a series of erotic paintings that Giulio Romano was doing as a commission for the Palazzo del Te in Mantua. Though the two depictions were very similar, only Raimondi was prosecuted because his engravings were capable of being seen by the public. Romano didn't know of the engravings until Aretino came to see the original paintings while Romano was still working on them. He then composed 16 explicit sonnets ("both in your pussy and your behind, my cock will make me happy, and you happy and blissful") to go with the paintings and secured Raimondi's release from prison. The I Modi was then published again with the poems and the pictures making this the first time erotic text and images were combined, though the papacy once more seized all the copies it could find. Raimondi escaped prison that time, but for nearly 400 years, whispers of the text circulated. The censorship was so complete that no original copies have ever been found.[2][9]
In the 17th century, a large number of examples of pornographic or erotic literature began to circulate, mostly printed in Amsterdam, and smuggled into various European states. These included L'Ecole des Filles a French work printed in 1655 that is considered to be the beginnings of pornography in France. It consists of an illustrated dialogue between two women, a 16 year old and her more worldly cousin and their explicit discussions about sex. The author remains anonymous to this day, though a few suspected authors served light prison sentences for supposed authorship of the work.[10] In his famous diary, Samuel Pepys records purchasing a copy for solitary reading and then burning it so that it would not be discovered by his wife; "the idle roguish book, L'escholle de filles; which I have bought in plain binding...because I resolve, as soon as I have read it, to burn it."[11]
During the Enlightenment, many of the French free-thinkers began to exploit pornography as a medium of social criticism and satire. Libertine pornography was a subversive social commentary and often targeted the Catholic church and general attitudes of sexual repression. The market for the mass produced, inexpensive pamphlets soon became the bourgeoisie, making the upper class worry, as in England, that the morals of the lower class and weak-minded would be corrupted since women, slaves and the uneducated were seen as especially vulnerable during that time. The stories and illustrations (sold in the galleries of the Palais Royal, along with services of prostitutes) were often anti-clerical, full of misbehaving priests, monks and nuns, a tradition that in French pornography continued into the twentieth century. In the period leading up to the French Revolution, pornography was also used as political commentary and Marie Antoinette was often targeted, with fantasies involving her and the Ladies in Waiting while additionally much was made of the supposed sexual inadequacies of Louis XVI.[10][12] During and after revolution, the famous works of the Marquis de Sade were printed. They were often accompanied by illustrations and served as political commentary for their author.[13]
The English answer to this was Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (later abridged and renamed Fanny Hill) written in 1748 by John Cleland. While the text satirised the literary conventions and fashionable manners of 18th century England, it was more scandalous for depicting a woman, the narrator, enjoying and even reveling in sexual acts with no dire moral or physical consequences. The text is hardly explicit as Cleland wrote the entire book using euphemisms for sex acts and body parts, employing 50 different ones just for the term penis. Two small earthquakes were credited to the book by the Bishop of London and Cleland was arrested and briefly imprisoned, but Fanny Hill continued to be published and is one of the most reprinted books in the English language. However, it was not legal to own this book in the United States until 1963 and in the United Kingdom until 1970.[14]
Photography
In 1839, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre presented the first practical process of photography to the French Academy of Sciences.[15] Unlike earlier photographic methods, his daguerreotypes had stunning quality and detail and did not fade with time. The new technology did not go unnoticed by artists eager for new ways to depict the undraped feminine form. Traditionally, an académie was a nude study done by a painter to master the female (or male) form. Each to be registered with the French government and approved or they could not be sold. Soon, nude photographs were being registered as académie and marketed as aids to painters. However, the realism of a photograph as opposed to the idealism of a painting made many of these intrinsically erotic. In Nude photography, 1840–1920, Peter Marshall notes: "In the prevailing moral climate at the time of the invention of photography, the only officially sanctioned photography of the body was for the production of artist's studies. Many of the surviving examples of daguerreotypes are clearly not in this genre but have a sensuality that clearly implies they were designed as erotic or pornographic images."[2][16]
The daguerreotypes were not without drawbacks, however. The main difficulty was that they could only be reproduced by photographing the original picture since each image was an original and the all metal process does not use negatives. In addition, the earliest daguerreotypes had exposure times ranging from three to fifteen minutes, making them somewhat impractical for portraiture. Unlike earlier drawings, action could not be shown. The poses that the models struck had to be held very still for a long time. Because of this, the standard pornographic image shifted from one of two or more people engaged in sex acts to a solitary woman exposing her genitals. Since one picture could cost a week's salary, the audience for these nudes mostly consisted of artists and the upper echelon of society. It was cheaper to hire a prostitute and experience the sex acts than it was to own a picture of them in the 1840s.[2] The next advance, stereoscopy, was invented in 1838 and became extremely popular for daguerreotypes, including the erotic images. This technology produced a type of three dimensional view that suited erotic images quite well since one could look into more of the photograph.[17] While thousands of erotic daguerreotypes were created, only around 800 are known to survive but their uniqueness and expense meant that they were rich men's toys in their time. Today, due to their rarity the can sell for 10,000 GBP or more.[2]
In 1841, William Fox Talbot patented the calotype process, the first negative-positive process, making possible multiple copies.[18] This invention permitted an almost limitless number of prints to be produced from a glass negative. Also, the reduction in exposure time made a true mass market for pornographic pictures possible. The technology was immediately employed to reproduce nude portraits. Paris soon became the centre of this trade. In 1848 only 13 photography studios existed in Paris but by 1860 there were over 400. Nearly all of them profited by selling illicit pornography to the masses who could now afford it. The pictures were also sold near train stations, by traveling salesman and even by women in the streets who had them secreted away under their dresses. They were often produced in sets (of 4, 8 or 12), and exported all over the world, though mainly to England and the United States. Both the models and the photographers were commonly from the working class, and the artistic model excuse was increasingly hard to use. By 1855, no more photographic nudes were being registered as académie, and the business had gone underground to escape prosecution.[2]
The Victorian pornographic tradition in Britain had three main elements. There were, of course, French photographs; erotic prints (sold in shops in Holywell Street, a long vanished London thoroughfare, swept away by the Aldwych); and printed literature. The ability to reproduce photographs en masse assisted the rise of a new business individual, the porn dealer. Many of these dealers took advantage of the postal system to send out photographic cards in plain wrappings to their subscribers. The development of a reliable international postal system thus facilitated the beginnings of the pornography trade. Victorian pornography had a number of defining characteristics. It reflected a very mechanistic view of the human anatomy and its functions. Science, the new obsession, was used to ostensibly study the human body. Consequently, the sexuality of the subject is often depersonalised, and is without any passion or tenderness. At this time, it also became popular to depict nude photographs of women of exotic ethnicities, under the umbrella of science. Studies of this type can be found in the work of Eadweard Muybridge. Though he photographed both men and women, the women were often given props like market baskets and fishing poles, making the images of women thinly disguised erotica.[2]
Magazines
In 1880, halftone printing was used to reproduce photographs inexpensively for the first time.[15] The invention of halftone printing took pornography and erotica in new directions at the turn of the century. The new printing processes allowed photographic images to be reproduced easily in black and white whereas previously printers were limited to engravings, woodcuts and line cuts for illustrations.[19] This was the first format that allowed pornography to become a mass market phenomena, it now being more affordable and more easily acquired than any previous form. [2]
First appearing in France, the new magazines featuring nude (often, Burlesque actresses were hired as models) and semi-nude photographs on the cover and throughout, would now be termed soft core but were quite shocking for the time. The publications soon either masqueraded as "art magazines" or publications celebrating the new cult of naturism, with titles such as, Photo Bits, Body in Art, Figure Photography, Nude Living and Modern Art for Men.[2] Health and Efficiency, started in 1900, was a typical naturist magazine in Britain. [20]
Another early form of pornography was comic books known as Tijuana bibles that began appearing in the U.S. in the 1920s and lasted until the publishing of glossy color men's magazines commenced. These were crude hand drawn scenes often using popular characters from cartoons and culture.[21]
In the 1940s, the word "pinup" was coined to describe the pictures from men's magazines or calendars torn out and "pinned up" on the wall by U.S. soldiers in WWII. While the 40s images focused mostly on legs, by the 50s, the focus turned to breasts. Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe were two of the most popular pinup models. In the second half of the 20th century, pornography evolved into the men's magazines such as Playboy and Modern Man of the 1950s. In fact, the beginning of the modern men's glossy magazine (or girlie magazine) can be traced to the 1953 purchase by Hugh Hefner of a photograph of the then Norma Jeane Baker (later Marilyn Monroe) to use as the centerfold of his new magazine Playboy. Soon, this type of magazine was the standard method in which pornography was consumed.[22]
These magazines featured nude or semi-nude women, sometimes apparently engaging in the act of masturbation, although their genitals or pubic hair were not actually displayed. Penthouse, started by Bob Guccione in England in 1965 took a different approach. Women were photographed not looking directly at the camera, but as if they were going about their private idles. This change of emphasis was influential in erotic depictions of women. Penthouse was also the first magazine to publish pictures that included pubic hair and full frontal nudity, both of which were considered past the bounds of erotic and into the realm of pornography at the time (1970). In the late 1960s magazines had begun to move into more explicit displays often focusing on the buttocks as standards of what could be legally depicted and what readers wanted to see changed. By the 1970s they were focusing on the pubic area and eventually, by the 1990s, featured sexual penetration, lesbianism and homosexuality, group sex, masturbation, and fetishes in the more hard-core magazines such as Hustler.[2][22]
Magazines for every taste and fetish soon came into being due to the low cost of producing them. Magazines for the gay community flourished also, the most notable and one of the first being Physique Pictorial, started in 1951 by Bob Mizer when his attempt to sell the services of male models through Athletic Model Guild photographs of them failed. It was published in black and white, in a very clear yet photographic manner celebrating the male form and was published for nearly 50 years. The magazine was innovative in its use of props and costumes to depict the now standard gay icons like cowboys, gladiators and sailors.[2][23]
Moving pictures
The next technological advance that affected the way people view erotic depictions was the invention of the motion picture. William Laurie Dickson, an employee of Thomas Edison, invented the first practical celluloid film for this application and decided on 35mm for the size, a standard still used today. He then worked on making the kinetoscope, a peep show machine showing a continuous loop of the film Dickson invented lit by an Edison light source. This was the predecessor to the motion picture projector.[24]
Dickson left Edison's employ and formed his own company that produced the mutoscope, a form of hand cranked peep show movie machine. These machines produced moving images by means of a revolving drum of mutoscope card illustrations, taken from an actual piece of film. They were often featured at seaside locations, showing (usually) sequences of women undressing or acting as an artist's model. In Britain, they became known as "What the butler saw" machines, taking the name from one of the first and most famous softcore reels.[25][26]
The idea of projecting a moving film onto a screen in front of an audience was a European invention. In 1895, both Robert W. Paul and Auguste and Louis Lumière gave their first public demonstrations of motion picture projectors.[27] Pornographic movies were produced almost immediately after the medium was invented. Two of the earliest pioneers were Eugène Pirou and Albert Kirchner, who directed the earliest surviving pornographic film for Pirou under the trade name "Léar". The 1896 film, Le Coucher de la Marie showed Mlle. Louise Willy performing a striptease. Oddly enough, Kirchner is chiefly remembered by film historians as the first man to produce a film of the life of Christ, the Passion du Christ. Pirou's film inspired a whole genre of risqué French films showing women disrobing when other filmmakers realised profits could be made. [28][29]
As Pirou is nearly unkown as a pornographic filmmaker, credit is often given to other films for being the first. According to Patrick Robertson's Film Facts, "the earliest pornographic motion picture which can definitely be dated is A L'Ecu d'Or ou la bonne auberge" made in France in 1908; the plot depicts a weary soldier who has a tryst with a servant girl at an inn. The Argentinian El Satario might be even older; it has been dated to somewhere between 1907 and 1912. He also notes that "the oldest surviving pornographic films are contained in America's Kinsey Collection. One film demonstrates how early pornographic conventions were established. The German film Am Abend (1910) is "a ten-minute film which begins with a woman masturbating alone in her bedroom, and progresses to scenes of her with a man performing straight sex, fellatio and anal penetration."[30]
The first explicitly pornographic film with a plot that received a general theatrical release in the U.S. is generally considered to be Mona (also known as Mona the Virgin Nymph), a 59-minute 1970 feature by Bill Osco and Howard Ziehm, who went on to create the relatively high-budget hardcore/softcore (depending on the release) cult film Flesh Gordon.
The 1971 film Boys in the Sand represented a number of pornographic firsts. It was the first generally available gay pornographic movie. It was the first porn film to include on-screen credits for its cast and crew (albeit largely under pseudonyms). It was the first porn film to parody the title of a mainstream movie (in this case, The Boys in the Band). And it is the only X-rated pornographic film to be reviewed by The New York Times.
The post-war era saw a number of developments that further stimulated the growth of a mass market.
Technological developments, particularly the introduction of the 8-mm and super-8 film gauges, resulted in the widespread use of amateur cinematography. A number of entrepreneurs emerged to supply this market. In Britain, the productions of Harrison Marks were "soft core", but considered risque in the 1950s. On the continent, such films were more explicit. Lasse Braun can be mentioned as a pioneer in quality colour productions. Interestingly enough, in the early days, these were distributed by making use of his father's diplomatic privileges.
The relaxation or abolition of censorship in the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries in the 1960s led to an explosion of commercially produced pornography. Now that being a pornographer was a legitimate occupation, there was no shortage of businessmen to invest in proper plant and equipment capable of turning out a mass-produced, cheap, but quality product. Vast amounts of this new pornography, both magazines and films, were smuggled into other parts of Europe, where it was sold "under the counter" or (sometimes) shown in "members only" cinema clubs.
Digital depictions
The invention of widely available technology such as digital cameras both moving and still has blurred the lines between erotic movies and photographs, allows easy access to both formats and making the production of them easily achieved by amatures. The digital media allows photographers and filmakers to manipulate images in ways previously not possible, heightening the drama or eroticism of a depiction.[2]
See also
References
- ^ Sigel, Lisa (2002). Governing Pleasures. Pornography and Social Change in England, 1815–1914. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-3001-6.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Marilyn Chambers, John Leslie, Seymore Butts (2005). Pornography: The Secret History of Civilization (DVD). Koch Vision.
{{cite AV media}}: External link in|title= - ^ Beck, Marianna (May 2003). "The Roots of Western Pornography: Victorian Obsessions and Fin-de-Siècle Predilections". Libido, The Journal of Sex and Sensibility. Retrieved 2006-08-22.
- ^ Pickrell, John (Aug, 18 2004). "Unprecedented Ice Age Cave Art Discovered in U.K." Nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved 2006-08-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Krysia Diver. "Archaeologist finds 'oldest porn statue'". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2006-08-21.
- ^ "Shunga". Japanese art net and architecture users system. 2001. Retrieved 2006-08-23.
- ^ Bertholet, L.C.P. (October, 1997). Dreams of Spring: Erotic Art in China : From the Bertholet Collection. Pepin Press. ISBN 9054960396.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Giamster, David (September 2000). "Sex and Sensibility at the British Museum". History Today. 50 (9). History Today: 10–15. Retrieved 2006-10-16.
- ^ Lawner, Lynne ed. (1989). I Modi: The Sixteen Pleasures : An Erotic Album of the Italian Renaissance. Northwestern University Press. ISBN 0810108038.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help) - ^ a b Beck, Marianna (Dec 2003). "The Roots of Western Pornography: The French Enlightenment Takes on Sex". Libido, The Journal of Sex and Sensibility. Retrieved 2006-08-22.
- ^ Latham, Robert ed. (1985). The Shorter Pepys. University of California Press. ISBN 0520034260.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help) - ^ Beck, Marianna (Feb 2003). "The Roots of Western Pornography: The French Revolution and the Spread of Politically-Motivated Pornography". Libido, The Journal of Sex and Sensibility. Retrieved 2006-08-22.
- ^ Beck, Marianna (March 2003). "The Roots of Western Pornography: The Marquis de Sade's Twisted Parody of Life". Libido, The Journal of Sex and Sensibility. Retrieved 2006-08-22.
- ^ Beck, Marianna (Jan 2003). "The Roots of Western Pornography: England Bites Back With Fanny Hill". Libido, The Journal of Sex and Sensibility. Retrieved 2006-08-22.
- ^ a b Cross, J.M. (2001-02-04). "Nineteenth-Century Photography: A Timeline". the Victorian Web. Retrieved 2006-08-23.
- ^ Marshall, Peter. "Nude photography, 1840-1920". About.com. Retrieved 2006-08-23.
- ^ "Stereoscopy.com FAQ". Stereoscopy.com. Retrieved 2006-08-23.
- ^ Schaaf, Larry (1999). "The Calotype Process". Glasgow University Library. Retrieved 2006-08-23.
- ^ St. John, Kristen (June 1997). "Guided Tour of Print Processes: Black and White Reproduction". Stanford library. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "About H&E Naturist". Retrieved 2006-10-10.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|Publisher=ignored (|publisher=suggested) (help) - ^ Adelman, Bob (September 1, 1997). Tijuana Bibles: Art and Wit in America's Forbidden Funnies, 1930s-1950s. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 160. ISBN 0684834618.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Gabor, Mark (February 27, 1984). The Illustrated History of Girlie Magazines. New York: Random House Value Publishing. ISBN 0517549972.
- ^ Bianco, David. "Physique Magazines". PlanetOut.com. Retrieved 2006-10-10.
- ^ Carr, Jack (March 23, 2002). "Adventures in motion pictures". The Scotsman magazine. Retrieved 2006-10-16.
- ^ "History". American Mutoscope & Biograph Co. 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-16.
- ^ "Let's Go to the Movies: The Mechanics of Moving Images". Museum of American Heritage. Sept. 17 2001. Retrieved 2006-10-16.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Pioneers of Early Cinema: 5" (PDF). Information Sheet 5.3.43. National Mueseum of Photograpy, Film and Television. 2000. Retrieved 2006-10-16.
- ^ Bottomore, Stephen (1996). "Léar (Albert Kirchner)". Who's Who of Victorian Cinema (British Film Institute). Retrieved 2006-10-15.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Bottomore, Stephen (1996). "Eugène Pirou". Who's Who of Victorian Cinema (British Film Institute). Retrieved 2006-10-15.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Robertson, Patrick (Dec. 2001). Film Facts. Billboard Books. p. 256. ISBN 0823079430.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
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