The Magic Lantern : A Short History of Light and Shadow

In recent years projection mapping, public viewing, etc., has meant that the act of watching images in the company of other people has become more common, but when and how did this first become established in society? The concept of using a projector to shine an image on a screen or wall dates back long before the invention of modern cinema to the invention of the magic lantern; this was the earliest form of projector and its popularity soon spread around the world. In this exhibition we will look at the history of imagery from the viewpoint of projection history to shine a light on a new aspect of image history.
The Tokyo Photographic Art Museum possesses a large collection of items connected with the early days of imagery, including various magic lanterns and other apparatus or materials dating back to before the birth of the cinema.
In Japan, devices employing light and shadow to create a beautiful, mysterious world have a long history and are known of familiarly by a variety of names, such as utsushi-e (shadowgraph), nishiki kage-e (colored shadow pictures),
gento (magic lantern), etc. Source: topmuseum.jp