Eadweard Muybridge – and bringing movement back to life
An English photographer based in the United States, Eadweard Muybridge specialised in landscapes, monuments, ships, and horses. In order to photograph the latter while they were moving at a gallop, he developed a system which made it possible to set off a series of cameras one after another, and obtained a patent for it in 1878.
In 1872, Muybridge met Lelan Stanford, former Governor of California, who had a passion for horses. In order to satisfy Stanford’s wish for “a series of pictures showing every component part of the horse’s gallop”, Muybridge set up 12 cameras which a horse would set off one by one while it was galloping, by breaking threads linked to electromagnetic shutters in the cameras. He submitted a patent for this system in July 1878, and sold his photographs as well as zootrope and praxinoscope adaptors which he devised in his San Francisco workshop.
From 1879, the photographer extended his observations both to other animals and to humans, this time using 24 cameras. The international press published glowing accounts of his work.
From the start of 1880, Muybridge began to employ projection to present his images. He did not project his photographs directly, preferring to use images which he painted onto a glass disc. Muybridge then organised public projection meetings, and from 1881, embarked on a tour of Europe.
From 1884, Muybridge worked at the University of Pennsylvania. There, he enjoyed much-needed support, and could devote himself wholeheartedly to his life’s great work, “Animal Locomotion, an electro-photographic investigation of consecutives phases of animal movements”, which came out in 1887.
