Born in 1830, Eadweard Muybridge made a name for himself as
a skilled photographer and inventor, and, in a sense, inadvertently became a
vital component, not only in the establishment of film, but also of traditional
animation. After having been
acquitted for the murder of his wife’s paramour (!!!), Muybridge made a
revolutionary discovery in aid of the capturing of motion on film; a process
which provided the foundations for an as-of-yet undiscovered industry – that of
motion pictures.
Born Edward James Muggeridge, Muybridge immigrated to
America at the age of twenty, to work as a bookseller in New York. He later
relocated to San Francisco, and developed an intense interest in photography. During
a business trip, he was injured in a stage coach accident, resulting in a
notable behavioural alteration, which modern neurologists claim might have led
to his eccentricity in later life. After having recovered, he took up
photography full-time. He most famously photographed Yosemite Valley, amongst
other panoramic landscape scenes.
In the late 1800s, California Governor Leland Stanford
contacted him in aid of research into whether all four hooves of a horse left
the surface at any one time. Since this could not be observed by the naked eye,
photography posed a potential solution. In 1872, Muybridge experimented
sequential photography with a total of twelve cameras. In 1875, he shot and
killed his wife’s paramour, Major Harry Larkyns, believing that he had fathered
their son. Remarkably, Muybridge was acquitted, on the grounds that his actions
were somehow justified. Astoundingly unfazed, he resolved to continue his work,
and in 1879 he managed to perfect his galloping sequence (entitled Phases of a Stride by a Pony While Cantering
and, alternatively, The Horse in Motion),
concluding that all four hooves did indeed leave the ground.
 |
| The Horse in Motion |
Between 1883 and 1886, he attended the University of
Pennsylvania, producing a vast quantity of similar sequential photographic
material, capturing animals and humans in motion. In 1879, he invented the zoopraxiscope,
considered by many to be a prototypical device for the projection of moving
pictures. He toured Europe and North America, presenting his device to the
masses, in addition to publishing a number of books on the subject of motion
capture.
Muybridge died in 1904, at his cousin’s house, having laid
the foundations for motion capture – establishing him as a significant figure in
the development of film and animation.
Sources:
Biography.com: Eadward
Muybridge Biography: http://www.biography.com/people/eadweard-muybridge-9419513#personal-life-and-death
Tate: Eadward
Mutbridge: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/eadweard-muybridge
Wild Film History:
http://www.wildfilmhistory.org/person/180/Eadweard+Muybridge.html
Image
Sources:
Meet the Art – Eadweard
Muybridge Photographs of Motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYKZif9ooxs
No comments:
Post a Comment