Life and work of Eadweard Muybridge

Abstract

Sometimes called 'The father of the motion picture,' Eadweard Muybridge made an unforgettable contribution to the development and progress of photographic science. This Paper traces his life, from his birth in England in 1830, through his development as a photographer in the United States, his acknowledgement as a photographic pioneer in America and Europe and his latter years until his death in England in 1904. It concentrates on his work in the USA during which time he pioneered his famous series of studies of animals and human beings in motion. These were carried out in two main periods, firstly in California under the patronage of Stanford and then later at the University of Pennsylvania where further sponsorship funds became available. As with all good experimentalists he steadily improved both his methods and equipment. He not only developed the methods of obtaining multiple sequential photographs of moving subjects, but also went on to invent the Zoopraxiscope by which these photographs could be projected to produce an early form of quasi-cine viewing. During his most productive years in the United States, he took thousands of pictures covering an enormous variety of animal and human motion. Many of his photographs were published in collected form and, unlike many early photographers whose work was lost or destroyed after their deaths, his work can still be studied as an indispensable aid to artists and physiologists.