Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Following a successful series of lectures based on these early sequences
of Occident and other horses, Muybridge's work progressed within the
Veterinary Department at the University of Pennsylvania. There Muybridge's
extensive exploration into the movement of humans and animals would
provide the world with the first substantial photographic body of work on
action analysis.
Although Muybridge published his work in extensive, and rather expensive,
portfolios, he never reaped the great financial rewards his ground-breaking
work deserved. A mark of the importance of Muybridge's work is that it
has remained in print to this day. His influence on artists, animators, and
filmmakers is difficult to overstate, and although the poor quality of some of
the images makes analysis rather difficult, they nonetheless continue to make
a valuable contribution to the study of motion.
Étienne-Jules Marey was a contemporary of Muybridge. The work of this
French physiologist also dealt with the analysis of motion, but it had very
different roots. Born in 1830 in Beaune, Burgundy, Marey came from a purely
scientific background. His early work was concerned with blood circulation
and cardiovascular research. His first efforts into motion study were to record
movement through the mechanical and graphic representation of that
movement. The
sphygmograph
(pulse writer) of 1860 was a highly sensitive
device that could register and record the pulse in the wrist of the person
wearing it. The mechanical clockwork action of the sphygmograph, coupled
to a stylus, provided a graphic readout of the pulse. From these early graphs
Marey was able to analyze the heart condition of the patient on which it was
used. His work in this field gained wide acceptance in clinical circles, and his
research soon found practical applications.
Marey's work then progressed from cardiovascular research into the
investigation of the movement of muscles and the measurement of fatigue.
Once again, he created a number of instruments for recording through
graphic means of movement within both the human body and those of
animals. He also created a series of artificial animals and organs, including
an artificial heart, lungs, and circulatory system; a mechanical insect; and
a mechanical bird. As with his earlier devices, each registered the object's
movements through graphic readouts.
As a result of seeing Muybridge's work, Marey began to explore the use of
photography in his research. Unlike Muybridge, who used multiple cameras,
Marey worked with a single camera and began to develop a single high-speed
camera capable of capturing the motion of birds. This device became the
now-famous
photographic gun
. The intricate mechanics of the gun provided
by highly skilled watchmakers enabled him to capture the first high-speed
photography of birds in flight.
Marey chose to use the process of
chronophotography
for the study of the
dynamics of the human figure in motion. This process entails capturing
multiple images on a single frame of film, creating the necessary sequence
