Art Art &Commentary 24 Jul 2006 07:31 am
All Things Muybridge
Eadward Muybridge is the original source for many animators.
His photographs in 1878 indicate the animation of a horse in its gait. These were the first indication of the ability to capture stills of motion, and it was the precurser of animation and all the devices that would lead to the motion picture.
I was surprised to learn that animators weren’t the only artists who visited the work of Muybridge. A Degas exhibit at NY’s Metropolitan Museum of Art once displayed several bronze statues of a horse by Degas placed in front of Muybridge’s photos. We know that Degas had copies of the photographs and sculpted them exactly.
Several books have long been in publication which print the collection of these many sequential photographs. They are available on amazon.
(Click image to enlarge.)
A number of sites focus on Muybridge’s art and give a good sampling of his work.
- The National Museum of American History gives us Freeze frame offers a short history of Muybridge, a sampling of his work, and even some placed photos creating animated clips.
- Temple University offers Eadward Muybridge, with a timeline, bio, and 22 photographic plates.
- The Royal Kingston library offers the Eadward Muybridge Bequest. Here’s a complete list and a rich sampling of all the photographer’s photos.
- The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has posted 36 plates from the Muybridge photographic collection.
- Two photo plates have been positioned to animate in a flash piece on the site, Tall Skinny.
- The french physiologist and chronophotographer, Etienne-Jules Marey, followed the work of Muybridge but wanted to do more precise work. You can find out about him at Momi-chronophotography.
Changing the subject slightly – Boxoffice Mojo offers us a breakdown of computer animated films, as they compare the box office receipts of them all. That same page lists upcoming computer animated films, including several unfamiliar to me.
You can also compare Cars‘ stateside grosses to other Pixar films, on a week-by-week basis at this page.
- Speaking of Cars, Daniel Thomas McInnes on his site Conversations On Ghibli points out a reference to Miyazaki by John Lasseter in his film. Astute observation.
