Don't ask me why, but as I was posting this, I stopped a moment and realized that I would really like to know this rather ordinary man getting into a chair. What did he do for a living? Did he have a family? What made him agree to pose nude for Muybrdge? From Plate 236.
The man is like the chair is like the action--each is elemental and the nudity is appropriate to the focus on the simple situation, one we all indulge in all the time, "stripped" to its essentials. Here it's like a poem in two lovely, undecorated stanzas. IMHO. Though I might argue that this man is lifted from the ordinary by the fact that he has been photographed by a famous man sitting down naked, and we're still appreciating him today--nothing too ordinary about that! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. Being in these photos is a form of immortality, even if we don't know all their names.
DeleteIn his Catalog of Plates, Muybridge identified the models only by number. This is model 31. I have been able to find names for some of the models, but model 31 is still anonymous, so your questions about him may have to go unanswered.
ReplyDeleteFascinating, as to how this may have played out at the time. A volunteer on the day? An assistant who fancied having a go? Did he tell his family? Good to see another mister average being represented.
ReplyDeleteMy guess would be a recruit. I read just yesterday that Muybridge and/or his assistants went around the neighborhood of the studio asking residents and tradesmen to pose. Now that's a pitch I would love to hear.
DeleteGet me a time machine...
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