While Muybridge and Eakins were pushing the bounds of photography in 1880s Philadelphia, a group of Frenchmen in and around Paris were doing the same. We've already looked at the medical and anatomical photos of Paul Richer and Albert Londe, as well as the athletic work of Professor Desbonnet. Today we look at the motion studies of Etienne-Jules Marey and the apparatus he invented and called the Chronophotographic Gun. (One model even had a stock like a rifle.) Marey was also a physiologist, so a good portion of his work shows off male anatomy. Shown above in his lab, he collaborated at one point with Thomas Edison. Today we will look at ten of his images.
Marey notre Muybridge.
ReplyDeleteMotion studies were a result of concerns of human health and conditioning. At this time diseases like malaria and tuberculosis were a scourge in Europe, and the governments and militaries were concerned about the poor health and fitness of recruits, thus began the work of men like Marey.
Health and conditioning were indeed behind much of this work. Londe and Richer documented that in many photos, some of which are almost shccking in their explicitness.
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