Nineteenth-century photographer Eadweard Muybridge’s work is best known for motion studies of animals and humans. Railroad baron and politician Leland Stanford commissioned photos of his horse, Occident, in 1872, to see if a horse kept all four hooves on the ground when it ran. Muybridge went on to do more motion studies of subjects, photographing them from multiple angles simultaneously, to show them in a single moment of action.
These famous photos are included in the SFMOMA’s new show, Helios:Eadweard Muybridge in a Time of Change, opening February 26 and running through June 7. But Philip Brookman, the chief curator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, who organized the exhibit, says there is far more to Muybridge’s legacy and he’s glad this exhibit will show viewers the photographer’s range and invention, with his photos of the Modoc Wars, Yosemite and his key role in the development of motion pictures.
“He redefined how we interpret time and space and changed how we see and relate to the world,” Brookman said.
Muybridge influenced artists including Philip Glass, Francis Bacon, and Marcel Duchamp, and the principles of his photography were used to create the slow motion technique in the movie The Matrix, Brookman said.
Brookman added that Muybridge, born in England, had a special connection with San Francisco, where he began his career and lived a good portion of his life.
Comments