The Horse in Motion ("Sallie Gardner"), June 1878 by Eadweard Muybridge
(click in the image for a larger version)
We were snowed in yesterday with over a foot of snow that blocked our road and left us without power for most of the day. It was a good opportunity to step away from the scheduled rush of an ordinary work day, spend some time with the family and enjoy the winter wonderland all around us. It was also a good day for reading and by the soft, snow-reflected window light aumented by a few candles, I took the time to finish a very good book: River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West
(Penguin, 2004) by Rebecca Solnit. This is a fascinating exploration of Muybridge's time in California and his ground breaking images that captured the unseen realm of motion by freezing high-speed movement photographically for the first time. Solnit's writing touches on the history of photography and California with San Francisco, Yosemite, Leland Stanford's Palo Alto Ranch and the stark lava beds of the Modoc Indian War providing the backdrop for Muybridge's pioneering work in California. In addition to Muybridge, railroad baron and former governor Leland Stanford also figures prominently in the book and Solnit advances the idea that Muybridge's motion studies and Stanford's creation of the university that bears his name laid the groundwork for the development of both motion pictures and the thriving technological engine of of Silicon Valley. In addition to this rich historical tapestry, Solnit's deft and intellectually agile prose also explores the concept of Time, our relationship to it and how that relationship was forever changed in the 19th century by the introduction of rail travel, the telegraph, and standardized time which set in motion "the annihilation of time and space and the industrialization of everyday life". If you're a lover of photography, history and excellent, insightful writing, then I highly recommend this very satisfying book.
At the SF MOMA...
In an intriguing coincidence, I found myself with a free afternoon in San Francisco last week and was pleased to find a fascinating photography exhibition at the SF MOMA that included some of Muybridge's pioneering motion studies. The exhibit is called Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible, 1840-1900 and it presents a collection of vintage images that show how the emerging technology of photography was used by scientists and photographic pioneers to reveal glimpses of far off galaxies, the terrain inside the human body, microscopic worlds, the intricacies of motion, magnetic and electrical energy and other phenomena that previously were unseen, and therefore unknown, to human comprehension (the image at right is by Étienne-Léopold Trouvelot and shows a photographic impression of a direct electric spark). The exhibit runs through January 4, 2009 and is worth a look if you find youself in that area of San Francisco.
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