Muybridge Runners
We continue our look at the stop-motion photography of Eadweard Muybridge published in his 1887 book Animal Locomotion. Muybridge did his work at the University of Pennsylvania, and his subjects were mostly students or graduates who excelled in the activity being portrayed. Today we look at Muybridge's runners.
I made the gif above from plate 62 in the book, labeled "Running at full speed." Muybridge's models were only identified by number, not by name. This one was model 37, noted as "the champion runner." So he was probably the star of Penn's track team, but I don't know his name.
This gif is from plate 63, showing model 46. A few of Muybridge's models have been subsequently identified, and model 46 was Dr. Jacob K. Shell.
Here's a portrait of Dr. Shell in later life. We saw him last time as one of Muybridge's wrestlers. He was a talented athlete who eventually became head football coach at Swarthmore, then athletics director at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and finally athletics director at Penn.
Here's a gif from another plate in the book showing Jacob K. Shell running, plate 68. He was not the only subject filmed wearing this curious hat. Several other of Muybridge's models wore the same hat, including the guy in our first gif today. Apparently the purpose of the hat was that the pompom in the center of it provided a point that could be easily measured if someone was making a scientific study of the motion shown in the photographs.
Almost all the plates in the book showed the same activity photographed from two different angles. This gif is from the second sequence of photos in plate 68, showing a front view of Jacob K. Shell running.
This gif is from plate 64 showing model 33 running. I have not seen model 33 identified.
This is model 55 running in plate 66. Again, the model is unidentified, but he looks older than the other models. In addition to Penn students, Muybridge's models did include some Penn professors, so it's possible that this is one of them.
This is model 47, again unidentified, running in plate 67. This plate also included two views of the subject, one from the side and this view from the front.
Next time, we'll look at the action in depth in Muybridge's plate "Baseball Error."
10 comments:
These are fascinating. They don't carry that whiff of "Fascist eugenics" found in the posture pictures. Did Muybridge ever use female models? I'm guessing he didn't, given the times, but...
Muybridge used female models also.
Always very interesting.
Muybridge used female models, some clothed and some nude. The only females willing to pose nude were artist's models, apparently local prostitutes, supplied by his friend Thomas Eakins. Muybridge complained that they were "ignorant and not well-bred."
sure it is. It's like a time machine!
I discovered Mr Muybridge's work years ago, and since I am obsessed with the naked body, I really enjoyed his studies.
[off topic: check your spam folder and you should find some of my comments]
Sorry, Xersex, and thank you for your comments. I have just found two that were marked as spam and marked them "not spam". I don't know why Blogger considers some comments to be spam, even though they're perfectly acceptable.
blogger makes some mistakes, so I suggest you to check your spam folder daily.
I wish motion studies with 21st century male college athletes could be done today, with scores of baseball and football and track athletes and wrestlers....and others....on full display. Athleticism at its best.
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