USA - west coast
Eadweard Muybridge
Born: 1830, Kingston-upon-Thames, England
Died: 1904, Kingston-upon-Thames, England
Also Known as: Helios--the Flying Studio, Edward James
Muggeridge, Eadweard James Muybridge, Edward Muggeridge,
Eadweard J. Muybridge
Also Active in: San Francisco, California
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Biography
Born Edward Muggeridge in England, Muybridge came to
the United States in 1850 as a publishing representative.
By 1856 he had opened a bookstore in San Francisco. After
an extended trip to England, he returned to California
in 1867 as an accomplished photographer. That same year
he made his first trip to the Yosemite Valley.
In direct competition with Carleton Watkin's acclaimed
Yosemite views of 1861–62 (Plate 26), Muybridge's
fifty-one mammoth plates, made in 1872, confirmed his
reputation as a preeminent landscape photographer. They
were ofered for sale by the San Francisco gallery of
Bradley and Rulofson the following year. Perhaps to distinguish
his work from that of other photographers of Yosemite,
such as Watkins and Charles Leander Weed (plate 27),
Muybridge chose points of view that heighten dramatic
intensity. His photographs are notable for the inaccessibility
of the subject matter. "He has gone to points where
his packers refuse to follow him," wrote one observer.
In 1872 Muybridge accompanied landscape painter Albert
Bierstadt and geologist Clarence King, who was completing
his survey of the fortieth parallel. Public response
to the 1872 photographs was highly favorable. According
to one critic, the photographs "surpassed in artistic
excellence, anything that has yet been published in San
Francisco." Muybridge's stereo-card business, which
made his images available in a popular format, flourished.
Muybridge's views of Yosemite attracted the attention
of Leland Stanford, former governor of California and
president of the Central Pacific Railroad, who in 1872
commissioned him to photograph Stanford's horse Occident
at a gallop in order to determine if a running horses's
feet are ever off the ground simultaneously. These studies
led to the extensive stop-action photographs of humans
and animals in motion, for which Muybridge is now most
famous.
In 1875 Muybridge traveled to Central and South America
as a photographer for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.
During the trip he photographed these San Isidro coffee
pickers.
Merry A. Foresta. American Photographs: The First Century
(Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art with
the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996).
reference: smithsonian
Photographic innovator Eadweard Muybridge was born on
this day in 1830.
Born Edward Muggeridge
in England, Muybridge came to the United States in 1850
as a publishing representative. By 1856 he had opened
a bookstore in San Francisco. After an extended trip
to England, he returned to California in 1867 as an accomplished
photographer. That same year he made his first trip to
the Yosemite Valley.
In direct competition
with Carleton Watkins's acclaimed Yosemite views of 1861–62,
Muybridge's fifty-one mammoth plates, made in 1872, shortly
before he returned to England, confirmed his reputation
as a preeminent landscape photographer. They were offered
for sale by the San Francisco gallery of Bradley and
Rulofson the following year. Perhaps to distinguish his
work from that of other photographers of Yosemite, such
as Watkins and Charles Leander Weed, Muybridge chose
points of view that heighten dramatic intensity. His
photographs are notable for the remarkable difficulty
of the camera's placement. "He has gone to points
where his packers refused to follow him," wrote
one observer.
Muybridge's views of
Yosemite attracted the attention of Leland Stanford,
former governor of California and president of the Central
Pacific Railroad, who in 1872 commissioned him to photograph
Stanford's horse Occident at a gallop in order to determine
if a running horse's feet are ever off the ground simultaneously.
These studies led to the extensive stop-action photographs
of humans and animals in motion, for which Muybridge
is now most famous.
Woman Descending a Stairway and Turning Around,</i> from
the book, <i>Animal Locomotion Source: Merry A.
Foresta. American Photographs: The First Century (Washington,
D.C.: National Museum of American Art with the Smithsonian
Institution Press, 1996).
Pictured
top: Eadweard Muybridge, (1830 England–1904
England), Valley of the Yosemite from Union Point,1872,
albumen print on paper mounted on paperboard, 17 x 21
1/2 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dr.
and Mrs. Charles T. Isaac.
reference: american