Chronophotograph
Unlike the motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge, who depicted movement as a series of discrete moments on separate, sequential negatives, Marey's analyses of motion are characterized by multiple exposures on a single photographic plate. In this photograph, Charles Fremont, a civil engineer who assisted Marey in his laboratory, used Marey's method to study blacksmiths at the anvil; the dynamic synthesis of their arced blows traced the pattern of manual effort involved in the task. Fremont's photographic investigations into the conservation and expenditure of energy during human labor established principles that laid the foundation for modern industrial production.
Artwork Details
- Title: Chronophotograph
- Artist: Etienne-Jules Marey (French, 1830–1904)
- Artist: Charles Fremont (French, 1855–1930)
- Date: 1894
- Medium: Gelatin silver print from glass negative
- Dimensions: Sheet: 6 1/2 × 8 3/8 in. (16.5 × 21.3 cm)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel and Rogers Fund, 1987
- Object Number: 1987.1054
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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