Eadweard Muybridge’s Animal Locomotion, 1887
Friday, June 5th, 2009
Sometimes called the “Father of the Motion Picture,” photographer Eadweard Muybridge employed an array of carefully timed cameras to produce his revolutionary action photographs of men, women and children, as well as animals from the Philadelphia Zoo. Supported by the University of Pennsylvania, the results of Muybridge’s experiments with photographing motion were met with great acclaim by artists, scientists, critics and the public. 781 nineteen-by-twenty-four-inch collotype plates were the result of Muybridge’s experiments. Haverford’s set of 90 plates was donated in 1916. Haverford’s extensive collection of fine art photography spans the history of the medium from daguerreotypes to digital images and includes more than 3,000 photographs.