<i>            Sallie Gardner at a</i> <i>Gallop </i>or <i>Horse in Motion</i> by Eadweard Muybridge is a short series of photographs of a horse at a trot taken in 1878.  The image of a moving horse was made by the quick succession of 24 photographs and a “special electrical trigger mechanism” and processing techniques allowing the photographs to be viewed quickly to provide the viewer with the illusion of movement (Vass). Commissioned by Leland Stanford, a wealthy Californian businessman, the work was the result of a long-standing question of whether a horse left the ground at any point in a gallop. Pictures had been painted of a horses outstretched and free from the ground, which was a misconception of their movement but still true to what Muybridge had proven with his photographs: horses do indeed leave the ground in full motion (Vass). Other of Muybridge's contemporaries pioneered in the field of animation as well, but took more of a scientific approach, such as Etienne-Jules Marey, whereas Muybridge worked more for the sake of the art and beauty of his subjects. As a pioneer piece of animation's early history, this work should be preserved because of the impact it had on the future of animation techniques and technology.<!--more-->

America in the late 19<sup>th</sup> century, where Muybridge was commissioned, was in the Reconstruction period after the Civil War. This was a time when the empowered federal government, after having preserved the union of the country, sought to repair the damages done to war-torn regions (Foner). The economies of America and Europe in the 19<sup>th</sup> century were advancing rapidly during industrialization where miles of railway tracks stretched across both continents. Colonialism was still in effect as European rule stretched beyond Europe's borders as, by 1900, “all of Africa, save Ethiopia and Liberia, had been carved up by European powers” (Fiero).  During Muybridge's lifetime, a war between China and Britain commenced over the importation of British opium into China's borders. Despite efforts to halt the importation of the drug into China, British merchants persisted causing the notorious Opium Wars, which “brought China to its knees” (Fiero).

In Muybridge's time, photographs were becoming extremely popular not only in America, but in most of the developed west as an art form and tool for scientific study. One of Muybridge's contemporaries, Marey, was dubbed a competitor of Muybridge and sought to perfect his camera apparatus to take more detailed pictures than ever before (Tarr). The subject matter of both photographers’ pieces were generally the same, being of the motion of humans and animals, and both used motion devices to display their pieces (Vass). Once he improved upon his equipment for mobility and he was able to receive more funding for his work, Muybridge traveled the Americas taking photographs of landscapes, animals and people he met in his travels. Photographs became used to take more accurate and breathtaking accounts of the world and Muybridge was a pioneer of the practice, turning 24 simple frames into an art form never viewed by anyone before.

What separates Muybridge's work with the <i>Horse in Motion</i> from the basic photography of the day was his camera apparatus and uses of his photographs. He set up a system of trip wires that “fire a series of cameras as a horse went past,” allowing a picture to be seen at all points during the horse's trot (Hagen). This system of 24 cameras was a true photographic spectacle and one of clever design as the press watched on to prove that motion could truly be captured by Muybridge's contraption. He displayed his final product of wood engravings for the media to print and in a university as the first projection of what could be considered moving pictures (Tarr). His French contemporary Marey decided instead to perfect his capture device boasting a capture rate of his machine at 60 frames per second (Tarr). While Muybridge's works were largely for the sake of art and imagery, Marey used his works to study scientifically human and animal motion, publishing his findings in scientific journals rather than offering them to universities and museums (Vass).

In the time of its completion, the <i>Horse in Motion </i>garnered praise from the scientific community and the man who commissioned the work, Leland Stanford. Transferred onto newspapers of the time via woodcuts, <i>Scientific American</i> published his works upon completion and later the European journal <i>La Nature</i> (Leslie). Approval in this field was not Muybridge's official goal, but more a side effect of having been commissioned by the Californian businessman Leland Stanford. Stanford, upon realizing how positive reception was of Muybridge's work, tried to claim the work for him, having published the work “without Muybridge's name on the title page” of <i>The Horse in Motion, </i>which featured over “100 drawings and engravings based on [Muybridge's] shots” (Leslie). A work not worthy of preservation would not have such influential people on edge over who produced it. This reaction and following events transfer to today, where countless works have been reproduced using Muybridge's methods.

Being perhaps the most early for of stop-motion animation, <i>The Horse in Motion</i> influenced many techniques that provide entertainment for people today with great success. Pixilation, “where images are taken from varying points of view”, is used in the modern animation series <i>Wallace and Gromit </i>(1989-2009) (Tarr). The use of the pixilation in modern entertainment and amateur animation is very prevalent and reminiscent of Muybridge's first work of motion-capture. Reception then and now has differed by means of respect for the work in different terms. In the time of the work's beginning, individuals fought to reserve rights over the work and claim it as their own. Now, the work is respected for it's method of producing the illusion of moving pictures; numerous works were produced in the 60's in 70's that recreate Muybridge's style, celebrating his method, and providing new subject matter for mass entertainment (Hagen).

Muybridge's work is still regarded as pioneer piece of early animation, as students of animation still learn of his famous piece in their history classes. I was surprised to learn how intricate his apparatus was and that it was setup in front of the press, whose eye was incredibly important to his success. Ironically, I couldn't find a picture of his camera apparatus, but the descriptions are telling of how incredible the scene was with 24 cameras flashing in sequence. Today, it doesn't take 24 cameras to move a horse on a screen; people carry around in their pockets that ability to capture a section of time to be reviewed endlessly. Animation has come far and without Muybridge, we may be praising another early animator as the leader of this art's beginning, Étienne-Jules Marey.

Marey, while Muybridge was taking thousands of photos of nature and animal movement, was perfecting his own photographic apparatus. Muybridge's French counterpart “fitted a rifle with a rapid-shooting camera” and was able to, from a single position, “capture animal locomotion on single frames of film” (Tarr). As mentioned earlier, Marey chose to perfect his motion-capture device, devoting most of his works with a scientific twist since his inspiration was born of a previous affinity for medicine. (Vass). While Muybridge quickly faded into obscurity due to copyright battles and his choice to travel rather than publish, Marey gained popularity by experimenting with animal motion and publishing his findings frequently in scientific journals in France (Vass). Muybridge and Marey are both incredibly important figures to early animation and serve important purposes in establishing the art form. Muybridge emphasized how important the subject matter is to the work, producing hundreds of thousands of photographs of the world around him and those who inhabited it.  Étienne-Jules Marey stressed the ability of his capture device, allowing people to view his limited subjects in ways they never have before. Both of these people, when considered together, synthesized animation to create what the art form is today.

With movies becoming increasingly animated by computers, the work of 19<sup>th</sup> century animators is more important than ever. Knowing the history of animation is important for understanding how images have progressed from not only depicting events such as human and animal motion but for modern entertainment as well. Computer animation has dominated movies for children and action movies alike, showing grander images and more interaction with humans than was possible before. The <i>Horse in Motion</i> needs to be preserved as a piece executed by magnificent human ingenuity and a kick-off point for future animators to come.
<p align="center">Works Cited</p>
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Fiero, Gloria , and . <i>The Humanistic Tradition Book 3, The European Renaissance, The Reformation, And Global Encounter</i>. 6th. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2010. 10 Oct. 2013.

-Our textbook gave limited information on Muybridge, but gave good insight for historical context and some light basic information on visual arts of the time period.

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Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!. Volume 1, An American History. 3<sup>rd</sup> Edition. New York City: W. W. Norton, 2010. Print.

-The U.S. History textbook always helps with historical context when the subject has to do with America, and since Muybridge moved to America, this was a great help.

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Hagen, Charles. "Review/Photography; Eadweard Muybridge Revisited, with Others." <i>New York Times </i>Mar 06 1992. <i>ProQuest. </i>Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

-This article was a comparison of early photography and animation professionals with special emphasis on Muybridge as an early master, this article helped me greatly with finding works that were inspired by Muybridge in the 20<sup>th</sup> century.

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Leslie, Mitchell. "The Man Who Stopped Time." <i>Stanford Alumni</i>. May 2001: n. page. Web. 2 Nov. 2013. &lt;http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=39117&gt;.

-Being a college paper contribution from a graduate of the university, this report was very in depth on the controversies following the publication of the piece and gave great detail on Muybridge's method and life before and after the work.

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Tarr, Simon, and Paul S. Weiss. "Very Small Horses: Visualizing Motion At The Nanoscale. "<i>Leonardo</i> 45.5 (2012): 439-455. <i>Academic Search Complete</i>. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

-This focused on animation at the nanoscale, a feat only possible by high computing technology today and talked about the physics of what we can see and how subjects move through space. Tarr was majorly focused on the future and analysis of animation, but there was a decent part discussing Muybridge and Marey's devices and methods which helped supplement my research.

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Vass, Gergely. "Early Motion-Capture Techniques." <i>Computer Graphics World</i> 33.6 (2010): 8-9. <i>Internet and Personal Computing Abstracts</i>. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

-This article was amazing at discussing animation's beginning with reference to Muybridge and Marey, discussing their contributions and differing mentalities on animation and photography's use. This is where I found the majority of my information and I drew upon this a lot in my comparisons and history of Muybridge's life works.

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