The First Movie Stars (1879)
While figuring out how horses run, Muybridge pioneered movies
An arrangement of eleven "electro-photographs" captures jockey G. Domm as he gallops famous racehorse “Sallie Gardner” through a series of camera tripwires. The sequence reveals that there is indeed a moment when all four hooves are off the ground.
Eadweard Muybridge ingeniously captured this photographic evidence on what is today's Stanford University campus. He shot the film and developed the negatives live in front of a panel of journalists to prove the project's authenticity.
The famous tableau was first published in a series of "cabinet cards," a format popular for portrait photography. For data visualization, The Horse in Motion is the pioneering example of the use of small multiple photography as evidence.
For the rest of the world, it is the pioneering example of the motion picture camera, making its jockey and horse the first film stars.
Eadweard Muybridge, 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, born Edward James Muggeridge) was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection.
In 1874, Muybridge shot and killed Major Harry Larkyns, his wife's lover, but was acquitted in a controversial jury trial, on the grounds of justifiable homicide.
Image (Upper) : Sally Gardner running, 12 images on card with text on reverse | Source
Image (Lower) : Sally Gardner running | Source
Author: Muybridge, Eadweard, 1830-1904
Date: 1879
Place created: Stanford California
Archive: Stanford Digital Repository
As a big fan of your "The Laughable Feast" I would have to agree!
My father would've admonished the horse for lack of hustle.