About this artwork
Physiologist Étienne-Jules Marey’s lifelong fascination with bodily movement led him to develop what he called “chronophotography”—meaning “photography of time”—a process that may have influenced the locomotion studies of Eadweard Muybridge, which are generally better known. To create his chronophotographs, Marey modified an ordinary camera by placing a rotating metal disk with multiple slots cut at regular intervals behind the lens and leaving the lens open. As the subject moved in front of a dark background, the disk acted as a shutter, exposing a sequence of images on a single photographic plate. As a member of the Académie Nationale de Médicine, Marey likely made this view of a bicyclist as part of a campaign to develop sports attire that would maximize comfort and minimize fatigue. Cubist, Futurist, and Dada artists all looked to Marey’s work as they attempted to picture the interdependence of space and time formulated by Albert Einstein.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Photography and Media
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Artist
- Etienne Jules Marey
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Title
- Man Bicycling
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Place
- France (Artist's nationality)
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Date
- Made 1890–1899
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Medium
- Gelatin silver lantern slide (chronophotograph)
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Dimensions
- 8.5 × 10 cm
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Credit Line
- Gift of Robert A. Taub
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Reference Number
- 2011.810
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/212158/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
