1889 Étienne-Jules Marey and George Demeny. Pathological Walk from the Front

Étienne-Jules Marey’s chronophotography captured motion’s subtleties, pioneering our ability to study movement for medical and scientific purposes.

In the evolution of photography, few moments are as pivotal as Étienne-Jules Marey’s development of chronophotography, which ingeniously captured the subtleties of motion in a single photographic frame. His landmark work, "Pathological Walk from the Front," exemplifies this technique’s unique ability to study atypical human movement for medical and scientific purposes. By layering multiple exposures, Marey uncovered aspects of human motion invisible to the eye.

Marey’s approach diverged from contemporary Eadweard Muybridge by using a single camera to record movement continuously, enhancing both the scientific precision and aesthetic fluidity of the images. This technique profoundly influenced the evolution of camera technology, paving the way for modern cinematography and advancing scientific instrumentation. Marey’s chronophotographs bridged art and science, influencing how movement and time were portrayed and studied.

Credit: Étienne-Jules Marey, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Author: Étienne-Jules Marey and Georges Demeny (1889)
Title: Pathological Walk from the Front
Date: Unknown
Archive: Unknown
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Original file: 453 x 603 pixels, file size: 94 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg
Available information: Photograph made by incandescent bulbs fixed to the front.