The Birth of Motion and Colour Photography
Rare original photographs from 1887 and 1907-11 by Eadweard Muybridge and The Lumière Brothers.
Muybridge’s influence on our visual culture has been profound from the 1880s to the present day. In 1878, Muybridge succeeded in taking a sequence of photographs with 12 cameras that captured the moment when the animal’s hooves were tucked under its belly. This project, which illustrated motion through a series of still images viewed together, was a forerunner of motion picture technology. Between 1883-87 Muybridge undertook the pioneering and monumental study of animal and human locomotion which resulted in his 1887 masterpiece, ‘Animal Locomotion’. Publication of the photographs made Muybridge an international celebrity, as for the first time the movement of men, women, children, animals, and birds could be accurately recorded and scientifically analysed. Muybridge’s work had a groundbreakding influence on athletes, physicians, inventors, and artists, and continues to inspire our contemporary lives.
The Lumière Brothers, Auguste and Louis, had been experimenting with colour photography since the 1890s, publishing their first article on the subject in 1895, the same year they won international fame for their discovery of cinema and their public screening in the Grand Café in Paris. Following this remarkable milestone, the brothers who already ran one of the most successful photographic companies in the world, devoted tireless effort and enthusiasm to achieving what they considered the invention of their lives; the autochrome, the first commercially viable colour photographic process. Patented in December 1903, it was not until 1907 that it was unveiled at the Photo Club de Paris and made available commercially. Edward Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz, the leading lights in American art-photography were in Paris at the time and immediately began working with autochromes and spreading the news of this remarkable discovery. For so long considered an unachievable dream, the invention of colour photography in 1907 by the Lumière brothers literally revolutionized our visual world. Colour was a new reality and our visual and cultural lives would never be the same again.
Created in June 2008, Mondrian’s Room is an Art Gallery and Consultancy founded by Fiona Bailey and Aebhric Coleman with the aim to bring important international art and photography to Ireland. Previously, Fiona has lectured in art history at Queens University Belfast, and worked at the National Gallery Ireland and Sotheby’s International, together with freelance writing and consultancy on art and architecture. Aebhric has worked on contemporary art exhibitions and sales over 15 years with international museums and galleries including the Louvre, Pompidou, Tate Modern, Documenta, Museum Ludwig, MACBA, and Dia Center.
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