Photography blog (Module 11)

Eadweard Muybridge, The Horse in Motion (“Sallie Gardner,” owned by Leland Stanford; running at a 1:40 gait over the Palo Alto track, 19th June 1878), 1878

The invention of photography is something that is very dear to me. I consider myself a hobby photographer, but I photograph wildlife and landscapes. It is amazing to see how far photography has come since it was invented, from hours per photograph in black and white to now fractions of a second in full vibrant color. Although photography has come a long way from where is started there is still a debate on whether or not it falls into the realm of the arts. Photography ultimately changed the meaning of art, allowing for more naturalistic pieces to come to fruition. Naturalistic art is a style of representation based on the accurate depiction of detail Photography itself blurred the lines between art and science. Pieces such as Eadweard Muybridge's The Horse in Motion are examples of naturalistic styles and aid in the controversy of photography being art or science. In this series of images Muybridge helps answer the question whether or not a horse takes all four legs completely off the ground during a gallop. This series of photographs can be taken as part of science as they help prove the answer to the previously mentioned question. At the same time these photographs have been portrayed as pieces of art in the sense that these photographs portray the naturalistic and realistic aspects of still imagery. This piece is a form of art because photography requires imagination, creativity, and technical skills. All of these aspects are portrayed in this piece because Muybridge had a creative imagination to create a way to capture the movement of a horse, and there was a lot of technical skills that went into this piece.

The invention of photography was rather impactful on the development of naturalism. Photography forced painters to other areas of creativity than the lifelike representation that a camera could achieve. Naturalist painters had to take on new mediums to create works portraying lifelike effects. Photography led to a shift in subject matter as many of the first photographs had to be of still objects but as technology advanced, photography opened doors to the ability to capture subjects that were not stationary. As previously mentioned, photography allowed artists to capture subjects such as the racehorse running on the track. This new medium allowed people to accurately portray a subject in motion, in the sense of The Horse in Motion they were able to capture the legs of the horse during a gallop. To wrap everything up, photography has led to a shift in the arts. The ability to capture objects in motion was a game changer allowing artists to widen their spectrum from only still subjects to practically anything they can imagine.




Dr. Rebecca Jeffrey Easby, "Early Photography: Niépce, Talbot and Muybridge," in Smarthistory, August 9, 2015, accessed April 5, 2021, https://smarthistory.org/early-photography-niepce-talbot-and-muybridge/.


"Naturalism Movement Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. 2021. TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by Rebecca Seiferle
Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Greg Thomas
Available from: https://www.theartstory.org/movement/naturalism/
First published on 23 May 2018. Updated and modified regularly
[Accessed 05 Apr 2021]