Graphic- Link for "Capturing the Moment"
Graphic- Link for "Muybridge in Motion"
Graphic- Link for "From Proof to Print"
Graphic- Link for "Sequences + Structures"
Graphic- Link for "Epilogue"
Graphic- Link for "More Information"

Compare Muybridge’s cyanotypes, his working proofs, with the final collotype prints. As you will see, the cyanotypes include a much larger view of the outdoor studio than we see in the collotypes, and show details that have been cropped. The cyanotypes are marked with negative numbers that sometimes differ from those in the final prints, as well as other signs Muybridge made to omit or include certain frames in the final collotypes.

The cyanotypes prove that Muybridge manipulated his data. He freely reprinted, cropped, and deleted or substituted negatives to make the assemblage that became the collotype portfolio, Animal Locomotion.


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You Be the Detective
Because no trace of Muybridge’s negatives remains, the cyanotypes constitute the only evidence we have of what he originally photographed. The differences between the cyanotypes and the final prints published as Animal Locomotion warn us that seeing should not always mean believing.

What do you see?


 

In the cyanotypes (below, left), frames 5 and 9 of the laterals have been marked for omission from the final collotype (below, right).


 

image- "Walking"- working proofs on cardboard mountenlarge photo
“Ascending and descending stairs”
(Blanche Epler, September 25, 1885)
Working proofs for Animal Locomotion Plate 504
Cyanotypes on cardboard mount

 

image- "Walking"- Final plateenlarge photo “Ascending and descending stairs”
Animal Locomotion Plate 504, 1887
Collotype


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