Historic Timeline:

The Capture of Movement

in Painting and Photography
by Rick Doble
copyright 2014 Rick Doble
For over 10 years now, I have been using the digital camera to capture the
sensation of movement by taking photos at very slow shutter speeds, a technique that
registers movement and creates pictures with motion blur.
Yet this is not a new idea, although it was abandoned in the recent past. For about
00 years painters, and later photographers, in the western tradition have approached
the idea of movement and motion in their work. !his timeline shows the progression of
these images and some of the concepts that were involved.
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page 1
Leonardo da inci !"#$%&"$"'(
$tudies of water passing obstacles and falling.
%&eonardo da 'inci( %commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page 2
$tudy of an e)plosion. %&eonardo da 'inci(
%commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page 3
Flight of a bird. %&eonardo da 'inci(
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Rembrandt van Ri)n !"*+*&"**'(
!he modern painter *irchner had this to say about "embrandt+s
drawings and his own work,
"irst of all ! needed to invent a techni"ue of grasping everything
#hile it #as in motion$ and it #as %em&randt's dra#ings(((that
sho#ed me ho#( ! dre# in the streets and s"uares$ in taverns$ in the
circus$ in cafes( )ny#here ! could see people in motion("
-rnst &udwig *irchner, .erman -)pressionist /ainter %100011230(
%"embrandt van "i4n( %commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page *
%"embrandt van "i4n( %commons.wikimedia.org(
%"embrandt van "i4n( %commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page +
,oseph Mallord -illiam Turner !"..$&"/$"(
!his painting of a storm at sea conveys the force and movement that is happening. %5oseph
!urner( %commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page ,
0ad1eard ,2 Muybridge !"/3+&"'+#(
6efore movies were invented, 7uybridge perfected a method for taking sequential
photographs of a horse trotting at a fast shutter speed %181000 second( in 1090.
7uybridge went on to make e)tensive studies of human and animal locomotion using
his system. :is study of humans in motion is still the most complete of its kind. :e also
invented the ;oopra)iscope that pro4ected a sequence of his locomotion photos in
motion and was important to the development of moving pictures. :is work revealed
aspects of motion that the escaped the naked eye as seen in the famous e)ample
below.
<hen a horse is in motion, it is hard to see that all four legs leave the ground at one point in the
gallop. :owever, when viewed as still photos, it can be clearly seen that all four hooves are not
touching the ground at one point in the run %second frame, first row(. %-adweard 7uybridge(
%commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page -
0dgar Degas !"/3#&"'".(
#egas, who was a photographer himself, was aware of the work of 7uybridge and
added delicate timing and a sense of movement to many of his paintings. = viewer
often has the feeling that a second before and a second after one of the scenes things
were quite different. !his sense would be later picked up by another Frenchman,
>artier16resson, in his photography.
%-dgar #egas( %commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page .
%-dgar #egas( %commons.wikimedia.org(
%-dgar #egas( %commons.wikimedia.org(
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0tienne&,ules Marey !"/3+&"'+#(
In the 100? 7arey perfected a system where a sequence of distinct phases of an animal in
motion could be recorded on one photograph. %-tienne15ules 7arey( %commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page 11
0dison & Motion Pictures 4egin 5n "/'3
In 1023 !homas -dison built the first movie studio called the 6lack 7aria or the
*inetographic !heater. It was used to shoot short film strips for the *inetoscope, an
early motion picture device.
!his series of frames is from a very short -dison movie sequence called +Fred @tt+s $nee;e.+
%!homas -dison( %commons.wikimedia.org(
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0instein & 6pace&Time 7nd Relativity8 "'+$
In 120 =lbert -instein published a paper that presented his special theory of
relativity. = consequence of his theory was the idea that time could be considered
another dimension, often seen as the fourth dimension. $pace and time were
ine)tricably linked, thus the concept of space1time. =nd since motion occurs over time,
implicit in this notion was the idea that this dimension and consequently movement
could 11 and some felt should 11 be part of modern painting and imagery.
!his is a two dimensional drawing of a four dimensional hypercube. !he inner cube can be
thought of as the cube at an early moment in time and the outer cube as a later moment in time.
!he lines connecting the two cubes can be thought of as the interval of time that connects them.
%commons.wikimedia.org(
To transform height$ #idth$ and depth into t#o dimensions is for me
an e0perience full of magic in #hich ! glimpse for a moment that
fourth dimension #hich my #hole &eing is see1ing(
7a) 6eckmann, /ainter %100A1120(
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0rnst Lud1ig 9irchner !"//+&"'3/(
From about 12001121A, the most important .erman e)pressionist
painter, *irchner, worked to depict the human figure with a sense of
motion 1 not as a static and ideali;ed figure as painting had done in
the past. :e wrote, "2hy didn't those #orthy gentlemen Bother
paintersC paint real life3 4ecause it moves$ that's #hy( They neither
see it nor understand it( )nd then ! thought 55 #hy shouldn't ! try3 )nd
so ! did("
Duoted in Meanings of Modern )rt by 5ohn "ussell, 7@7=
2omen on the 6treet. %-rnst *irchner( %commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page 14
2omen on the 6treet. %-rnst *irchner( %commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page 1*
5talian :uturism "'+'&"'"#
!he Italian Futurist art movement came about as a response to the rapidly
developing technology of the day such as automobiles and airplanes. = ma4or aim of
these artists was to depict continuous movement rather than the images of sequential
sharp phases of motion that 7uybridge and 7arey had perfected.
7ni"ue orms of Continuity in 6pace, bron;e sculpture. %Emberto 6occioni(
%commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page 1+
=n abstract Italian Futurist painting depicting a sense of motion. %.iacomo 6alla(
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"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page 1,
7nton ;iulio 4ragaglia !"/'+&"'*+(
6etween 121?1121F 6ragaglia, a photographer associated with the Italian Futurist
=rt 7ovement, took a number of photos using slow shutter speeds to depict
continuous rather than sequential motion. :e coined the term Photodynamism to label
these kinds of photographs. G=nton 6ragaglia+s photography makes visible that which
the eye itself cannot perceive. !his ambition was achieved by means of capturing in a
single image the flowing tra4ectories of ob4ects in motion, made visible by long
e)posure times.G #r. :ugo :eyrman, media professor. )rt and 6ynesthesia(
!his photograph was taken over a number of seconds to record the movement of the player.
%=nton 6ragaglia( %commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page 1-
Marcel Duchamp !"//.&"'*/(
In 121? the revolutionary and hard to classify artist, #uchamp created a sensation
with his painting entitled 8ude 9escending ) 6taircase. In retrospect it can be seen as
a mi)ture of the sequential and the continuous techniques for depicting motion in a still
image. It is generally agreed that the Italian Futurist art movement was a ma4or
influence on this painting and #uchamp acknowledged the influence of 7arey as well.
8ude 9escending a 6taircase$ 8o( 2.
%7arcel #uchamp( %commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page 1.
D2-2 ;riffith & Motion Pictures Come <f 7ge 5n
"'"$
7otion pictures became increasing sophisticated reaching a significant milestone in
121 with 4irth of a 8ation by #. <. .riffith, the first large budget, full length movie. It
was followed the ne)t year by another big budget movie, .riffith+s !ntolerance.
/oster from #. <. .riffith+s film !ntolerance. %commons.wikimedia.org(
"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page 2/
$till from #. <. .riffith+s film !ntolerance. %commons.wikimedia.org(
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$till from #. <. .riffith+s film !ntolerance. %commons.wikimedia.org(
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The :uture <f Depictions <f Motion 5n 6till 5magery
Enfortunately with the success of capturing motion in the movies, the search for still
images of movement waned and virtually was abandoned until recently. How with the
new capabilities of the digital camera, the quest to convey a sense of motion in a
photograph or a work of art can continue.
#igital photography now has the capability to record motion in color at low light
levels in real time. !his candid shot was taken under available light at a slow shutter
speed to capture the sense of movement and also the energy of the music being
played. <hile similar to the previous photo by 6ragaglia, his photo was taken with a
limited tonal range in black and white and under studio conditions. #igital photography
may be able to depict motion in a manner envisioned by the Italian Futurists 100 years
ago. !his photo by author "ick #oble was featured on the following poster for the
$>I-H=" 1 IH!-"F-"-H!- e)hibit, at the Hational Eniversity of =rts 6ucharest,
6ucharest, "omania in ?010.
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"ick #oble, Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography Page 24