Do Horses Fly When They Gallop? The Photography Masters # 5: Eadweard Muybridge

"The Photographer: "A Gentleman's Honor" (Vocal)" by Philip Glass Ensemble

in 1872, Muybridge married 21-year-old Flora Shallcross Stone. In 1874, Muybridge discovered that a drama critic known as Major Harry Larkyns might have fathered Flora's seven-month-old son Florado.On 17 October, Muybridge went to Calistoga to track down Larkyns. Upon finding him, Muybridge said, "Good evening, Major, my name is Muybridge and here's the answer to the letter you sent my wife," and shot him point-blank. Larkyns died that night, and Muybridge was arrested without protest and put in the Napa jail. He was acquitted with a verdict of justifiable homicide.

He pled insanity due to a head injury which was said to have changed his behavior dramatically.

Today, the court case and transcripts are important to historians and forensic neurologists, because of the sworn testimony from multiple witnesses regarding Muybridge's state of mind and past behaviour.[1] The American composer Philip Glass composed an opera, The Photographer, with a libretto based in part on court transcripts from the case.

from here

"Muybridge horse gallop animated 2" by Eadweard Muybridge, Waugsberg. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons, photos taken 1887.

The Artist

1830-1904

The Domes from Merced River, Yosemite, c1894

Bridge on the Puerto Bello, Panama, 1875

Phenakistoscope: A Couple Waltzing, c1893