Pierre-César Jules JANSSEN (1824-1907), Étienne-Jules MAREY (1830-1904), Thomas EAKINS (1844-1916)

CONSTRAINT : representation of single event (human and animal locomotion) at regular intervals + immobilisation of movement using high-speed ϕ + consecutive images on a single negative (preserves the classical unity of space).

INVENTION : single-plate chronophotography (“The transit of Venus across the sun”, Janssen, 1874, does not show the suns overlapping, and so “Subject running”, 1882, Marey, is the first real succes).

WORKS : reproduced in Marey’s magnum opus : Le mouvement, 1894, re-ed. 1994. His followers today employ the technique of multi-flash ϕ, pioneered by Talbot (a single flash of 1/1OO,OOOth of a second in 1851 “stopped” a copy of the Times newspaper from spinning round), and Harold E. EDGERTON (c. 1933).