id: 155400 accession number: 1990.133 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1990.133 updated: 2023-04-26 11:23:56.570000 Valley of the Yosemite, from Rocky Ford, 1872. Eadweard J. Muybridge (American, 1830–1904), Bradley & Rulofson. Albumen print from wet collodion negative; image: 43.1 x 54.8 cm (16 15/16 x 21 9/16 in.); matted: 76.2 x 81.3 cm (30 x 32 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1990.133 title: Valley of the Yosemite, from Rocky Ford title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1872 creation date earliest: 1872 creation date latest: 1872 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: America, 19th century technique: albumen print from wet collodion negative department: Photography collection: PH - American 19th Century type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Eadweard J. Muybridge (American, 1830–1904) - artist Eadweard J. Muybridge (Edward James Muggeridge) American, b. England, 1830-1904 Around 1852 Edward James Muggeridge, born in Kingston-on-Thames in Surrey, immigrated to California and by 1856 had established himself in the book business in San Francisco. He learned the art of photography in 1867, possibly from his friend Silas Selleck. Soon after, he emerged as the "artist-photographer" Eadweard Muybridge. Also known as "Helios," the proprietor of a mobile photo wagon called the Flying Studio, he became associated with Selleck's cosmopolitan gallery. Muybridge was one of the best early western landscape photographers. His work included a coastal survey for the U.S. government, as well as topographical, landscape, and portrait photographs made from Alaska to Central America. His large wet plate views of Yosemite rank with those of Carleton Watkins as among the finest ever taken, and his multiprint panoramas of San Francisco are highly prized. In 1872 Muybridge began the experimental study that occupied him for the remainder of his life and for which he is best known. It stemmed from a commission by former California governor Leland Stanford, Jr., who asked him to capture photographically the movement of a galloping horse. Muybridge quickly became a renowned lecturer and authority on the photography of motion, developing one of the first camera shutters in 1869 and the zoogyroscope (an early machine for projecting pictures that appeared to move) in 1880. His work contributed to the development of the motion picture. Muybridge continued his investigations for three years at the University of Pennsylvania (1883-86) and in 1887 published the result of some 15 years of accumulated research in the 11 volumes of his immense study, Animal Locomotion, which consisted of 19,347 negatives. Muybridge's own stride was broken temporarily by his trial in 1874 for the murder of his wife's lover, a charge that he acknowledged but of which he was acquitted. T.W.F. * Bradley & Rulofson - published by --- measurements: Image: 43.1 x 54.8 cm (16 15/16 x 21 9/16 in.); Matted: 76.2 x 81.3 cm (30 x 32 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Notable Acquisitions opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00 Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991). title: Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1996-11-24T05:00:00 Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997). title: Pioneers of Landscape Photography from the Museum's Collection opening date: 2000-08-12T00:00:00 Pioneers of Landscape Photography from the Museum's Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 12, 2000-January 3, 2001). title: Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2007-06-24T00:00:00 Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-September 16, 2007); Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh, PA (October 3, 2009-January 3, 2010). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * CMA, June 7 - September 15, 1991: "Notable Acquisitions," CMA Bulletin, 78 (June, 1991), p. 94, repr.
CMA, January 14 - March 27, 1994: "Land of Sky and Water: 19th Century Photographs of the American West," Gallery 105, no exhibition catalogue.
CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art," see Catalogue of Photography, pp. 26-27.
Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; August 12, 2000 - January 3, 2001. "Pioneers of Landscape Photography from the Museum's Collection."
The Cleveland Museum of Art (6/24/07 - 9/16/07) and Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittburgh, PA (10/3/2009 - 1/3/2010); "Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art", no exhibition catalogue. --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Early in a long, creative career distinguished by landmark studies of animal and human motion, Eadweard J. Muybridge created a remarkable group of photographs of Yosemite Valley in California. During his second journey there, lasting from June through November 1872, he made his most significant and extensive body of landscape photographs, many taken with mammoth glass plate negatives measuring 20 x 24 inches. This image of the valley from Rocky Ford is one of his most luminous and sublime views. Taken in early morning light, this carefully framed and dramatically lit photograph reveals Muybridge's interest in atmospheric conditions, shimmering reflections, and the movement of water. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Hinson, Tom E. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991): 63-147. page number: Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 94 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161319 Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 26-27, 251 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1990.133/1990.133_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1990.133/1990.133_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1990.133/1990.133_full.tif