In 1878, photographer Eadweard Muybridge solved an enduring mystery: Do galloping horses ever lift all four of their hooves off the ground at the same time? Animator Nina Paley pays tribute to Muybridge with a quilt whose panels are based on his galloping horse photos.
Muybridge used multiple cameras and a clever shutter system to take several photographs of Leland Stanford’s horse Sallie Gardner in rapid succession. The resulting study, titled Sallie Gardner at a Gallop, shows the position of the horse’s body at different points in the gallop. When the individual frames were inserted into a zoopraxiscope, a device of Muybridge’s own invention, they appeared as a short movie.
Paley came up with the idea for this Muybridge quilt, and worked with Chris Carlson, Theodore Gray, and Behemoth to bring it to life. The actual (non-moving) quilts are available from Gray’s store.
