settima

SamuelColt

Escrime [Fencing] (Étienne-Jules Marey, 1890)

Jan

4

revolvers

Escrime (1890)
Escrime (1890)

Footage of Marey at work. Note the mobility of his invention. (via).

A revolver to commemorate Samuel Colt's sale of 1 000 revolvers to butcher Captain Samuel Walker in 1847.

“Art and science encounter each other when they seek exactitude.”

– Étienne-Jules Marey

However, where there is bloodshed, there can be art. Scientist Étienne-Jules Marey studied movement, and further adapted an existing revolver-style camera gun invented by astronomer Jules Janssen in 1874. The revolution in Marey's invention was not in the least in its mobility. Unlike Muybridge, whose locomotion experiments required a huge, cumbersome setup, Marey could strap on his “gun”, and shoot moving footage while following his target around. His chronophotograph Escrime can be considered Marey's first successfully captured moving footage.