Art funded by Science?

I would argue that Muybridge’s collection is art rather than science and that he just put on the façade of being scientific to get funding through a university. Without the support of an institution, Muybridge would not have had the funds to do this project. Science involves some type of question or end goal. In this motion study “experiment” there was no end goal. There are countless volumes of what seems to be random motion documentation. Once Muybridge received support from a few credible individuals and the University of PA, the support just snowballed. He built a reputation as a scientist, whether he really was or not. This credibility allowed him to practice his art on a scale that was otherwise unimaginable.

To test my hypothesis that Muybridge’s goals were more artistic than scientific, I think it would be interesting to inspect the number of plates present in each section of the collection to see if the numbers are skewed in any one direction. More plates in certain categories would suggest that Muybridge had a preference for these certain types of photographs. I would argue that the abnormal movement section is the most scientific section of the cataloged. If the most of plates lie in this section of the collection, than maybe his goals were of scientific nature.

Secondly, I think it would be interesting to look at the dates of when each plate was taken. I would think that his early work, before he had funding from the university would reflect his true interests in animal locomotion and when they began. Was his interest in animal locomotion sparked by the possibility of funding or was documenting movement always his goal?