Eadweard Muybridge special collection archive moved to Town House

Eadweard Muybridge’s archive was recently moved to Kingston University’s Town House, and it is available for everyone to see.

The Kingston University’s Visual and Material Culture Research Centre partnered with Kingston Museum and Stanley Picker Gallery and organised a two-day event on March 2 and 3 as well as a short tour of the archive.

“There are some treasure trove materials in the collection that we have in Kingston, and I think it is truly amazing that student can make use of it,” said Matthew Melia, Media, and Communication senior lecturer at Kingston.

The conference presented the most recent findings on Eadweard Muybridge, whose versatile work continues to be important in photography, computer animation, and the visual arts around the world.

The event also marked the recent relocation of Kingston Museum’s Muybridge Collection to a purpose-built archive at the university’s award-winning building Town House.

David Falkner, the director of the Stanley Picker Gallery as well as many curators, scholars, filmmakers, and artists attended the conference and shared their knowledge about the significant work of Eadweard Muybridge.

Seoyoung Kim, a curator at Kingston Museum, which holds one of the most significant Muybridge collections, held a tour of the archive.

She said: “Moving the archive was a giant step for us and we really are trying to extend Muybridge’s legacy through this special collection.”

On the first day of the event, there was also a tour of Kingston Museum’s Muybridge Gallery as well as a film screening of ‘Exposing Muybridge’, produced by Marc Shaffer.

Fran Lloyd, professor of Art History and Co-Director of the Visual and Material Culture Research Centre of KSA, said that this event was a long time in the making as it was supposed to happen at the begging of 2020.

“Next year we will definitely do something for his anniversary but we cannot tell you what yet,” said Loyd.

The archive of Muybridge’s special collection will now stay in the University’s archive showcasing his work.