An exhibition at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum on scientific studies conducted in the early 1900s by three photographers

From June 13 to September 26, 2024, the Poldi Pezzoli Museum hosts the exhibition Science in Motion: Eadweard Muybridge, Harold Edgerton, Berenice Abbott. Photographs from the Collection of Bank of America. Through more than 30 works, the exhibition aims to present the scientific studies conducted in the first half of the twentieth century by three revolutionary photographers Eadweard Muybridge, Harold Edgerton and Berenice Abbott, who marked an important meeting point between science and art. Each of these artists invented devices to study and represent aspects of light and motion. Their works not only illustrate scientific phenomena, but also express the individual artistic qualities of each photographer. Through their work, the union of science and photography proved extremely fruitful, leading to the creation of new technologies and teaching methods that contributed significantly to the entry of the modern era.

Photography grew out of a close relationship between art and science: the pioneers of this medium were in fact inventors, scientists, and mathematicians. The results of their experiments had a strong impact on this art form and created a relationship between art and science that continues to this day. After its invention, announced in 1839, photography became the preferred tool for scientific investigation, generating a new art form.

“With this exhibition we want to continue the dialogue with different artistic expressions, from the past to the present, from the taste of Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli to the aesthetics of the greats of photography: the Collector’s Room gives the public an intense and original visual investigation of how art and science were inextricably linked at the dawn of photography,” says Alessandra Quarto, director of the Poldi Pezzoli Museum. “The exhibition will also be a way to reach and engage a different kind of audience, which thanks to photography will be able to approach the Poldi Pezzoli and discover its collections.”

The exhibition, sponsored by the City of Milan, is accompanied throughout the summer by in-depth activities carried out by the Museum’s Educational Services with focus on the idea of the representation of movement, a comparison between painting and photography, and what the scientific study of light has allowed us to discover about movement, both for adults and children. This exhibition is on loan through the Bank of America Art in our Communities® program.

For info: www.museopoldipezzoli.it

Hours: Wednesday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Closed Tuesdays.

Image: Eadweard Muybridge, Daisy Cantering.

An exhibition at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum on scientific studies conducted in the early 1900s by three photographers

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