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Georges Demenÿ (1850-1918) is known
today as one of the founders of physical education in
France and a key figure in the movement which saw
physical education and sport as a means of national
regeneration, both physical and spiritual. Marey took
Demenÿ on as an aide in 1881 and a year later had him
officially named his "préparateur", or assistant, at the
Collège de France. Demenÿ would become indispensable in
front of and behind the camera; he made and processed
the bulk of the photographic experiments; he was put in
charge of the dynamometers and odometers employed to
measure force and distance, respectively, and he was
responsible for deciphering and collating the complex
data which these machines furnished.
By the spring of 1883, Demenÿ had a
black “hangar” constructed for Marey as a backdrop for
his photographic experiments at the rim of the outer
oval of the Station Physiologique This was a shed 3
meters deep, fifteen meters long and four meters high.
It was oriented so that the sun did not penetrate its
depths but did illuminate the walking subject passing in
front of it. He had the interior painted black but then
darkened it further by covering the walls and floor with
black velvet. This second hangar noir replaced an
earlier version which was too shallow and let in too
much sunlight that fogged the plates. |
