Labor studies

Eadweard Muybridge (1830 – 1904)

Photographer

Eadweard Muybridge (1830 – 1904) Photographer of nature (Yosemite Park)

Eadweard Muybridge (1830 – 1904) Photographer of nature (Yosemite Park) of war

Eadweard Muybridge (1830 – 1904) Photographer of nature (Yosemite Park) of war of ethnic groups

Eadweard Muybridge (1830 – 1904) Photographer of nature (Yosemite Park) of war of ethnic groups Using photography to capture humans and animals in motion: series of cameras that are triggered by threads

Muybridge, Horse in motion

Eadweard Muybridge (1830 – 1904)

Étinenne-Jules Marey (1830 – 1904)

Physiologist

Invents chronophotograph to capture motion 12 frames per second, recorded on same picture

Chronophotograph (1882)

Marey’s child movement studies

Marey’s chronophotography in action

Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending A Staircase (1912)

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 – 1915)

entered Harvard

Almost entered Harvard

Almost entered Harvard, but instead apprenticed himself to Enterprise Hydraulic Works in Philadelphia

Sought to improve productivity in how workers use machines and tools: “the greatest prosperity can exist only […] when each man and each machine are turning out the largest possible output” (12).

Almost entered Harvard, but instead apprenticed himself to Enterprise Hydraulic Works in Philadelphia Sought to improve productivity in how workers use machines and tools: “the greatest prosperity can exist only […] when each man and each machine are turning out the largest possible output” (12).

Against rule-of-thumb method; experiment in order to economize all movements

Brick-laying: “Through all this minute study of the motions to be made by the bricklayer in laying bricks in standard conditions, Mr. Gilbreth has reduced his movements from eighteen motions per brick to five, and even in one case to as low as two motions per brick” (79) (Detailed in “Motion Study”)

Experiments in order to economize movement Brick-laying: “Through all this minute study of the motions to be made by the bricklayer in laying bricks in standard conditions, Mr. Gilbreth has reduced his movements from eighteen motions per brick to five, and even in one case to as low as two motions per brick” (79) (Detailed in “Motion Study”)

Against rule-of-thumb method; experiment in order to economize all movements Break down motions into parts; eliminate unnecessary motions

“After completing this series of experiments, therefore, each man’s work for each day was translated into foot-pounds of energy” (55)

Against rule-of-thumb method; experiment in order to economize all movements Break down motions into parts; eliminate unnecessary motions Conserving energy

Management implications: Division between manager (scientist) and worker.

Pig iron: “The pig-iron handler stoops down, picks up a pig weighing about 92 pounds, walks for a few feet or yards and then drops it on to the ground or upon a pile. This work is so crude and elementary in its nature that the writer firmly believes that it would be possible to train an intelligent gorilla so as to become a more efficient pig-iron handler than any man can be.” (40).

solve: under-working (intentionally going too slowly can be tiring)

solve: under-working (intentionally going too slowly can be tiring) soldiering

solve: under-working (intentionally going too slowly can be tiring) soldiering Preserve: Division between management and worker

solve: under-working (intentionally going too slowly can be tiring) soldiering Preserve: Division between management and worker Common prosperity

Henry Ford’s Model T assembly line

Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874 – 1940) Theater of the first machine age

Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874 – 1940) Theater of the first machine age New acting and movement: biomechanics

Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874 – 1940) Theater of the first machine age New acting and movement: biomechanics Taylorism for the stage

Meyerhold’s biomechanics