Sociedad Economica, Guatemala
1875, published 1877
Medium
Photography-Photoprint
Classification
Photography-Photoprint
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Jeffrey A. Lichtenberg in honor of his parents Laura and Harold Lichtenberg
Accession Number
1999.97.27
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1875, pioneering photographer Eadweardbridge captured *Sociedad Economica,*, a vivid photoprint depicting a bustling street scene alive with figures. Published in 1877 this image showcases the architectural facade of the Sociedad Económica—likely a nod to Guatemala's historic Economic Society of Friends of the Country, a hub of intellectual and commercial life during the late colonial and early republican eras. Muybridge, already renowned for his sweeping landscapes of the American West, turned his lens southward during a rare expedition to Central America, documenting everyday vibrancy ami...
About the Artist
Eadweard Muybridge · 1830–1904
Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) was an English-American photographer who revolutionized the understanding of motion through his pioneering chronophotographic studies. Born Edward James Muggeridge in Kingston upon Thames, England, he emigrated to America and became famous first for his dramatic landscape photographs of Yosemite Valley, then for his groundbreaking motion studies that proved horses li...