The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Football Kick

1938

Harold Eugene Edgerton

(American, 1903–1990)
publisher

Palm Press, Inc.

America
dye diffusion transfer process color print
Image: 42.5 x 35.7 cm (16 3/4 x 14 1/16 in.); Paper: 50.6 x 40.5 cm (19 15/16 x 15 15/16 in.)
Gift of the Harold and Esther Edgerton Family Foundation 1996.347.1
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This was one of the first color photographs taken using a strobe.

Description

In 1931, electrical engineer Harold Edgerton invented the stroboscope or strobe, a flash that produces split-second bursts of light. It allows photographs to freeze objects in motion and show phenomenon not visible to the unaided eye. It undoubtedly took many tries to create this image. He made it in his lab at MIT, which would have been in total darkness before the flash went off, making it impossible for the kicker to see the ball.
  • The Harold and Esther Edgerton Family Foundation, Santa Fe, NM
    December 2, 1996
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Football Kick|url=false|author=Harold Eugene Edgerton, Palm Press, Inc.|year=1938|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1996.347.1