Animal Locomotion. An Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements. Commenced 1872 - Completed 1885. Volume II, Men (Nude)

Art Historical Context

Eadweard Muybridge’s *Animal Locomotion* represents one of the most ambitious photographic projects of the nineteenth century. Completed between 2 and 1885 the multi-volume work used a battery of cameras triggered in rapid succession to capture split-second phases of human and animal movement. Volume II focuses on the male nude, presenting dozens of sequential images that reveal how the body shifts weight, balances, and propels itself—details invisible to the unaided eye. Muybridge’s innovative technique combined scientific precision with artistic vision. By printing the results as high-quality photogravures, he created durable plates suitable for both laboratory study and artistic reference. These sequences profoundly influenced painters, sculptors, and early filmmakers, helping to dismantle long-held assumptions about how figures move through space. Today the plates stand as a bridge between Victorian photography and modern motion studies. Their elegant, grid-like arrangements continue to fascinate viewers, offering both empirical data and striking visual poetry.

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...