Plate Number 292. Cricket, batting and back cut

Art Historical Context

Step into the groundbreaking world of motion captured in stillness with *Plate Number 292. Cricket, batting and back cut* by Eadweard Muybridge, created in 1887. This collotype print, measuring 15 × 44.5 cm in its image area, freezes a sequence of a cricketer mid-action—poised to bat and executing a precise back cut. Part of Muybridge's pioneering *Animal Locomotion* series, it showcases human movement with scientific precision, transforming a dynamic sport into a series of frozen instants. Muybridge, a British-American photographer, revolutionized visual arts in the late 19th century through chronophotography. Using multiple cameras triggered in rapid succession, he debunked myths about motion (like the galloping horse) and influenced early cinema pioneers like the Lumière brothers. This plate, acquired by the Corcoran Gallery in 1887 and now in the National Gallery of Art's collection, highlights cricket's elegance—a beloved British pastime—analyzed through Muybridge's lens. The collotype medium, a photomechanical process prized for its tonal fidelity, allowed mass production of these studies for scientists, artists, and enthusiasts. Beyond athletics, it underscores photography's shift from static portraiture to dynamic analysis, bridging art, science, and culture in an era of industrial innovation. A timeless snapshot of human grace in motion!

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...