Plate Number 345. Wrestling, lock

Art Historical Context

Eadweard Muybridge's *Plate Number 345., lock* (1887) is a captivating entry from his groundbreaking *Animal Locomotion* series, which meticulously documented human and animal movement through sequential photography. Captured at the University of Pennsylvania, this collotype print—measuring 17.4 × 44.3 cm—freezes a dynamic wrestling maneuver in multiple frames, revealing the subtle shifts of two nude male figures locked in a tense grapple. Muybridge, a British-born innovator, transformed photography into a scientific tool after proving in 1872 that horses briefly "fly" during a gallop, paving the way for motion pictures. The collotype medium, prized for its rich tonal range and fidelity to the original negatives, allowed mass production of these studies for researchers, artists, and the public. Muybridge employed an array of up to 24 cameras synchronized by electro-mechanical triggers, dissecting motion into fractions of a second. This plate exemplifies his chronophotographic technique, blending art and science to unveil the body's hidden rhythms. Now part of the National Gallery of Art's Corcoran Collection, this work underscores Muybridge's enduring legacy: influencing pioneers like Marcel Duchamp and the birth of cinema. Visitors will appreciate how it turns a raw athletic struggle into a timeless study of human form and physics.

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...