Plate Number 378. Blacksmith, hammering on anvil with two hands

Art Historical Context

Step into the groundbreaking world of motion photography with *Plate Number 378. Blacksmith, on anvil with two hands by Eadweard Muybridge, created in 1887. Muybridge, a pioneering British-American photographer, captured this dynamic sequence as part of his monumental *Animal Locomotion*—11,000 photographs documenting human and animal movement using a battery of 24 cameras triggered in rapid succession. Commissioned by the University of Pennsylvania, these studies shattered preconceptions about how bodies move, influencing artists like Thomas Eakins and even laying groundwork for motion pictures. Printed as a collotype—a precise photomechanical process that reproduced Muybridge's negatives with exceptional detail—this 19.6 × 38.6 cm image freezes a blacksmith mid-action across multiple frames. The muscular figure, gripping the hammer with both hands, embodies the raw power of 19th-century labor, transforming everyday toil into scientific artistry. Acquired by the Corcoran Gallery in 1887 and now in the National Gallery of Art's Corcoran Collection, it highlights photography's shift from static portraiture to analytical tool. This plate not only showcases Muybridge's technical genius but also celebrates human kinetics, inviting us to marvel at the blacksmith's rhythmic force— a timeless nod to the artistry in everyday work.

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...