Plate Number 380. Carpenter, sawing a board

Art Historical Context

Step into the groundbreaking world of motion capture with *Plate Number 380. Carpenter, saw a board* by Eadweard Muybridge, created in 1887. This collotype print captures a carpenter in mid-action, sawing a board with precise sequential frames that freeze the fluidity of human movement. Part of Muybridge's monumental *Animal Locomotion* series massive 11-volume publication of 781 plates—this image exemplifies his pioneering chronophotography, where multiple cameras triggered in rapid succession dissected everyday actions into their elemental phases. Muybridge, a British-American photographer, revolutionized visual science after his famous 1870s experiments proving that a trotting horse lifts all four hooves off the ground. By 1887, he expanded to human subjects, employing up to 24 cameras and electrified shutters for split-second exposures. The collotype medium, a photomechanical printing process, allowed for exquisite detail reproduction on a grand scale (sheet: 48.2 × 61 cm), making these studies accessible to scientists, artists, and the public alike. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's Corcoran Collection, this plate highlights the artistic significance of Muybridge's work: it bridged photography and cinema, inspiring filmmakers like the Lumière brothers and animators. Imagine the carpenter's rhythmic sawing strokes coming alive— a testament to how one man's curiosity forever changed our perception of time and 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...