Prints and Authors in the Time of Manet

Animal Locomotion, Plate 332

Collotype, 1887
Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1982.204

After losing a lawsuit against the tycoon Leland Stanford (see Animal Locomotion, Plate 624), Eadweard Muybridge accepted an invitation from the University of Pennsylvania to continue his experiments in motion photography. Working alongside painter and art professor Thomas Eakins, Muybridge concentrated on the motion of the human body, photographing athletes, professors, students, and professional models in a variety of activities. By 1887, Muybridge completed 781 motion studies and published a book, Animal Locomotion.
This wrestling contest between two men is an especially successful example of Muybridge’s motion studies. Animal Locomotion influenced painters including Eakins, Remington, and Degas and provided the basis for Thomas Edison’s first experiments in cinematography.