Untitled, plate 582 from the series "Animal Locomotion"

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Artist/Maker Eadweard Muybridge (American, born England, 1830 - 1904)

Datec. 1884-87 (published 1887)

MediumCollotype on paper, mounted on board

DimensionsImage: 7 9/16 × 15 9/16 in. (19.2 × 39.5 cm) Composition: 13 11/16 × 19 7/16 in. (34.8 × 49.4 cm) Sheet: 18 3/4 × 23 3/4 in. (47.6 × 60.3 cm)

Credit LineGift of William E. Williams, Class of 1973

Object number2011.8.4

Not on view

DescriptionIn 1872, the photographer Eadweard Muybridge launched his photographic investigations into movement, which “surprised the world by challenging all received conceptions of animal motion.” His photographs, shot consecutively at regular increments (some as small as one five-thousandth of a second), revealed the awkward moments within what the human eye saw as a graceful continuum of movement. Muybridge used his camera to capture details beyond the limits of what individuals could perceive, lending power to the nascent field of photography, in which art and science served a common purpose. Muybridge’s eleven-volume publication Animal Locomotion includes 781 collotype plates, which he began making in 1883 under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania. Each plate contains twelve to thirty-six frames showing the gaits of a variety of animals as well as men, women, and children executing everyday actions. Ninety-five of the plates, such as the one shown opposite (plate 582), focused on horses. The interdisciplinary nature of the project is indicated by the range of subscribers to Animal Locomotion: colleges and universities; veterinary, anatomical, and physiological programs; archaeological institutes; art museums; and schools of industrial design. When presenting his research, Muybridge often contrasted his photographs with prehistoric and ancient works of art depicting animals in motion, revealing the flaws of those examples; his most famous counterexample was the equestrian statue of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in the Campidoglio, Rome. Many artists subsequently studied Muybridge’s plates to make the anatomical aspects of their works more realistic. As a student, William E. Williams, Class of 1973, who gave this plate to the College, had been encouraged to pursue photography by Silvia Saunders (see cat. nos. 71–73). In addition to his career as an artist (see cat. nos. 108, 122), he is currently the Audrey A. and John L. Dusseau Professor in the Humanities at Haverford College. Williams curated a number of exhibitions at the Emerson Gallery, in addition to exhibiting his own work there. (SOURCE: Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS, 2017)

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Photography

Additional Details

Exhibition History 2020
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "SUM Artists: Visual Diagrams and Systems-Based Explorations," February 15 - June 14, 2020.

2017
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions: The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Five Years, Highlights from the Permanent Collection," September 9 - December 10, 2017 (cat. no. 53, illus.).

Provenance 2011: Hamilton College (Fred L. Emerson Gallery), by gift of William E. Williams.

Markings None noted.

Published References Katherine D. Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS: THE RUTH AND ELMER WELLIN MUSEUM OF ART AT FIVE YEARS, HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION (Clinton, NY: Wellin Museum of Art, 2017), p. 136.

Signature Not signed.

Inscribed "Copyright, 1887, by EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE. All rights reserved." at lower center in typeset;"ANIMAL LOCOMOTION. PLATE 582" at lower center of plate in typeset; "LMG - 2 / 1000" on verso at lower right in pencil.