Plate Number 338. Boxing, open hand

Art Historical Context

Eadweard Muybridge *Plate Number 338., open hand* (1887) captures a pivotal moment in the history of photography and motion studies. Part of Muybridge's groundbreaking *Animal Locomotion*, this collotype print freezes a nude male figure mid-boxing stance, palm extended, showcasing the artist's obsession with dissecting human movement. Commissioned initially for scientific study, these sequential images revolutionized how we understand anatomy in action, bridging art, science, and early cinema. Printed via collotype—a precise photomechanical process that allowed for richly detailed reproductions—this 22.9 × 32.4 cm image on a larger 48.4 × 61.4 cm sheet exemplifies Muybridge's technical innovation. Using banks of cameras triggered by electro-mechanical devices, he produced thousands of plates like this one, proving that even the galloping horse (famously) had all four hooves off the ground at times. 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 dynamic analysis. This work not only influenced artists like Marcel Duchamp and filmmakers like the Lumière brothers but also sparked debates on nudity in art versus science. Visitors, imagine the thrill of Muybridge's Victorian-era "zoöpraxiscope" projecting these plates to life—early motion pictures in the making!

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...