Plate Number 341. Boxing, open hand

Art Historical Context

Step into the groundbreaking world of motion captured in stillness with *Plate Number 341. Boxing, open hand* by Eadweard Muy, created in 1887. This collotype print, measuring 21 × 36.8 cm, is part of Muybridge's monumental *Animal Locomotion* series a 781-plate study that revolutionized how we understand movement. Here, a male figure demonstrates a dynamic boxing pose with an open, frozen in sequential frames that reveal the fluid mechanics of the human body in action. Muybridge, a pioneering photographer of the late 19th century, used multiple cameras triggered in rapid succession to dissect motion, debunking artistic myths about anatomy and gait. Commissioned originally by Leland Stanford to prove a horse's gallop, his work expanded to humans, influencing early cinema pioneers like Thomas Edison and the Lumière brothers. This plate exemplifies chronophotography, bridging still photography and film. Printed via collotype—a precise photomechanical process for reproducing fine details—this piece from the National Gallery of Art's Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, 1887) invites us to marvel at Muybridge's ingenuity. Imagine Victorian audiences poring over these plates, glimpsing the future of visual storytelling. A testament to scientific curiosity and artistic innovation!

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...