Plate 637
Jumping a hurdle; saddle; clearing, landing and recovering; bay horse Daisy, 1887
From the portfolio: Animal Locomotion
Vintage collotype
Image size 10 x 12 inches
Sheet size 14 x 20 inches
February 20, 2023
In 1872 Eadweard Muybridge was hired by Leland Stanford, the former governor of California, to make a photograph that would be the first of its kind: a picture capturing the gait of Stanford's racehorse Occident, all legs in the air, when galloping at full speed. Thus began Muybridge’s quest to develop high-speed photography that could create a sequence of images, capturing “animal locomotion." His early achievements in this area were reported around the world and he became a global sensation.
In 1883, the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, invited Muybridge to dedicate himself fully to this project. For the next three years, he worked prolifically, using a 12-camera setup in an outdoor studio. He recruited athletes and local residents as models, and borrowed animals from the Philadelphia Zoo. The photos were published in 1887 as the groundbreaking Animal Locomotion: an Electro-photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements. The 11 volume portfolio contained 781 collotype plates, which Muybridge offered for sale in groupings of 100 plates or more.
We have recently acquired an album with over 100 original collotype prints, and will exhibit a selection of them at the 2023 Photography Show, presented by AIPAD from March 31 to April 2.
