Animal Locomotion

Eadweard Muybridge was an American photographer who pioneered sequential motion photography in the 1870s and 1880s. Using high-speed cameras and methodical plate sequences, he captured animals and human figures in locomotion, creating the foundational visual archive for understanding movement. His systematic studies, particularly of horses and the human body, were published in Animal Locomotion (1887) and influenced both scientific inquiry and artistic practice across photography, painting, and early cinema. Muybridge's gridded contact sheets established a new visual language for analyzing time and bodies.