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Animals in Motion
"The dry plate's most spectacular early use was by Eadweard Muybridge." — Life
"A really marvelous series of plates." — Nature (London)
"These photographs have resolved many complicated questions." — Art Journal
Here is the largest, most comprehensive selection of Muybridge's famous animal photos — more than 4,000 high-speed shots of 34 different animals and birds, in 123 different types of actions. Animals are shown walking, running, leaping, flying — in typical actions. The horse alone is shown in more than 40 different galloping with nude rider, trotting, pacing with sulky, cantering, jumping hurdles, carrying, rolling on barrels, and 36 other actions. All photos taken against ruled backgrounds; most actions taken from 3 angles at 90 degrees, 60 degrees, rear. Foreshortened views are included.
These are true action photos, stopped in series, taken at speeds up to 1/2000th of a second. Actions are illustrated in series, with as many as 50 shots per action. Muybridge worked with the University of Pennsylvania for three years, made more than 100,000 exposures, and spent more than $50,000. His work has never been superseded as a lifetime reference for animators, illustrators, artists, and art directors.
"A really marvelous series of plates." — Nature (London)
"These photographs have resolved many complicated questions." — Art Journal
Here is the largest, most comprehensive selection of Muybridge's famous animal photos — more than 4,000 high-speed shots of 34 different animals and birds, in 123 different types of actions. Animals are shown walking, running, leaping, flying — in typical actions. The horse alone is shown in more than 40 different galloping with nude rider, trotting, pacing with sulky, cantering, jumping hurdles, carrying, rolling on barrels, and 36 other actions. All photos taken against ruled backgrounds; most actions taken from 3 angles at 90 degrees, 60 degrees, rear. Foreshortened views are included.
These are true action photos, stopped in series, taken at speeds up to 1/2000th of a second. Actions are illustrated in series, with as many as 50 shots per action. Muybridge worked with the University of Pennsylvania for three years, made more than 100,000 exposures, and spent more than $50,000. His work has never been superseded as a lifetime reference for animators, illustrators, artists, and art directors.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1957
12 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
About the author
Eadweard Muybridge
76 books16 followersEadweard James Muybridge (/ˌɛdwərd ˈmaɪbrɪdʒ/; 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, birth name Edward James Muggeridge) was an English photographer important for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He adopted the name Eadweard Muybridge, believing it to be the original Anglo-Saxon form of his name.
He emigrated to the United States as a young man and became a bookseller. He returned to England in 1861 and took up professional photography, learning the wet-plate collodion process, and secured at least two British patents for his inventions. He went back to San Francisco in 1867, and in 1868 his large photographs of Yosemite Valley made him world famous. Today, Muybridge is known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion in 1877 and 1878, which used multiple cameras to capture motion in stop-motion photographs, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible perforated film strip used in cinematography.
He travelled for more than a year in Central America on a photographic expedition in 1875.
In the 1880s, Muybridge entered a very productive period at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, producing over 100,000 images of animals and humans in motion, capturing what the human eye could not distinguish as separate movements. He spent much of his later years giving public lectures and demonstrations of his photography and early motion picture sequences, traveling back to England and Europe to publicise his work. He also edited and published compilations of his work, which greatly influenced visual artists and the developing fields of scientific and industrial photography. He returned to his native England permanently in 1894, and in 1904, the Kingston Museum, containing a collection of his equipment, was opened in his hometown.
Influence:
According to an exhibition at Tate Britain, "His influence has forever changed our understanding and interpretation of the world, and can be found in many diverse fields, from Marcel Duchamp's painting Nude Descending a Staircase and countless works by Francis Bacon, to the blockbuster film The Matrix and Philip Glass's opera The Photographer."
Étienne-Jules Marey — recorded the first series of live action photos with a single camera by a method of chronophotography; influenced and was influenced by Muybridge's work
Thomas Eakins — American artist who worked with and continued Muybridge's motion studies, and incorporated the findings into his own artwork
William Dickson — credited as inventor of the motion picture camera
Thomas Edison — developed and owned patents for motion picture cameras
Marcel Duchamp — artist, painted Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, inspired by multiple-exposure photography
Harold Eugene Edgerton — pioneered stroboscopic and high speed photography and film, producing an Oscar-winning short movie and many striking photographic sequences
Francis Bacon — painted from Muybridge photographs
John Gaeta — used the principles of Muybridge photography to create the bullet time slow-motion technique of the 1999 movie The Matrix.
Steven Pippin — so-called Young British Artist who converted a row of laundromat washing machines into sequential cameras in the style of Muybridge
Wayne McGregor — UK choreographer collaborated with composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and artist Mark Wallinger on a piece entitled "Undance", inspired by Muybridge's 'action verbs'
He emigrated to the United States as a young man and became a bookseller. He returned to England in 1861 and took up professional photography, learning the wet-plate collodion process, and secured at least two British patents for his inventions. He went back to San Francisco in 1867, and in 1868 his large photographs of Yosemite Valley made him world famous. Today, Muybridge is known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion in 1877 and 1878, which used multiple cameras to capture motion in stop-motion photographs, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible perforated film strip used in cinematography.
He travelled for more than a year in Central America on a photographic expedition in 1875.
In the 1880s, Muybridge entered a very productive period at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, producing over 100,000 images of animals and humans in motion, capturing what the human eye could not distinguish as separate movements. He spent much of his later years giving public lectures and demonstrations of his photography and early motion picture sequences, traveling back to England and Europe to publicise his work. He also edited and published compilations of his work, which greatly influenced visual artists and the developing fields of scientific and industrial photography. He returned to his native England permanently in 1894, and in 1904, the Kingston Museum, containing a collection of his equipment, was opened in his hometown.
Influence:
According to an exhibition at Tate Britain, "His influence has forever changed our understanding and interpretation of the world, and can be found in many diverse fields, from Marcel Duchamp's painting Nude Descending a Staircase and countless works by Francis Bacon, to the blockbuster film The Matrix and Philip Glass's opera The Photographer."
Étienne-Jules Marey — recorded the first series of live action photos with a single camera by a method of chronophotography; influenced and was influenced by Muybridge's work
Thomas Eakins — American artist who worked with and continued Muybridge's motion studies, and incorporated the findings into his own artwork
William Dickson — credited as inventor of the motion picture camera
Thomas Edison — developed and owned patents for motion picture cameras
Marcel Duchamp — artist, painted Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, inspired by multiple-exposure photography
Harold Eugene Edgerton — pioneered stroboscopic and high speed photography and film, producing an Oscar-winning short movie and many striking photographic sequences
Francis Bacon — painted from Muybridge photographs
John Gaeta — used the principles of Muybridge photography to create the bullet time slow-motion technique of the 1999 movie The Matrix.
Steven Pippin — so-called Young British Artist who converted a row of laundromat washing machines into sequential cameras in the style of Muybridge
Wayne McGregor — UK choreographer collaborated with composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and artist Mark Wallinger on a piece entitled "Undance", inspired by Muybridge's 'action verbs'
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 19, 2018
Splendid book! The thickest of it is pictures, the types of which are imbued by the example of horse race photography - black & white, sequenced, and diverse. It is useful in the sense there are multiple animals, views, and walk cycles exampled.
November 29, 2012
a great resource! I've used it to add horses and deer and kitty cats to a variety of work.
April 5, 2013
Beautiful and useful. A great resource whether you're into drawing or animation!
July 6, 2016
An early book on animal locomotion featuring many sequential photographs of animals, including man, in motion.
May 22, 2017
This is an important book, and I was recently reminded of this by a poem published in Narrative.
The poem about Eadward Muybridge perpetuates an error about gait. The poem says a mare was the subject of the bet, and it describes her gallop, that she was "running" and that trip wires were used to photograph the moment all four feet are off the ground. It details how she belonged to Leland Stanford who wanted to win a bet about suspension. Only some of that is true.
According to Muybridge, it was Occident who was filmed to win the bet. This Dover reprint of his book records this fact. I do not discount the possibility that Muybridge lied. He might have done. Trip wires were used much later in Muybridge's career.
In any event, Stanford's was a trotting horse and photos of that horse's gait demonstrate what horse people doubt even today: in one stage of the flying trot, all four feet are suspended. People accepted that this was true at the gallop, while running, but not at the trot. The evidence is there. Here is my poem about this same issue from a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZOu_...
Anyone may say anything in a poem, and most websites, including university sites, are also mistaken about these details. In Stanford's day, horses were raced not only at the gallop but also others were raced under harness, both trotters and pacers. Stanford had famous trotting horses. Few people accept that at the trot a horse's gait is suspended, even when faced with the photographs that prove it. But the photos exist.
The poem about Eadward Muybridge perpetuates an error about gait. The poem says a mare was the subject of the bet, and it describes her gallop, that she was "running" and that trip wires were used to photograph the moment all four feet are off the ground. It details how she belonged to Leland Stanford who wanted to win a bet about suspension. Only some of that is true.
According to Muybridge, it was Occident who was filmed to win the bet. This Dover reprint of his book records this fact. I do not discount the possibility that Muybridge lied. He might have done. Trip wires were used much later in Muybridge's career.
In any event, Stanford's was a trotting horse and photos of that horse's gait demonstrate what horse people doubt even today: in one stage of the flying trot, all four feet are suspended. People accepted that this was true at the gallop, while running, but not at the trot. The evidence is there. Here is my poem about this same issue from a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZOu_...
Anyone may say anything in a poem, and most websites, including university sites, are also mistaken about these details. In Stanford's day, horses were raced not only at the gallop but also others were raced under harness, both trotters and pacers. Stanford had famous trotting horses. Few people accept that at the trot a horse's gait is suspended, even when faced with the photographs that prove it. But the photos exist.
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January 16, 2023Excuse me, but what the hell is this supposed to be? This is nothing else but a scam!
Though I am not reviewing the actual book of Eadweard Muybridge, but what the publisher Wentworth Press did.
For the price (around 20 euro for a softcover, 30 for a hardcover) I was expecting an actual reproduction of the book Made over a century ago.
And what did I get?
Small (10x15 cm) black and white (not even grayscale) photos of the original book with around 60% negative space. Because the original was horizontal, and this book is vertical. They didn’t even rotate the pages for a better fit.
No added value. No comment with the exception of the small review at the back of the book.
And what’s worse is that this work is in public domain. So you can quickly get a high quality colorful pdf of this book for free.
I am outraged that such a publication of such a classic is still available to buy.
Though I am not reviewing the actual book of Eadweard Muybridge, but what the publisher Wentworth Press did.
For the price (around 20 euro for a softcover, 30 for a hardcover) I was expecting an actual reproduction of the book Made over a century ago.
And what did I get?
Small (10x15 cm) black and white (not even grayscale) photos of the original book with around 60% negative space. Because the original was horizontal, and this book is vertical. They didn’t even rotate the pages for a better fit.
No added value. No comment with the exception of the small review at the back of the book.
And what’s worse is that this work is in public domain. So you can quickly get a high quality colorful pdf of this book for free.
I am outraged that such a publication of such a classic is still available to buy.
March 24, 2021
An amazing books for artists to decompose animal movement
February 18, 2016
I feel this is a good fit for any artist's reference library shelf. I refer to the animal images frequently. It covers a large number of species, and I was not disappointed in the purchase. Animal painters of any genre would be happy to add this to their collection.
December 15, 2019
*Contains photography of some nude figures
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews