Eadweard Muybridge, 9 Apr 1830 - 8 May 1904

Why this artist matters now

Eadweard Muybridge was a British-American photographer and printmaker who created pioneering sequential images of human and animal locomotion in the 1870s and 1880s. His systematic photographic studies, captured using multiple cameras arranged in sequence, were later compiled into large-format folios and printed as collotype plates that became foundational documents for understanding movement. Working in San Francisco and Philadelphia, Muybridge produced thousands of sequential photographs that informed both scientific inquiry and artistic practice. His methodical approach to capturing motion anticipated cinema and influenced artists, animators, and biomechanists for generations.

Source: Smithsonian Institution · Trust score: 40% · Updated 21d ago