Plate Number 126. Descending stairs

1887

Eadweard Muybridge

Associated Names
Eadweard Muybridge

Artist, American, born England, 1830 - 1904

This is a photograph of a sequential series depicting a figure walking down a short set of steps. The image captures eleven separate frames, showing the gradual movement as the figure descends from left to right, providing a detailed analysis of human movement. The background of each frame features a grid pattern. Each frame is numbered at the bottom, indicating their order in the sequence. The overall appearance has a historical quality and appears to be a study of motion captured in black and white.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    collotype

  • Credit Line

    Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, 1887)

  • Dimensions

    image: 21.8 × 34 cm (8 9/16 × 13 3/8 in.)
    sheet: 47.6 × 60.2 cm (18 3/4 × 23 11/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2014.79.175

  • Series Title

    Animal Locomotion: An Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Eadweard Muybridge, Philadelphia, PA; purchased by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1887; acquired by NGA, 2014.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

printed, lower center underneath image in black ink: ANIMAL LOCOMOTION. PLATE. 126 / Copyright, 1887, by EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE. All rights reserved.; on verso, by Corcoran Gallery of Art, lower left in red pencil: 87.7.126

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