Horse and Rider, from 'Attitudes of Animals in Motion...', 1881

This print is a plate from Muybridge's first publication in the field of sequential movement, Attitudes of Animals in Motion: A Series of Photographs Illustrating the Consecutive Positions Assumed by Animals in Performing Various Movements. The photographs resulted from a scientific experiment Muybridge undertook for Leland Stanford, to prove that a horse moving at full speed has all four hooves off the ground. To capture the images, the photographer lined up a battery of 12-24 cameras with fast-acting lenses and placed thin threads across the path of the horse so that the shutters were set off as it passed. It has been suggested that Muybridge compiled only five copies of the book from images he printed himself.