Plate Number 240. Sitting and flirting a fan 1887

Curator: Ah, another captivating work by Eadweard Muybridge. This particular plate, numbered 240, from 1887, is titled "Sitting and flirting a fan." It's one of his photographic sequences exploring human locomotion. Editor: Locomotion…or a lovely day interrupted by sitting! Honestly, my first thought is how self-conscious the woman seems. There's a stiffness in the poses, a performed quality. Like, "Oh, am I being photographed? Better look…charming." Curator: Precisely! It's vital to remember the Victorian era’s constraints on female behavior. This wasn't a candid shot; these were meticulously planned, sequential photographs intended to analyze movement. We can see how her identity is shaped by those constraints; flirting isn't just a gesture but a social performance. Editor: A very beige performance, I might add! It’s so drained of color that the gesture reads less 'flirting' and more 'polite hand-waving'. Did flirting even exist back then if it couldn’t be in Technicolor? Curator: I think it’s in how that 'polite hand-waving', as you put it, disrupts or reinforces social hierarchies. Who is she flirting *for*? Is this about self-expression or upholding societal expectations? The fan itself is a symbol laden with coded meanings of the time. Editor: True. The fan is working overtime. But it also feels so…scientific, doesn't it? All those evenly spaced frames. Like a specimen pinned to a board. It’s weirdly dehumanizing, even while trying to capture the essence of human motion. Curator: And that tension is crucial. Muybridge’s work sits at the intersection of art and science, influencing not just photography but also fields like biomechanics and, eventually, cinema. But your observation speaks to the limitations of such an approach, particularly concerning representing women. Editor: So, we’ve gone from a potentially flirtatious lady to a dissected object of study. What a trajectory! Though I suppose, either way, she wasn't really in control of the narrative, was she? Curator: Indeed. This piece reveals, perhaps unintentionally, the power dynamics inherent in both Victorian society and the emerging medium of photography. Editor: Food for thought indeed. Makes you rethink that innocent-looking fan, doesn’t it?