Plate Number 165. Jumping and pole-vaulting 1887

This is Eadweard Muybridge’s ‘Plate Number 165. Jumping and pole-vaulting’, a photographic sequence capturing a figure in motion. Created during the late 19th century, this work exists within a milieu of scientific inquiry and evolving perceptions of the body. Muybridge's photographs, while pioneering in their study of human and animal locomotion, were also products of their time. The subject, presented unclothed, invites us to consider the voyeuristic gaze inherent in such studies. In Victorian society, the male body was often subjected to different standards of objectification than the female body. As you look at these images, consider the relationship between movement and identity. How does capturing a body in motion change our understanding of it? And what does it mean to observe this figure engaged in an act of athleticism, framed within the aesthetic and scientific ideals of the 19th century? Muybridge's work prompts us to reflect on how we perceive, represent, and study the human form.