Descending an Incline, Female (Nude)
| Artist | Eadweard Muybridge (American (born England), 1830 - 1904) |
|---|---|
| Title | Descending an Incline, Female (Nude) |
| Plate Number | Plate 117 |
| Series | Animal Locomotion: An Electro-photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements, 1972-1885, vol. III: Females (nude) |
| Date | 1887 |
| Medium | Collotype |
| Dimensions | Image (without border): 9 1/8 × 12 5/8 in. (23.2 × 32.1 cm) Sheet: 18 11/16 × 23 1/2 in. (47.5 × 59.7 cm) Image (with printed border): 13 9/16 × 19 1/2 in. (34.4 × 49.5 cm) |
| Credit Line | Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 94.72 |
| This artwork is currently off display. You may be able to see this artwork by filling out an art viewing room request. | |
This black-and-white image depicts a light-skinned nude female figure walking down an incline against a black background with thin, horizontal white lines. She is shown in sequential order with multiple images in three horizonal rows. In the top row, she is depicted from the side walking toward the right side; in the middle row, she is shown from the front walking towards the viewer; and in the lower row, she is seen from the back walking down towards the bottom right.
While Eadweard Muybridge’s sequential motion studies—created with a series of separate cameras activated by trip wires—are credited with initiating the concept of the moving/motion picture (film), they were originally published as a way to provide an easily accessible, cheap alternative to live model for artists. Based in a long academic tradition, Muybridge’s nude women engage in poses and activities akin to those of neoclassical artists’ oriental slave girls. Although using actual nude female models during the prudish Victorian era pushed the boundaries of morality, Muybridge’s photographic studies with their simple, gridded backdrops were viewed as more scientific and, thus, socially acceptable.
| Publisher | University of Pennsylvania |
|---|
| Plate Number | Plate 117 |
|---|---|
| Series Title | Animal Locomotion: An Electro-photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements, 1972-1885, vol. III: Females (nude) |
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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"Descending an Incline, Female (Nude) | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=94.72