Plate Number 231. Stooping to arrange train and turning 1887

Eadweard Muybridge created this photographic study, “Plate Number 231. Stooping to arrange train and turning,” to explore the mechanics of human movement. In the late 19th century, when Muybridge made this image, photography was transforming how we perceive and understand the body. This plate is part of a larger series called "Animal Locomotion," which aimed to capture and analyze the gaits of various animals and humans. But beyond the scientific intent, this photograph captures a moment laden with social implications. We see a woman, likely a domestic worker, performing the intimate labor of adjusting a dress train. The dress train itself was a symbol of bourgeois femininity, cumbersome and impractical. In this series of images, the female body is both an object of scientific study and a subject entangled in the social expectations of its time. Muybridge’s work invites us to consider the interplay of gender, labor, and the gaze within the burgeoning field of photography.