This, from Muybridge’s famous Animal Locomotion series, shows a nod toward the future of motion pictures in its frame-by-frame breakdown of physical activity. Courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art In the exhibition’s second thematic grouping, we see images intended for scientific study, ethnographics and forensics. He would later be sentenced to a month in jail for producing images “so obscene that even to pronounce the titles…would be to commit an indecency,” says the wall note. Courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art Moulin took the mid-century figure study in a decidedly erotic direction, although this is a more straightforward take. The almost comical heroic pose of his model was intended for copying in other mediums. Courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art That’s not the case here, however, where Marlé takes little care to remove extraneous background elements (love the studio assistant). As the wall label says, “it could as easily be a loft in New York today.” Courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art Another photograph made for other artists’ figure studies shows a clear intent for the photo to stand on its own as a work of art.

Courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art This scene, probably not intended for figure studies but still in that same tradition, shows some inherent eroticism poking through the surface.

Courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art The swirling surface marks on both photos, most likely due to dirty glass negatives, add a new, voyeuristic element (what’s that I spy through the silk curtain?) to nude studies probably intended to aid a painter or sculptor. The large glass negative prints are two of the earliest examples of a photo’s technical means of creation (and the imperfections that arise) used intentionally for aesthetic reasons. An unknown French artist circa 1856’s “Standing Female Nude” is one of two new acquisitions that frame the show.

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