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Page 12
Sculpture Through the Lens
by Ellen B. Cutler
...Sculpture was an important subject in photography from the invention of the medium in the late 1830s. There were a number of reasons for this. First, exposure times were slow, and sculpture was dependably immobile. Second, many early photographers were themselves painters and sculptors, and photography provided a valuable means for publicizing work that was rarely portable. Photography, moreover, offered a way to document works of art for further study.
The relationship between sculpture and photography, however, was not merely one of convenience. Many photographers vigorously disputed the view that photographs were merely a mechanical product and not works of art. In an effort to carve out a niche for photography among the traditional “fine arts” of painting, sculpture, and architecture, photographers made pictures that borrowed the subjects and emulated effects of painting; sculpture was often used as a central element in a still-life composition.
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Photography and Sculpture |
