Contents
| This theme includes example sections and will be revised and added to as we proceed. Suggestions for additions, improvements and the correction of factual errors are always appreciated. Status: Collect > Document > Analyse > Improve | Examples 541.01 Art > Photographing art: Sculpture
Photographers 541.02 Art > Adolph Schaefer: The Buddhist monument at Borobudur in Central Java, Indonesia (1844-1845) About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
541.03 Art > William Henry Fox Talbot: Bust of Patroclus About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
H. Fox Talbot, The Pencil of Nature, (London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1844)
Statues, busts, and other specimens of sculpture, are generally well represented by the Photographic Art; and also very rapidly, in consequence of their whiteness.
These delineations are susceptible of an almost unlimited variety: since in the first place, a statue may be placed in any position with regard to the sun, either directly opposite to it, or at any angle: the directness or obliquity of the illumination causing of course an immense difference in the effect. And when a choice has been made of the direction in which the sun's rays shall fall, the statue may be then turned round on its pedestal, which produces a second set of variations no less considerable than the first. And when to this is added the change of size which is produced in the image by bringing the Camera Obscura nearer to the statue or removing it further off, it becomes evident how very great a number of different effects may be obtained from a single specimen of sculpture.
With regard to many statues, however, a better effect is obtained by delineating them in cloudy weather than in sunshine. For, the sunshine causes such strong shadows as sometimes to confuse the subject. To prevent this, it is a good plan to hold a white cloth on one side of the statue at a little distance to reflect back the sun's rays and cause a faint illumination of the parts which would otherwise be lost in shadow.
541.04 Art > Roger Fenton: The British Museum About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
541.05 Art > HMS Topaze and Easter Island, Chile (1868)
The moai or stone statues of Easter Islands (Rapu Nui) in Polynesia were known to Western expeditions through the oil painting of William Hodges who was the artist on Captain Cook's visit to the island on a survey mission in 1774.
In 1868 the English ship HMS Topaze commanded by Richard Ashmore Powell collected the four ton statue Hoa Hakananai'a (thought to mean 'stolen or hidden friend') and took it out on a raft to the ship. In Valparaiso in Chile Paul-Émile Miot photographed the statue on the deck of HMS Topaze enroute to Great Britain where it is now in the British Museum. 541.06 Art > Alinari: The statues of Florence About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
541.07 Art > Alois Löcherer: The statue of Bavaria, Munich (1844-1850) About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
541.08 Art > Robert Macpherson: The statues of Rome About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
541.09 Art > Délié & Béchard: Album du Musée Boulaq About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
541.10 Art > Edward Steichen: Rodin's statue of Balzac (1908) About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
Tableaux vivant 541.11 Art > Josef Jindrich Šechtl and Ignác Šechtl: Living statues
Natural sculptures / Environment art 541.12 Art > Andy Goldsworthy: Books About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
To gain an alternative perspective on the natural world examine the books of the Scottish sculptor Andy Goldsworthy who uses leaves, petals, stones and ice to construct transient creations of outstanding beauty and he preserves these short-lived masterpieces photographically. 541.13 Art > Richard Long: On-site sculptures About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
541.14 Art > Robert Smithson: On-site sculptures About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
alan@luminous-lint.com | General reading Dezeuze, Anna & Kelly, Julia (eds.), 2013, Found Sculpture and Photography from Surrealism to Contemporary Art, (Ashgate) isbn-13: 978-1409400004 [Δ] Elsen, A.E., 1980, In Rodin's Studio: A Photographic Record of Sculpture in the Making, (Oxford) [Δ] Fehlmann, Marc, 2006, ‘Under the light of Helion: early photography and the Parthenon sculptures‘, Sculpture Journal, vol.15, no.2, pp.161-172 [Δ] Galerie Daniel Blau [firm], 2008, Gegossenes Licht / Cast Light, (Munich: Galerie Daniel Blau) isbn-13: 978-3000240454 [500 copies] [Δ] Janis, Eugenia Parry, 1991, The Kiss of Apollo, Photography & sculpture, 1845 to the present, (San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery) isbn-10: 0938491660 isbn-13: 978-0938491668 [Δ] Kenworthy-Browne, John, 2006, ‘Plaster casts for the Crystal Palace, Sydenham‘, Sculpture Journal, vol.15, no.2, pp.173-198 [Δ] Marcoci, Roxana, 2010, The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to Today, (New York: The Museum of Modern Art) isbn-10: 0870707574 isbn-13: 978-0870707575 [Contributors : Geoffrey Batchen, Tobia Bezzola] [Δ] Readings on, or by, individual photographers Robert Macpherson Macpherson, Robert, 1863, Vatican Sculptures, Selected and Arranged in the Order in which they are Found in the Galleries, (London: Chapman & Hall) [Δ] If you feel this list is missing a significant book or article please let me know - Alan - alan@luminous-lint.com Alinari • Alphonse Bernoud (1820-1889) • Adolphe Braun (1812-1877) • Braun Clément & Cie • François-Rupert Carabin (1862-1932) • Mario Carrieri • Roger Fenton (1819-1869) • Anton Hautmann (1821-1862) • Budtz Müller (1837-1884) • Adolph Schaefer | Home > Themes > Art > Photographing art - sculpture
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