Lunchtime Curator Talk | Solid Pictures

​Join Patrick R. Crowley, Associate Curator of European Art, on this special highlights tour of Solid Pictures.

Before 3D printing, there was photosculpture. Curated by Patrick R. Crowley, Associate Curator of European Art, Solid Pictures is the first major exhibition to explore these largely overlooked objects first conceived in 1859 by the twenty-nine-year-old French artist and inventor François Willème. Employing projection technologies and mechanical instruments, Willème and his team of operators translated photographic negatives into solid figures across a variety of media, aiming to create affordable portrait sculpture for the burgeoning middle class of Second Empire France. Though commercially unsuccessful, these experiments laid the groundwork for the scanning, machining, and printing technologies ubiquitous today. Bringing together these rare artifacts, the exhibition opens up a little-known chapter of history to reveal the roots and richness of our contemporary world. An accompanying catalogue features four newly commissioned essays accompanied by previously unpublished documentation, deepening our understanding of this overlooked chapter in the history of art and technology.

RSVP here.

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Parking

Paid visitor parking is available along Lomita Drive as well as on the first floor of the Roth Way Garage Structure, located at the corner of Campus Drive West and Roth Way at 345 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305. From the Palo Alto Caltrain station, the Cantor Arts Center is about a 20-minute walk or there the free Marguerite shuttle will bring you to campus via the Y or X lines.

Disability parking is located along Lomita Drive near the main entrance of the Cantor Arts Center. Additional disability parking is located on Museum Way and in Parking Structure 1 (Roth Way & Campus Drive). Please click here to view the disability parking and access points.

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Accessibility Information or Requests

Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University is committed to ensuring our programs are accessible to everyone. To request access information and/or accommodations for this event, please complete this form at least one week prior to the event: museum.stanford.edu/access.

For questions, please contact disability.access@stanford.eduor fukunaga@stanford.edu.

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Image: François Willème (French, 1830–1905). "Unfinished photosculpture bust," ca. 1860. Oak and twine on base. Gift of Eastman Kodak Company, ex-collection Gabriel Cromer, 1985.0517.0001. Courtesy of the George Eastman Museum