Exhibition Seminar: Documenting Sculpture in Photography and Beyond

3 units

In this seminar, students will curate an exhibition in Olin Library that explores how photographs and other reproductive images shape histories of art. No technology is neutral, and even a photograph that claims to document a sculpture alters our perception of it, determining where we stand and what we see. By mediating our access to a given object, a photograph gives rise to particular narratives about it. In this course, students will examine critical approaches to the role of photographs and other forms of art documentation. They will work firsthand with a wide range of primary source materials at Washington University, including 19th-century photographic works in the Russell Sturgis Photograph Collection as well as early modern engravings, plaster casts, and digitally fabricated 3D prints, all of which reproduce ancient and Renaissance sculpture. Students will also gain practical experience in exhibition design and production: both creative and editorial processes will be foregrounded, from selecting works for display and writing wall texts to participating in installation. The exhibition will open in May 2020. Prerequisites: Introduction to Western Art (L01 113), one 300-level course in Art History preferred, or permission of instructor.