Although sculpture is a three-dimensional form that needs to be seen to be experienced, it’s normally reproduced through photography. Since the inception of photography, artists and photographers have used the camera to not only capture sculptural forms on film but to stage scenes with objects and document performances that now only exist in print. Likewise, artists have long used photomontage to construct sculptural fantasies purely from the imagination. Examining the intersections between photography and sculpture, The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to Today, at New York’s Museum of Modern Art offers new ways of understanding what sculpture is, as well as a chance to explore the aesthetic evolution of photography through its rich, 170-year history.
