When Exposure Required Composure

The great romantic sculptor enlisted a number of photographers not merely to document his oeuvre but to mythologize his creativity. American Edward Steichen rose to the challenge, employing chiaroscuro and and double exposure to abut creator and creation in this double portrait of the archetypal thinker. The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to Today is an audacious show at The Museum of Modern Art until November 1 that explores in all its diversity how the oldest artistic medium, sculpture, is an enduring and tantalizing motif for one of the youngest, the camera.

David Cohen is Publisher/Editor of artcritical magazine, where he has contributed an essay review of The Original Copy, and art critic for the New York Sun.