Overzicht van twee gipsafgietsels van sculpturen, afkomstig van de Kathedraal van Reims c. 1875 - 1900

Editor: This gelatin silver print captures plaster casts of sculptures from the Reims Cathedral, dating back to sometime between 1875 and 1900. The light gives them an ethereal feel. What strikes me most is how a photo captures sculpture capturing life! What can you tell us about them? Curator: Well, first off, isn't it wild how many times removed we are from the *actual* thing? It's like echoes of echoes! Mieusement, with this photo, freezes the sculptures. I see them as stand-ins of archetypes. Consider the cathedral—a stone book meant to inspire awe, devotion... fear? Do you get a sense of what stories these figures may have been meant to convey? Editor: Definitely! Given their costumes, one could be a king, a priest, a soldier. It's fascinating to consider how they were meant to impress, while in a photo we ponder on the real models. Curator: Exactly. Photography shifts the gaze, doesn't it? It invites scrutiny of the style – look at the robes on that first sculpture versus the segmented armor of the third – and material conditions in ways the original worshippers may not have. The *realness* shifts from devotion to document. Are we closer or further to truth this way, do you think? Editor: Further and closer at the same time, probably. Thank you, I didn't appreciate how complex it would be looking at a photo *of* old sculpture! Curator: Ha! Isn't that always the way? The deeper we look, the stranger and more wondrous the world becomes! It makes one wonder what future generations will glean from our own echoes.