Gipsmodel voor decoratie op het Palais du Louvre door Jean-Marie-Bienaimé Bonnassieux c. 1855 - 1857

Editor: Here we have Edouard Baldus' albumen print from around 1855, a photograph of Jean-Marie-Bienaimé Bonnassieux’s plaster model for the Louvre’s decorations. It’s so fascinating how it captures sculpture as a photograph. How would you approach it? Curator: It's key to understand this print within the context of 19th-century architectural production. Baldus was often commissioned to document these processes. He's not just making art; he’s participating in a larger industrial undertaking. Editor: So, you see it more as a record than a purely aesthetic creation? Curator: Precisely! Consider the labor involved. Bonnassieux creates the model, Baldus documents it, and countless others will eventually produce and install the actual architectural elements. This image encapsulates a division of labor characteristic of its time. The means of production and the creation are both visible and crucial to its existence. Editor: That’s a very interesting point of view. It feels so far from the solitary idea of the sculptor creating on their own! Does the material – the plaster, the photographic chemicals – contribute to your interpretation? Curator: Absolutely. Plaster, a relatively inexpensive material, serves as a stand-in for the final stone, reflecting the aspirations and economics involved. Photography, then a cutting-edge technology, is deployed to record and disseminate these designs, streamlining the building process. So the reproduction changes our entire sense of production itself. Editor: I see…It reframes the work! What's most striking to me now is how this one image captures the combined effects of artistry, industrialization, and economics on Parisian architecture. Thank you! Curator: My pleasure. Viewing art through the lens of material production really opens up these layers of meaning and labor, doesn’t it?