Standbeeld van Louis-Urbain-Aubert de Tourny te Bordeaux 1862 - 1876

This stereoscopic photograph by Jean Andrieu captures the statue of Louis-Urbain-Aubert de Tourny in Bordeaux. As we consider it, we must ask, what makes a public figure worthy of commemoration? Statues like this, erected in France and elsewhere in the 19th century, were intended to shape civic identity. De Tourny was an urban planner who modernized Bordeaux in the 1700s. The statue, then, visualizes the values of progress and civic improvement. Note how the surrounding iron fence creates a sense of separation, of the statue as belonging to all but also to none. What makes this image especially interesting is that it comes to us in the form of a stereograph, a popular form of entertainment at the time, which creates an illusion of depth. This speaks to the rise of mass culture and the democratization of images, even as the statue itself embodies elite ideals. To understand this artwork better, we might delve into city archives, planning documents, and popular media from the time. Approaching the past through its social structures allows us to consider the relationship between art, power, and the public.