Winged Victory c. 20th century

Herbert G. French made this photograph, "Winged Victory," and who knows when, but the sepia tones feel like a dream from a long time ago. I think he was casting around for a way to capture the essence of classical sculpture in the nascent medium of photography. The sculpture and woman seem to lean on each other, blending into one form. There is an in-between space, and the soft focus of the camera renders a scene in which the boundaries feel blurred. It makes me wonder about the models themselves; did they see the kinship between them? Were they conscious of the history of images of women and sculptures of women? Artists are constantly in dialogue with each other. Here, French seems to ask questions about the relationship between life and art, between history and modernity.