Possibly François Willème (1830-1905)

Possibly François Willème (1830-1905)

A PAIR OF PHOTOSCULPTURES, TWO YOUNG BOYS, c.1860s.

Two parian ware photosculptures, measuring 250 x 160 x 100mm and 130 x 140 x 100mm, 'Photosculpture' inscribed into each base.

Around 1860, François Willème, a French artist, began to experiment in an unknown area of sculpture -- one that would exactly reproduce the model of a photograph. He called his successful process 'Photosculpture', and patented his technique; it was a forerunner today's 3D-printing. The process involved a sitter posing in the centre of a glass-enclosed panopticon; 24 cameras, set 15 degrees apart simultaneously captured images of the sitter from every angle. It was a laborious process: the photographs were converted to lantern slides, projected onto a screen, and traced by an artist whose hand motions were transmitted by a pantograph to wood, terracotta, or another material, which another artist would trim to match the subject's silhouette.