Beautifully illustrated, a unique exploration of the aesthetic, material, and cultural intersections of photography and sculpture.

This book explores the fascinating and often unexpected ways photography and sculpture have intersected over the past two centuries. It examines photographs of sculpture by Classical pioneers like Talbot and Daguerre, Modernists such as Steichen and Brâncuși—who were both captivated by light and shadow—and contemporary practitioners including Mapplethorpe and Goldin, who explore gender and identity. Photographers from Africa, Asia, and Latin America also feature. Sculpted by Light reveals how photography generates new sculptural works—as when Brassaï transformed found objects into “involuntary sculptures”—and how photographs can animate a statue or freeze a living body. Photographs, Geraldine A. Johnson argues, are also objects with sculptural qualities of their own. By approaching both media from varied perspectives, this volume offers fresh insights into each.