Blog - photo sculpture

Mexican Fotoescultura (Photo Sculpture)

Maker Unknown. Fotoescultura, wood carving with hand painted photograph, c.1950. 11 3/4" h x 11 1/4" w x 3"AvailableSOLD/ In Mexico, in the 1930s, the three-dimensional effigy and the memorial photograph melded into the potent form known as a fotoescultura  - literally, "photos sculpture". Artisans began carving three-dimensional wooden cutouts based on a studio photograph (usually procured by a traveling salesman). After carving and painting the wooden bust and adhering the photograph to it, the artisan would add hand-tinting and embellishments such as jewelry and costuming to create a startling likeness. As photography  historian Geoffrey Batchen observes, "while the photograph usually speaks to us of the past..fotosculturas speaks of eternal life...the fully dimensioned presence of the present."   Read more fotoesculturas, photo sculpture