Contribute by Zoe Smith, IMLS Collections Photographer
Photographing sculptures—especially those with ornate details or unconventional shapes—often presents logistical challenges. Each piece requires a tailored approach to ensure it’s captured safely and effectively. Depending on the artwork, we might mount it on a wall or easel, use foam blocks to protect delicate corners, or simply place it on a table. Every setup is different.
One particularly tricky piece was Thomas P. Anshutz by Adam Pietz (accession #1938.6). This relief sculpture has small legs underneath its rectangular base, which made it impossible to position upright on our easel. To work around this, we photographed it on its side.
Maintaining consistent lighting across all our relief sculpture images is important to me, so I had to get creative. I positioned a large softbox above the sculpture, aimed toward the hair of Thomas P. Anshutz, and placed a smaller softbox below the camera, directed at the face. To enhance the highlights on the top and bottom edges, I added a reflector and a low-powered umbrella light.
The final result captured the shape and dimensionality of the relief beautifully—and matched the lighting style used for the rest of our collection.
Another setup included hanging a fragile plaster piece by Beatrice Fenton, Life Cast of Emily Clayton Bishop’s Left Hand (accession #1984.43). We screwed into a piece of wood and used white gaff tape to cover the hardware to minimize any unwanted color cast onto the sculpture. Every piece requires a new and challenging setup to get the best results.
