The endless internal struggle of phone photography
A visual essay inspired by the Louvre, of all damn things
Today’s edition is a visual essay and might not display quite right in your inbox. Click here to view it on Substack instead.
Late last month, fwiw, French President Emmanual Macron announced that the Louvre will soon construct a dedicated gallery space for the Mona Lisa, following reports of overcrowding and building damage.
Text sources and further reading:
“Photographing in the Art Museum: Visitor Attitudes and Motivations,” by Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert for Visitor Studies (2017)
“Selfie Culture Has Some Art Museums Caving on Strict No-Photo Policies,” by James Tarmy for Bloomberg ($ 2018)
“Photo Ban Lifted on Picasso’s Guernica After 30 Years,” by Gareth Harris for The Art Newspaper ($ 2023)
“How Long Do People Really Spend Looking at Art in Museums?,” by Isaac Kaplan for Artsy (2017)
“Why Do People Take Pictures of Works of Art?” Fascinating Flickr thread (2007)
Image sources:
All illustrations via Canva contributor Ladadikart, and all Louvre photos courtesy Jason. (Behind every woman who hates museum photos is a photo-taking husband!!)
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Thank you so much for liking and sharing these little visual essays. It’s given me the hubris courage to try three of them to date. :)
I take photos of art as a means to study the piece on my own time.
I go to museums regularly (I live near NYC and have a few memberships). I also regularly take photos of the art. I have found over time that I will recall a particular piece of art but can only bring fleeting images of it to mind because I didn't take a photo. And often the objects are not available as postcards for IP reasons. Which leaves me taking photos of the art. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to fast through the museum.