Napoleon Sarony: celebrity photographer of the Gilded Age with Dr. Erin Pauwels
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Open to the public
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About the Event
Long before Hollywood, America’s celebrities flocked to the Union Square, Manhattan studio of Napoleon Sarony, the most famous photographer of the Gilded Age and a member of the Salmagundi Club. Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and countless others sat for portraits that became the definitive images by which generations of Americans came to know them.
Drawing on her book Napoleon Sarony’s Living Pictures: The Celebrity Photograph in Gilded Age New York, Dr. Erin Pauwels explores the remarkable career of this eccentric artist and entrepreneur whose theatrical approach to photography transformed portraiture into performance. Through lavish staging, carefully directed poses, and an instinctive understanding of public image, Sarony helped shape the modern celebrity portrait while influencing ideas about fame, artistic identity, branding, and copyright that continue to shape how public figures cultivate their images today.
Hungry?
Grab a bite to eat after the event in our dining room (a normally member-only benefit)! Ticketed attendees who would like to stay for drinks and dinner should make dining reservations in advance via our Reservations page with the message “Sarony event”.
About the Speaker
Dr. Erin Pauwels is Associate Professor of Art History and Chair of the Department of Art History at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University, Philadelphia. An internationally recognized scholar of nineteenth-century photography, her research specializes in the intersections of visual art, performance, and mass media in the visual culture of the United States. Her scholarship has appeared in numerous books and journals, and she is a frequent speaker and media guest on the history of photography, celebrity, and the artistic circles of Gilded Age New York.