Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-01-29
PHOTO SCULPTURE.
HOW THE PHOTOGRAPH is TRANS
LATED INTO TERRA GOTTA.
Ewenty-FOur Cameras Pointed at the Sub
jeCt-The Agency of the Photograph
Wonderfully Graceful and True
Statuettes of Children.

The art of ph~oto-sculpture is extensively
practiced both in this country and abroad.
The process by which the photograph is
tranlated into clay, or terra Gotta, is as
follows: Suppose a person, for instance,
writes to have q statuette Of himself, it is
requisite that he should 90 through the
preliminary process of having a series Of
Photographic segments, as it were, of his
person. This is accomplished by posing
him in the attitude selected, on a round
y platform in the center of a circular photo
@raphic room. Around this apartment,
at equal distances, twenty-four cameras
are placed, each instrument so arranged
as to take a longitudinal twenty-fourth
segment of the sitter, the whole number
representing exactly his entire figure.
From the segments which form what may
be termed the working drawings of the
artist, enlarged copies are taken of the
size required for the statuette.
AGENCY OF THE ~PANToGRAPH.
These preliminaries being accomplished,
the process of tr|anslating the fiat draw
ings to the soft beings of clay takes place
through the agency of the pa~ntograph-an
instrument, the principle of which was
discovered by Watt. The pantograph is
an instrument having a tracer at one end
and a knife or stile at the other; and it is
put in operation by two persons, one OF
whom applies the tracer to the enlarged
outlines of the photograph, and the other
directs the opposite end to the lump of
clay. AS the two ends move equally the
outline is thus translated t to the knife; and
as fast as the tracer can follow the lines
of the photograph, the knife cuts out the
rough outline of the figure. The more
delicate work is produced by the same
agency, and when the statuette is com
! plete it will be found to correspond line
Tor line and crease for crease with the sun
picture of which, in fact, it is a mechan-
ical copy.
In this manner the most absolute truth
fitness is obtained. A likeness is often
dependent-especially in the fgure-on
some popularity of the sitter, which the
eye of the artist as often as not misses, or
if he does not miss it he purposely over
looks it with the idea Of giving some ideal
grace which does not existin nature, This
is no doubt right where works of art are
concerned, but it does not hold true of the
likeness which friends require to re-
mind them of the man as he is, and as he
should be. What would the portrait OF
a friend be without the wart on his fore.
head for instance?
WONDERFUL TRUE sTATUETTEs.
1t is these little blemishes that impress
themselves upon the beholder and are es.
sential elements in the likeness, as it is
these details which give such truth to the
photograph. How well we know a man
by his manner in which his pantaloons fit
over his boots, by the very boot itself.
When we come to consider it the lines OF
the dress have quite as much to do with
building up the image of q person in our
minds as the lines of his face. Here the
unerring hand of photography is of in
adGite value to the artist who wishes to
Give us a material likeness in clay or terra
y Gotta. Some of these statuettes are o
derfully true. They catch the posture OF
the man, the very balance of the body and
the passing expression of the face. One
model finished, copies can be taken, Of
course, by the old method of q mold.
When it is desired to make models OF
young children unhampered by clothes the
most beautiful statuettes are produced,
They may be grouped in any attitude
and, in fact, perfect works of art may be
produced fitted for the drawing room by
this process. The most accurate proper
lions are o~btainable; indeed, it is impos-
sible for the artist to go wrong, inasmuch
as the pedestal on which the object to be
modelled is placed is marked off i'll figures
from one to twenty-four, the pedestal OF
which the clay is placed being equally di
vided, and also the segments of the photo
graphs. The artist has, therefore, only tt
refer to his number to find the exact part
of the Photographic line he has to follow
The cost is proportional to the labor be
slowed upon these figures, but they are
within the e Of most persons
Brooklyn Eagle.