A Flood of Pictures—Photography Deepens the Waters

A talk and book signing with Dr. Michael Leja, James and Nan Wagner Farquhar Professor Emeritus of History of Art, University of Pennsylvania. With an emphasis on early innovations in photography and specifically the contributions of the Langenheim Brothers, Dr. Leja will guide audiences through this transformative period of visual communication in the U.S.

This event is free to attend.

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Dr. Michael Leja's new book A Flood of Pictures: The Formation of a Picture Culture in the United States (2025), reconstructs the era in which mass-produced pictures in many media began to permeate Americans’ everyday lives. At this Weeknights at the Wagner talk, Dr. Michael Leja will take us back to explore the formative period of this cultural transformation in the U.S., in the decades before the Civil War.

Dr. Leja will discuss the emerging technologies that enabled this cultural shift, with a focus on photography. In Philadelphia, the Langenheim Brothers introduced a string of innovations that led to travel stereographs becoming the first type of photograph to achieve mass distribution. They had a significant but under-appreciated role in bringing photography into the flood of pictures.

Dr. Michael Leja is James and Nan Wagner Farquhar Professor Emeritus of History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania. He studies the visual arts in various media (painting, sculpture, film, photography, prints, illustrations) in the 19th and 20th centuries, primarily in the United States.

A Flood of Pictures: The Formation of a Picture Culture in the United States will be available for purchase and a book signing will follow the talk. Admission is free to everyone and donations are accepted to support our mission.