Pompeii Archive: Recent Photography by William Wylie

Featuring a selection of recent work by American photographer William Wylie, Pompeii Archive, explores the famous archeological site of a volcanic eruption in 79 C.E. with highly evocative images, shot with analog black and white film on a large format camera. Alongside his contemporary photographs are several by Giorgio Sommer (1834–1914), who was involved in excavation of the site in the nineteenth century.

An avid historian, Wylie began collecting Sommer’s images and researching his life and work. What intrigued the artist particularly was Sommer’s strategic use of photography to flatten the picture plane and create layered and stratified images evocative of the archeological process.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website