Tamil Gateway (Gopura), Tamil Nadu (c. 1860): Art, History and Details

Tamil Gateway (Gopura), Tamil Nadu (c. 1860) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

A stereograph, when seen through a viewer, produces the illusion of a three-dimensional scene and creates a “you-are-there” sensation. This stereo view documents a Hindu temple in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The high gopura or gatehouse leading into the temple precinct is characteristic of medieval temples constructed in that region. Popular beginning with their introduction to the public in London in 1851, stereographs inspired a sense of awe that would have compounded a viewer’s impression of India’s architectural wonders.

Object facts

• Title: Tamil Gateway (Gopura), Tamil Nadu
• Date: c. 1860
• Culture: Unknown, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: stereoscopic albumen print from glass plate negative
• Dimensions: Image: 7 x 13.8 cm (2 3/4 x 5 7/16 in.); Mounted: 8.3 x 17.3 cm (3 1/4 x 6 13/16 in.)
• Collection: PH - Misc. 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2019.71

A detail from the museum

Stereographs were introduced to the public in London in 1851 and became wildly popular from the 1860s to around 1930.

Collection credit

Gift of Daniella Dangoor

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.