Weeknights at the Wagner—A Flood of Pictures—Photography Deepens the Waters

In a contemporary society completely saturated with visual art, advertising, and other media, it is difficult to imagine pictures as a novel way of communicating. At this Weeknights at the Wagner talk, Dr. Michael Leja will take us back to the formative period of this cultural transformation in the U.S.—three decades before the Civil War—when pictures began to permeate everyday life. This flood of images included illustrations in books, pamphlets, and newspapers; photographs on cards; prints of various kinds; posters and broadsheets; and large scale paintings for theatrical displays. In a short span of time pictures assumed important functions by supplementing, and in some cases overshadowing, verbal texts in conveying news and information.

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. Leja will be speaking from his new book, "A Flood of Pictures: The Formation of a Picture Culture in the United States" (2025), which reconstructs the era in which mass-produced pictures in many media began to permeate Americans’ everyday lives.

The book will be available for purchase and a book signing will follow the talk.

Program Schedule:

Museum open until 5:45 pm.

6 - 7:30 pm: Talk and Q&A in the Lecture Hall.

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. His work is multidisciplinary and strives to understand visual artifacts in relation to contemporary cultural, social, political, and intellectual developments. He has authored many books, including the most recent "A Flood of Pictures: The Formation of a Picture Culture in the United States" (2025).

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In 1855, William Wagner had a dream of providing free science education to anyone who wanted to learn, regardless of background or ability to pay. Today, the Wagner offers more programs to more people than ever before! Your support helps us provide free education, not only through the museum, but through a wide range of courses, lectures, field trips, and children’s science programs. Donations also assist us in caring for the museum and library collections and in preserving our wonderful building, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990. To learn more about what we do please visit our website.

In keeping with its original charter, admission to the lecture is free—donations are suggested to ensure the future and quality of Wagner's free education programs and to preserve its National Landmark building and collections.

Suggested Donations

$10/adult

$5/student

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Images:

“Mermaids,” Sunday Mercury (New York), July 17, 1842, p. 1, wood engraving, 4 x 6.75 in., Library of Congress.

William Langenheim, Frederick Langenheim Looking at Talbotypes, 1849-51, daguerreotype, 4.75 x 3.5 in. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Unidentified artist, The Farmer of North Bend, from Tippecanoe Almanac, 1840, p. 72, wood engraving, 9 x 5 in., Library of Congress.

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