Author Book Talk: Erin Pauwels at the Whaling Museum

This free virtual program is on Friday, April 17, from noon to 1 p.m., at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Prior registration is required.

Art historian Erin Pauwels will talk about her new book, “Napoleon Sarony’s Living Pictures: The Celebrity Photograph in Gilded Age New York.”

Pauwels teaches at Tyler School of Art at Temple University. Her work looks at photography, visual culture, and how images shape public life.

The book tells the story of Napoleon Sarony, a star portrait photographer in Gilded Age New York. His studio attracted well-known figures such as Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, and Mark Twain.

Pauwels explores how celebrity culture and mass media helped photography gain status as art, and how Sarony helped shape that shift.