Tamil Gateway (Gopura), Tamil Nadu

c. 1860

Tamil Gateway (Gopura), Tamil Nadu, c. 1860. Unknown, 19th century. Stereoscopic albumen print from glass plate negative; 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Daniella Dangoor 2019.71 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 the Dravidian temples found in that region. Stereographs were introduced to the public in London in 1851 and became wildly popular from the 1860s to around 1930.