When photography was first invented, cameras were cumbersome and required subjects to sit still for as much as half an hour on end to expose the photographic plate. After that, the photograph required a laborious process to develop, involving expensive, dangerous chemicals and artisans who had been specially trained to handle them. That all changed in 1948, when the Polaroid corporation (which had initially made its fortune through polarized sunglasses) came out with its instant camera, allowing the general public to take their own photos.
The Polaroid Project: At the Intersection of Art and Technology is the new show at the Amon Carter Museum, and it explores how artists like Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Chuck Close, David Hockney, and others used this new technology for their own ends in the latter decades of the 20th century, before digital cameras and smartphones made the Polaroid obsolete. You can see how this short-lived medium flowered in its heyday.
The Polaroid Project: At the Intersection of Art and Technology runs Sat thru Sep 3 at Amon Carter Museum of American Art, 3501 Camp Bowie Blvd, FW. Admission is free. Call 817-738-1933.
