Lutter, who is best known for her photographs of cityscapes, transportation hubs, and industrial sites, had never attempted to make studio photographs of two-dimensional subjects prior to her residency at LACMA. In collaboration with the museum, Lutter had two room-size cameras and two custom easels constructed specifically to photograph paintings from LACMA’s permanent collection. The works in this gallery were all made using these “copy cameras”—so nicknamed in reference to the pre-digital copy stand equipment once so familiar to artists and art historians for making image and slide reproductions. Lutter’s photographs, however, are far more than mechanical copies; instead, they often bring to light new ways of seeing once-familiar paintings.

Vera Lutter’s residency at LACMA was supported by Sotheby’s.