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Nineteenth century viewers of the first photographs were fascinated by their fidelity to nature, regretting only that they were not perfect in color and volume, as they were in detail. Lou Brown DiGiulio addresses these failings in a small group of works that received much attention in the early 1970s. Inspired by the Photography into Sculpture exhibition and the example of Jerry McMillan and others, she tested the proposition that “there is no limit to the possibilities of using photography as a tool to express an idea” by trying to find the limits of reproduction.

A former clothing designer and manufacturer, DiGiulio painstakingly copied on cloth such natural forms as cabbages, butterflies and, in the untitled work from 1974 reproduced here, autumn leaves, sculpting each tiny element by sewing and stuffing it. DiGiulio, who knew an artistic cul-de-sac when she saw one, produced works such as this for only about three years—but not without leaving some perplexing and astonishing objects behind.