Pauwels, Erin Kristl, «Napoleon Sarony’s living pictures: Photography, performance & American art, 1865-1900». Ph.D., Indiana University, Ann Arbor, United States 2015 Abstract This dissertation investigates the complex artistic legacy of Napoleon Sarony, a pioneering figure in American photography. Based in Manhattan from 1866 until his death in 1896, Sarony was the most celebrated photographic portraitist of his era, known best for adapting the drama and fantasy of Gilded Age theatre to his construction of public images. Rather than creating straightforward likenesses of his subjects such as Sarah Bernhardt and Oscar Wilde, Sarony used flamboyant pose and costume, elaborate set-pieces and skillful retouching to create what he called “Living Pictures”—expressive portraits…