WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - Through 100 potographs taken between 1850 and 1880, the exhibition Steps off the Beaten Path: 19th-Century Photographs of Rome and its Environs encourages a “walking tour” through Rome with recognizable sites among the out-of-the-way scenes nineteenth-century Romans and Europeans encountered in their daily lives. The exhibition opens at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute on Sunday, October 11. Ralph Lieberman, architectural historian, photographer, and guest curator of Steps off the Beaten Path, will discuss the exhibition with collector Bruce Lundberg and architectural historian John Pinto on October 11 at 3 pm. Admission to this opening lecture is free.

Steps off the Beaten Path was first presented at the American Academy in New York and Rome between 2006 and 2008, and draws works from the collection of W. Bruce and Delaney H. Lundberg. The project was curated by Lundberg and Pinto. Jay A. Clarke, the Clark’s Manton Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, worked with Lieberman, guest curator for the Clark presentation.

Technical innovations, artistic daring, and shifting sociopolitical circumstances led to a dramatic change in the photography of Rome in the late 19th century. Photographers of the Eternal City began to capture everyday scenes alongside ancient ruins, baroque churches, and backstreets on the verge of being transformed by industrialization.

Through the images in Steps off the Beaten Path viewers today can step into a Rome that was about to step out of the pre-industrial age. The exhibition is on view at the Clark October 11, through January 3.

The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, MA. The galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm (open daily in July and August). Admission June 1 through October 31 is $12.50 for adults, free for children 18 and younger, members, and students with valid ID. Admission is free November through May.

For more information call (413) 458-2303 or visit clarkart.edu.