Course Description
This class surveys the history of photography from its invention in 1839 to the present. We will consider the major artists, technical innovations, and stylistic developments that have shaped its production and reception. Photography is perhaps the most popular art form of the modern era--it appears easily produced, reproduced and understood. But is it? By its very nature, photography effectively challenges and changes our definitions of art, representation, originality and truth. For example, do photographs document the real world? Or a world that is constructed? What is the difference between a snapshot and a photograph? What is the relationship between photography and painting? Major themes will include: portraiture, photojournalism, scientific or documentary photography, art photography, photomontage, pornography and censorship.
Texts
Rosenblum, Naomi. A World History of Photography, 3rd ed. New York: Abbeville Press, 1997. Trachtenberg, Alan, ed. Classic Essays on Photography. New Haven: Leete's Island Books, 1980. Baldwin, Gordon. Looking at Photographs: A Guide to Technical Terms. Malibu, CA: the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1991. (Optional)
All books can be purchased at the Penn Book Center, 130 S. 34th St., or found on reserve at the Fisher/Furness Fine Arts Library.
Requirements
The course will include lecture and discussion, so participation, including attendance, will count for a percentage of the grade. There will be one trip to the O'Keeffe/ Stieglitz exhibition, and possibily trips to the Photography Dept. study room, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
There will be two exams--a midterm and a final--and two papers. The first paper will be a formal analysis of a single image (3-4 pages). The second will be a critical paper requiring some research (7-8 pages). Papers will be marked down a half grade for each day late. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade. Students will also be required to keep a journal of summaries and responses to essays and articles. Participation 10%, Journal 10%, Formal Analysis 10%, Midterm 20%, Research Paper 30%, Final Exam 20%
Syllabus
January 14: Introduction
January 21: Rosenblum, Chapter 1, "The Early Years: Technology, Vision, Users 1839-1875," 14-37 and "A Short Technical History" Part I, 192-199; Classic Essays Part I, (Niepce, Daguerre, Arago, Talbot), 5-36.
January 28: Rosenblum, Chapter 2, "A Plenitude of Portraits 1839-1890," 38-93; Classic Essays Part I, (Poe, Eastlake), 37-68.
February 4: Rosenblum, Chapter 3, "Documentation: Landscape and Architecture 1839-1890," 94-153; Solomon-Godeau, "Calotypomania: The Gourmet Guide to Nineteenth Century Photography," from Photography at the Dock, 4-27, Furness Reserve Desk
February 11: Rosenblum, Chapter 4, "Documentation: Objects and Events 1839-1890," 154-191; 200-207; Classic Essays Part II, (Holmes, Baudelaire, Robinson, Emerson), 71-105. Formal Analysis Due
February 18: Rosenblum, Chapter 5, "Photography and Art: The First Phase 1839-1890," 208-243; Classic Essays Part IV, (Valéry. Benjamin, Ivins),191-236.
February 25: Rosenblum, Chapter 6, "New Technology, New Vision, New Users 1875-1925," 244-295 and "Short Technical History" Part II, 442-453; Kirk Varnedoe, "The Artifice of Candor: Impressionism and Photography," Art in America (January 1980): 66-78, Furness Reserve Desk
March 4: Midterm Exam
March 18: Rosenblum, Chapter 7, "Art Photography: Another Aspect 1890-1920," 297-339; Classic Essays Part III, (Hines, Stieglitz) 109-140; Allan Sekula, "On the Invention of Photographic Meaning," Artforum 13 (January 1975): 36-45, Furness Reserve Desk
March 25: Rosenblum, Chapter 8, "Documentation: The Social Scene to 1945," 241-391; Classic Essays Part III, (Weston, Abbott, Evans), 169-188.
April 1: Rosenblum, Chapter 9, "Art, Photography and Modernism 1920-1945," 392-441, 454-461; Classic Essays Part III, (Strand, Roh, Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray), 141-168.
April 8: Rosenblum, Chapter 10, "Words and Pictures: Photographs in Print Media 1920-1980," 462-515; Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," in Illuminations, 217-251; Maud Lavin, "Heartfield in Context," Art in America (February 1985): 85-93, Furness Reserve Desk
April 15: Rosenblum, Chapter 11, "Photography Since 1950: The Straight Image," 516-567; Short Technical History Part III; Classic Essays Part IV, (Bazin, Kracauer), 237-268. Papers Due
April 22: Rosenblum, Chapter 12, "Photography Since 1950: Manipulations and Color," 568-623; Classic Essays Part IV, (Barthes, Damisch, Berger), 269-294.
April 29: Final Exam
Selected Bibliography (On Reserve at Furness)
Baldwin, Gordon. Looking at Photographs: A Guide to Technical Terms. Malibu, CA: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1991. TR9 B35 1991
Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. New York: Hill and Wang, 1981. TR642 B3713 1981
Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations. New York: Schocken Books, 1969. PN514 B3623 1969
Bunnell, Peter. Degrees of Guidance: Essays on 20th Century American Photography. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. TR23 B86 1993
Clarke, Graham, ed. The Portrait in Photography. London: Reaktion Books, 1992. TR680 P67 1992
Coke, Van Deren. One Hundred Years of Photographic History: Essays in Honor of Beaumont Newhall. Abluquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1975. TR15 O53
Daval, Jean-Luc. Photography: History of an Art. New York: Rizzoli, 1982. TR15 D23713 1982
Galassi, Peter. Before Photography: Painting and the Invention of Photography. [exh. cat.] New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1980. N6450 G23
Goldberg, Vicki, ed. Photography in Print. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981. TR185 P49
Green, Jonathan. American Photography. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1984. TR23 G73 1984
Greenough, Sarah, et. al. On the Art of Fixing a Shadow: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Photography. [exh. cat.] Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1989. TR15 O5 1989
Greenough, Sarah and Philip Brookman. Robert Frank: Moving Out. [exh. cat.] Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1994. TR647 F74 1994b
Hambourg, Maria Morris and Christopher Phillips. The New Vision: Photography Between the World Wars. [exh. cat.] New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989. TR646 U6 N4818 1989
Henisch, Heinz. The Photographic Experience 1839-1914. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994. TR15 H46 1994
Krauss, Rosalind and Jane Livingston. L'Amour Fou, Photography and Surrealism. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985. TR646 U6 W376 1985
Lavin, Maud. Cut With the Kitchen Knife: The Weimar Photographs of Hannah Hoch. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. TR685 L38 1993
--------. "Heartfield in Context." Art in America 73 (February 1985): 85-93. N1 A43
Livingston, Jane. The New York School: Photographs 1936-1963. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1992. TR25 N7 L58 1992
Newhall, Beaumont. The History of Photography from 1839 to the Present. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1982. TR15 N47 1982
Newhall, Beaumont. Photography: Essays & Images. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1980. TR185 P487
Phillips, Christopher, ed. Photography in the Modern Era. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989. TR185 P5 1989
Pultz, John. The Body and the Lens: Photography 1839 to the Present. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1995. TR642 P85 1995
Rosenblum, Naomi. A History of Women Photographers. New York: Abbeville Press, 1994. TR139 R67 1994
Rosenblum, Naomi. A World History of Photography (3rd ed.). New York: Abbeville Press, 1997. TR15 R67 1997
Sandweiss, Martha, ed. Photography in Nineteenth-Century America. [exh. cat.] Fort Worth, TX: Amon Carter Museum, 1991. TR23 P48 1991
Sekula, Allan. "On the Invention of Photographic Meaning." Artforum 13 (January 1975): 36-45. N1 A814
Solomon-Godeau, Abigail. Photography at the Dock. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991. TR642 S65 1991
Sontag, Susan. On Photography. New York: Farra, Straus and Giroux, 1977. TR183 S65 1977
Steichen, Edward. The Family of Man. [exh. cat.] New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1955. TR6 N55 1955b or TR646 U6 N487 1986
Sullivan, Constance. Women Photographers. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1990. TR650 W65 1990
Szarkowski, John. Photography Until Now. [exh. cat.] New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1990. TR15 S93 1990
Trachtenberg, Alan, ed. Classic Essays on Photography. New Haven: Leete's Island Books, 1980. TR185.56
Trachtenberg, Alan. Reading American Photographs: Images as History, Mathew Brady to Walker Evans. New York: Hill and Wang, 1989. TR820.5 T75 1989
Varnedoe, Kirk. "The Artifice of Candor: Impressionism and Photogrpahy." Art in America 68 (January 1980): 66-78. N1 A43
Weaver, Mike and Daniel Wolf. The Art of Photography. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989. TR646 G72 L66192 1989