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Unknown Photographer. Brooklyn Bridge under Construction, c. 1878. Albumen print. New-York Historical Society, New York.Camera Documentation: United StatesCamera documentation of industrial progress in North America differed significantly from that of Europe, primarily because of Americas lack of historical monuments and its attitude to photography in general. Drawn largely from the ranks of graphic artists, mid-century European photographers were influenced by attitudes instilled in them about art in general, but in the ”new world” sound academic training in the arts was limited. With few exceptions, Americans regarded photography as a business and the camera as a tool with which to record information. Neither poets nor reformers, many photographers in the United States were unconcerned with subtleties, endeavoring instead to present material objects in a clear-cut and competent fashion without involvement in the artistic effects of light and shade or unusual compositional angles.This said, it is still curious that in a country consumed by interest in mechanical devices, few images that take advantage of the forceful geometry of engineering structures were made. From the daguerreotype era to the end of the century, when Americans photographed bridges, railways, machinery, and building--emblems of the growing industrialization of the nation--their major concern was to be informative rather than inspirational. This choice of camera position in Brooklyn Bridge Under Construction (by an unknown photographer) diminished the scale and beauty of the pylons in order to direct attention to the small group of top-hatted figures. Typical of the many views of this project, the image falls short of embodying the daring energy which the bridge itself still symbolizes. In comparison, Canadian William Notmans 1859 photograph of the framework and tubing of the Victoria Bridge creates an arresting visual pattern that also is su
Ben Shahn. Cotton Pickers, Pulaski County, Arkansas, 1935. Gelatin silver print. Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; gift of Mrs. Bernarda B. Shahn.The painter Shahn, employed by the Special Skills Department of the Resettlement Administration, may have been the most persuasive voice in shaping attitudes and approaches on the project in that he convinced Stryker that record photographs were not sufficient to dramatize social issues, that what was needed were moving and vibrant images that captured the essence of social dislocation. Briefly instructed by Evans in the use of the Leica, Shahn had made candid exposures in New York streets for use in his graphic art. He displayed a vivid understanding of the dimensions of documentation; his discussions with Stryker and the other photographers helped clarify the need for interesting and compassionate pictures instead of mere visual records whether they portrayed inanimate objects or people. In themselves, his images reveal a profound social awareness and a vivid sense of organization that captures the seamlessness of actuality.
Nadar (Gaspard Felix Tournachon). Sarah Bernhardt, 1865. Albumen print. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.The best-known photographer of French intellectual, literary, and artistic figures during the collodion era is Gaspard Felix Tournachon, known as Nadar (see Profile). His aim in portraiture was to seek, as he wrote, ”that instant of understanding that puts you in touch with the model--helps you sum him up, guides you to his habits, his ideas, and character and enables you to produce... a really convincing portrait.” One example--a portrait of the young Sarah Bernhardt in 1865--typifies Nadars ability to organize the baroque forms of drapery, a truncated classical column, and the dramatic contrasts of hair and skin and still suggest character--in this case both the theatricality and vulnerability of a young actress who had just achieved her first stage success. As French art critic Philippe Burty wrote of Nadars entries exhibited at the Société Franaise de Photographie exhibition in 1859, ”his portraits are works of art in every accepted sense of the word,” adding that if photography is by no means a complete art, the photographer always has the right to be an artist.”
E. J. Bellocq. From Storyville Portraits, c. 1913. Silver print on printing-out paper, made by Lee Friedlander from the original plate. c Lee Friedlander, New City, N.Y.Ethnic enclaves were not the only source nor was the small camera the only instrument for capturing the kinds of subjects now considered picturesque. Countless photographers began to document aspects of the life around them using large-plate view cameras to penetrate beyond surface appearances. That the city could be approached as a subject using a large format camera and photographed with reserved grace rather than subjective urgency can be seen in the images made by Robert L. Bracklow, an amateur photographer of means, to document the physical structures, architectural details, and street activity in New York at the turn of the century. With a flair for well-organized composition, Bracklows photographs of slums, shanties, and skyscrapers suggest that by the end of the 19th century both hand and view cameras had become a significant recreational resource. For instance, E. J. Bellocq, a little known commercial photographer working in New Orleans during the 1910s, was able to pierce the facade of life in a Storyville brothel. Whether commissioned or, as is more likely, made for his own pleasure, these arrangements of figure and decor project a melancholy languor that seems to emanate from both real compassion and a voyeuristic curiosity satisfied by the camera lens.
Joyce Neimans, Untitled, 1981. SX-70 (internal dye-diffusion transfer) prints. Courtesy and c 1981 Joyce Neimans.Rejecting the usual lenticular description of space as an uninterrupted continuum, Joyce Neimans collaged SX-70 Polaroid prints, including, their borders. In these works she has also sought to extend the biographical data about her subjects by incorporating images of their belongings and surroundings. A quite different approach to collage is visible in the work of Carl Chiarenza, who creates miniature still lifes from torn paper and photographic packaging materials, which he then photographs; enlarged greatly, these works take on the aspect of mysterious landscapes. Both collage and montage were seen by the postwar generation as an especially fruitful method of projecting private visions, of dealing with the possibility that, as the American photographer Jerry N. Uelsmann has written, ”the mind knows more than the eye and camera can see.” By the early 1930s, printing multiple images on one photographic support had enabled some American photographers to explore mystical realms that seemed impossible to evoke through straight photographs.
A World History of Photography
4th Edition

By Naomi Rosenblum 
Size: 8 3/4 x 11 1/2" 720 pages
831 illustrations, 85 in full color
Published 2008
ISBN: 978-0-7892-0946-7
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This sumptuously illustrated volume, hailed as an indispensable work on the fascinatingly expressive photographic medium, has been revised and expanded to cover images by contemporary photographers working in the twenty-first century.

An important up-to-date addition to photographic literature, which lacks such works of erudition. -- Cornell Capa, Director, International Center of Photography

"A strong resource on the evolution of artistic form and composition in photography, this book is flawless in its annotation and analysis....Libraries that do not own this work should consider purchasing it." -- Choice

From the camera lucida to the latest in digital image making and computer manipulation, photographic technology has dramatically changed throughout its nearly 200-year history, as succinctly explained and powerfully illustrated in A World History of Photography. Thanks to the unique immediacy with which photography captures perspective and history, the popularity and use of the camera spread rapidly around the globe. Today, photography is ubiquitous: from newspapers and fashion magazines to billboards and the film industry, cultures worldwide have embraced this malleable artistic medium for a limitless variety of purposes.

Naomi Rosenblum’s classic text investigates all aspects of photography — aesthetic, documentary, commercial, and technical — while placing photos in their historical context. Included among the more than 800 photographs by men and women are both little-known and celebrated masterpieces, arranged in stimulating juxtapositions that illuminate their visual power. Authoritative and unbiased, Rosenblum’s chronicle of photography both chronologically and thematically traces the evolution of this still-young art form. Exploring the diverse roles that photography has played in the communication of ideas, Rosenblum devotes special attention to topics such as portraiture, documentation, advertising, and photojournalism, and to the camera as a means of personal artistic expression. The revised fourth edition includes updates on technical advances as well as a new chapter on contemporary photographers. Armed with the expressive vigor of its images, this thorough and accessible volume will appeal to all.

Naomi Rosenblum, an independent curator and scholar who has written many articles and lectured extensively on a range of subjects in photography, first published A World History of Photography in 1984. The book has since been translated into French, Japanese, Polish, and Chinese, and it has been updated and expanded through many editions. Rosenblum is also the author of A History of Women Photographers. She lives in Long Island City, New York.

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