Table Of Content^^»^
rS *
^4
p
'^ii^wjk
THIRD EDITIO
R
NaoMi\
osen bin
;
BEL-TIB
770. 9 Rosenblum 1997
Rosenblum, Naomi
A world history of
photography
31111021464068
A WORLD
HISTORY
PHOTOGRAPHY
OF
WORLD
A
mm-H^
'^^^^m'0'f'^,.
::>;.i^d^
^^'
" 1
«!';
^:
^•VM
HISTORY
,x'-f*^^
.!»i
^18S^^4
Naomi
Rosenblum
^3/
THIRD EDITION
ABBEVILLE PRESS BLISHERS
NEW^ORK LONDON
PARIS
• •
r
The cover illustrations are details ofpictures that appear in hill and are
credited in the captions for the following plates.
TOP ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT)
William Henry Fox Talbot. BotanicalSpecimen, 1839. See pi. no. 21.
Sherril V. Schell. BrooklynBridge, n.d. See pi. no. 540.
Arthur Rothstein. DustStonn, Cimarron County, 1957. See pi. no. 450.
Johann Kaspar Lavater. SilhouetteMachine, c. 1780. See pi. no. 29.
GerdVolkerling. OakTreesinDessau, 1867. See pi. nt). 125.
SECOND ROW
Reudinger Studio.AfZ/c. Elven, 1883. See pi. no. 63.
Jean Tomn^ssond.ArmyScene, c. 1914. See pi. no. 345.
THIRD ROW
Eugene Durieu. FigureStudyNo. 6, c. 1853. See pi. no. 242.
Mary Ellen Mark. "Tiny"inHerHalloween Costume, Seattle, 1983.
See pi. no. 689.
FOURTH ROW
Felice Beato (attributed). Woman UsingCosmetics, c. 186^. See pi. no. 533.
Eadweard Muybridge. StudiesofForeshortenirigs:AlahomctRunning, 1879.
See pi. no. 291.
Dorothea Lmgc.AligrantAlother,Niponw, California, 1936. See pi. no. 451.
Lumiere Brodiers. LumicreFamilyin theGarden atLa Ciotat, c. 1907-15.
See pi. no. 342.
FIFTH ROW
Susan Meiselas. Nicaragua, 1978. See pi. no. 793.
Heinrich Tonnies. FourTonngBlachnuths, c. 1881. See pi. no. 69.
SI.MH ROW
Disderi Camera, c. 1864. See pi. no. 226.
William Rau. Produce, c. 1910. See pi. no. 347.
SE\ENIFI ROW
Cindy Sherman. Untitled(#10), 1985. See pi. no. "43.
Unknown. "What an Exposure!" fromAmateurPhotographer, Sept. 23, 1887.
See pi. no. 306.
Charles Sheeler. Industiy, 1932. See pi. no. 585.
Lumiere Brothers. Untitled, c. 1907-15. See pi. no. 343.
TITLE I'AGE
Laura Gilpin. StillLife, 1912. See pi. no. 352.
Editors: Walton Rawis, with Nancy Grubb (3d ed.)
Designers: Philip Grushkin, with Barbara Balch (3d ed.)
Produaion Editors: Robin James, with Owen Dugan (3d ed.)
PictureEditors: Jain KelK, with PaulaTrotto (3d ed.)
ProductionAdanagers: Dana Ckile, with Lou Bilka (3d ed.)
LibraryofCongressCatalogtngj-tn-Publuntion Data
Roscnblum, Naomi.
—
A world history ofphotography / b\ Naomi Rosenbliim. ;rd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
LSRN 0-7892-00—28- (hardcoxer.) ishn 0--892-0329-4 (pbk.)
I. Photograph\ Hisror\'. I. Title.
TIU5.R—67 1997
770'.9 dc20 96-36153
— —
C>)mpilation including selection oftextand images copyright© 1984, 1989,
and 1997 byAbbeville Press. All rights reserved underinternational copyright
conventions. No partofdiis book may be reproduced or udlized in any form or
byany means, electronic ormechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
byany information storage anci retriexal s\steni, without permission in writing
from the publisher. Inquiries should be addressed to Abbe\ille Publishing
Group, 22CordandtStreet, NewYork, N.Y. 10007. The text ofthis book was set
in Galliard. Printed and hound in China.
ThirtJ edition, 1997
987654
10
—
Contents
PREFACE
9
I.
THE EARLY YEARS: TECHNOLOGY,
VISION, USERS
1839-1875 14
2.
A PLENITUDE OF PORTRAITS
1839-1890
38
The Galerie Contemporaine -Appearance
and Character in 19th-century Portraiture 84
3-
DOCUMENTATION: LANDSCAPE
AND ARCHITECTURE
1839-1890 94
—
The Western Landscape Natural and Fabricated
144
4.
DOCUMENTATION: OBJECTS
AND EVENTS
1839-1890 154
A
Short Technical History: Part I 192
—
A
19th-century Forerunner Photojournalism
of
The Execution ofthe Lincoln Conspirators 200
5.
PHOTOGRAPHY AND
ART:
THE FIRST PHASE
1839-1890 208
6.
NEW NEW
TECHNOLOGY,
VISION,
NEW
USERS
1875-1925 244
The Origins ofColor in Camera Images 280
7.
ART PHOTOGRAPHY:
ANOTHER
ASPECT
1890-1920 296
8.
DOCUMENTATION:
THE SOCIAL SCENE
to 1945 340
Illuminating Injustice: The Camera and Social Issues 384
9.
PHOTOGRAPHY,
ART,
AND MODERNISM
1920-1945 392
A
Short Technical History: Part II 442
The Machine: Icons ofthe Industrial Ethos 454
10.
WORDS AND
PICTURES:
PHOTOGRAPHS IN PRINT MEDIA
1920-1980 462
II.
PHOTOGRAPHY
SINCE
1950:
THE STRAIGHT IMAGE
516
12.
PHOTOGRAPHY
SINCE
1950:
MANIPULATIONS AND COLOR
568
A
Short Technical History: Part III 624
NOTES 632
A PHOTOGRAPHY TIME LINE 645
GLOSSARY 650
BIBLIOGRAPHY
655
INDEX
671
—
Preface
As a way ofmaking images, photography has flourished in photography provoked curiosity about its origins and
unprecedented fashion ever since its origins over 150 years stimulated investigations into its invention, develop-
ago. From Paris to Peking, from New York to Novgorod, ments, and the contributions of individual photogra-
from London to Lima, camera images have emerged as phers. The first histories, which began to appear soon
the least expensive and most persuasive means to record, after 1839 and became exhaustive toward the end ofthe
instruct, publicize, and give pleasure. Not only are pho- century, were oriented toward technological develop-
tographs the common currency ofvisual communication ments. They imposed a chronology on discoveries in
in the industrialized nations, they have become the para- chemistry, physics, and applied mechanics as these
—
digmatic democratic art form more people than ever disciplines related (at times tenuously) to photog-
before use cameras to record familial events or to express raphy. Exemplified by Josef Maria Eder's Gesdnchte der
personal responses to real and imagined experiences. Photojjraphie {HistoryofPhotography), first published under
Because oftheir ubiquity, photographs (whether originals a different tide in 1891, revised several times, and issued in
or reproductions) have been paramount in transforming English in 1945, these histories were not at all concerned
our ideas about ourselves, our institutions, and our rela- with the aesthetic and social dimensions ofthe medium,
tionship to the natural world. That the camera has altered which they barely acknowledged.
the way we see has become accepted wisdom; that it has Soon after 1900, as the art movement in photography
confirmed that no single view ofreality can be considered gained adherents, histories of the medium began to
imperishably true has also become evident. reflect the idea that camera images might be considered
Used in a multitude of ways and with varying inten- aesthetically pleasing artifacts as well as usefiil technolog-
tions, photographs have served to confLise and to clarify, to ical products. The concept that photographs serve the
lull and to energize. Interposed between people and their needs ofboth art and science and that, in fact, the medi-
direct experiences, they often seem to glorify appearance um owes its existence to developments in both these
over substance. They have endowed objects, ideologies, spheres ofactivity is basic to the best-known general his-
and personalities with seductive allure, or clothed them in tory that has appeared in the 20th century: TheHistory of
opprobrium. They have made the extraordinary common- Photography, from 1839 to the Present, by Beaumont
place and the banal exotic. At the same time, photographs Newhall, first published as an exhibition catalog in 1937,
have enlarged parochial perspectives and have impelled rewritten in 1949, and revised in 1964 and 1982. Another
action to preserve unique natural phenomena and cher- redoubtable work The History of Photojjraphv, from the
ished cultural artifacts. On their evidence, people have Camera Obscura to the Bejfinnimi of the Modem Era, by
been convinced of the inequity of social conditions and Helmut and Alison Gernsheim, first published in 1955,
the need for reform. revised by both in 1969 and again by Helmut Gernsheim
—
Photography has affected the other visual arts to a as two volumes in the 1980s also includes a discussion of
profound degree. Now accepted for itselfas a visual state- the emergence ofartistic photography and situates scien-
ment with its own aesthetic character, the photograph tific developments within a social framework. Besides
had an earlier role in replicating and popularizing artistic acknowledging the aesthetic nature of camera images,
expression in other media, and thus had an incalculable these works reflect the influence of the socially oriented
effect on the taste ofvast numbers ofpeople in urbanized temper ofdie mid-20th century in that they concede the
societies. Photography has made possible an internation- relationship ofphotography to social forces.
al style in architecture and interior design. It has inspired To an even more marked degree, a conception of
new ways of organizing and representing experience in photography as a socio-cultural phenomenon informs
the graphic arts and sculpture. How and why the medi- Photography and the American Scene: A Social History,
um has attained the position it occupies in contemporary 1839-1889, by Robert—Taft (1938), and Photojjraphieetsociete
life are questions that this history explores. by Gisele Freund the latter based on investigations
Throughout the 19th century, expantiing interest in begun in the 1930s but not published until 1974 in France
PREFACE
and not until 1980 in English translation. "The Work of phy, revealing an overall design without obscuring indi-
Art in the Age ofMechanical Reproduction," by Walter vidual threads.
Benjamin, which had its genesis in 1931 as a three-part To do justice to these objectives, the material in this
article entitled "Kleine Geschichte der Photographic," is book is structured in a somewhat imusual way. The chap-
a seminal early discussion ofthe social and aesthetic con- ters are organized chronologically around themes that
sequences of mass-produced camera images, which has have been ofspecial significance in the historyofthe medi-
stimulated many later ruminations. A recent survey that um—portraiture, documentation, advertising and photo-
places photographic imagery within an aesthetic and journalism, and the camera as a medium ofpersonal artis-
social context isNouvelleHistoiredelaphotographic (1994), tic expression. This organization makes visible both the
edited by Michel Frizot. similarity ofideas and images that have recurred in widely
The obvious impress ofcamera images on the painting separated localities and the changes that have sometimes
styles ofthe 1960s,combinedwith the affirmation at about occurred in the work ofindividual photographers over the
the same time ofthe photographic print as an artistic com- course oftime. This treatment means that the work ofan
modity, may account for the appearance ofhistories con- individual may be discussed in more than one chapter.
cerned primarily with the effects of photography on Edward Steichen, for example, began his career around
graphic art. The Painterandthe Photograph,from Delacroix 1900 as a Pictorialist, was then in charge ofAmerican aerial
to Warhol^ by Van Deren Coke (1964), and Art and documentation during World War I (and again in World
Photography^ by Aaron Scharf (1968), are two such books War II), later became a highly regarded magazine photog-
that examine the role played by the medium in develop- rapher, and finallywas directorofa museum department of
ments in the traditional visual arts. Within the past several photography; his contributions are examined both in the
decades, topical histories have appeared that survey the chapter on Pictorialism and in the one devoted to adver-
origins of documentation, photojournalism, and fashion tising and photojournalism. While this organization ofthe
photography. Monographs on historical figures and com- chapters emphasizes the subject matter and the context
pendiums that offer a selection of images fi"om the past within which photographers work, in select instances short
without being historical have enriched our knowledge of biographies, called "profiles," have been included at the
the medium. Our understanding of developments in all end ofthe appropriate chapter in order to underscore the
— —
spheres technological, aesthetic, and social has been contribution ofthose whose work epitomizes a style or has
ampHfied through articles appearing in periodicals, proved a germinal force.
notablyHistoryofPhotography. A scholarlyjournal initiated Photography is, ofcourse, the result ofscientific and
in 1977 by Professor Heinz Henisch ofPennsylvania State technical procedures as well as social and aesthetic ideas.
University and continued in England under the editorship Because large amounts oftechnical detail inserted into a
ofMike Weaver, History ofPhotography expands the hori- narrative tend to be confijsing rather than enlightening,
zons of historical research in photography. Ail these summaries outiining changes in equipment, materials, and
inquiries into specific aesthetic, scientific, and social facets processes during three separate eras have been isolated
ofphotography have made it possible to fill in a historical fi-om the descriptive history and placed at the end ofeach
outiine with concrete facts and subtie shadings. relevant period. Although not exhaustive, these short tech-
In view ofthis storehouse ofmaterial, my own book, nical histories are meant to complement the discussions
A
World History ofPPmto^raphy, is designed to distill and of social and aesthetic developments in the preceding
incorporate the exciting findings turned up by recent chapters.
scholarship in a field whose history is being discovered A great aid in the task of weaving everything
daily. It summarizes developments in photography together is the generous number ofillustrations, which
throughout the world and not just in Europe and the will permit the reader to relate facts and ideas within a
—
Americas areas that in the past received almost exclusive general historical structure not only to familiar images
attention. It presents the broad applications that photog- but also to lesser-known works. In addition to the pho-
raphy has had, and it articulates the relationship of the tographs interwoven throughout the text, the book
medium to urban and industrial developments, to com- includes albums ofprints designed to highlight a few of
merce, to ideas ofprogress, and to transformations in the the many themes that photographers have found com-
visual arts. While dealing with historical context, it also pelling. They comprise outstanding examples in portrai-
examines the role of photography as a distinctive means ture, landscape, social and scientific documentation, and
ofpersonal expression. In sum, this book is intended to photojournalism.
present a historical view that weaves together the various The study of photography is constantiy being trans-
components that have affected the course of photogra- formed by ft-esh information and insights, which recentiy
10 PREFACE
