Survey histories of photography

What is the history of photography? Since the late nineteenth century, authors have attempted to answer this question in one-volume narrative studies. This literature is rich, international, and varied in scope and content. Accounts of this literature have appeared periodically. In this journal, Martin Gasser (1992) classified the histories of photography written, between 1839 and 1939, in English, French, and German. He grouped these early histories into three categories: nationalistic debates over invention, handbooks of process and application, and image-oriented histories.1 Anne McCauley edited an issue of History of Photography (Summer 1997) devoted to the proposition ‘Why Historiography?’. Among the other essays, McCauley's own contribution, ‘Writing photography's history before Newhall’, responded to this question.2 Here she identified three publication types, the monograph, the autobiography, and the single-volume narrative, as vehicles signalling the place and status of this discipline over time. Other scholars have undertaken to interrogate the methodology of the early historians in an effort to redefine the history of photography. Key essays illustrating this critique were collected by Richard Bolton and edited into an anthology, The Contest of Meaning (1989).3 Similarly, Abigail SolomonGodeau examined the politics of photographic history in her book, Photography at the Dock (1991).4 A recent review of the field appeared in the second, revised edition of Photography: A Critical Introduction.5 This volume of essays begins with a chapter by Liz Wells and Derrick Price entided, ‘Thinking about photography: debates historically and now’. These authors map the current theoretical approaches to photography and reference histories in print by 1998

Archaeology · Art · Art history · CONTEST · German · Historiography · History of photography · Literature · Narrative · Photography · Visual arts · History · Philosophy · Photographic and Visual Arts · Photography and Visual Culture · Visual Culture and Art Theory

• A History of Women Photographers

  Open Access•Naomi Rosenblum•The Art Book•1994

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• Writing photography's history before Newhall

  Anne Mccauley•History of Photography•1997

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• Histories of Photography 1839–1939

  Martin Gasser•History of Photography•1992

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