This course covers the history of photography from its beginning in 1839 through the present day. In addition to understanding how the techniques and uses of photography have developed over time, the course examines the role of the printed image, both as an art form and as a document that depicts the historical, political and socioeconomic movements in Paris and other parts of the world. In order to understand the different forms and uses of photographic expression, the course examines works by artists such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray, Cindy Sherman, Doisneau, Cartier-Bresson, etc. Site visits to galleries and museums in Paris are also an integral part of the course.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, students are able to:
Understand the medium of photography and the theoretical debates that surrounded it throughout history;
Recognize images from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries;
Appreciate the important historical, artistic and esthetic developments in photography;
Develop a critical eye for photography and awareness of the various styles and forms of expression.
Method of presentation:
Lectures, discussion, and several site visits throughout Paris (La Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Musée d'Orsay, Jeu de Paume, etc.)
Required work and form of assessment:
Class attendance and participation (20%); oral in- class presentation on a chosen work (30%); written midterm exam (30%); final project on an exhibit (gallery or museum in Paris) dedicated to photography
content:
Session 1: Introduction
Man has always felt the need to reproduce images. Confronted with the difficulty of drawing and developing images with his own hand, he begins to invent image machines, such as the camera obscura,
known since Antiquity. In the field of chemistry, the understanding of light effects on various mediums is ancient as well. At the beginning of the 19th century, industry, communication and techniques develop and favor the beginning of photography, which responds to the need of French society that is in full development.
Reading: BAJAC, Quentin, L'image révélée. L'invention de la photographie, Gallimard 2001
Session 2: 1839: The First Techniques and Photographs in Paris
It is in this favorable context that the first form of photography appears: the daguerréotype, an invention that is the result of a collaboration by Joseph Nicéphore Niepce and Jacques Louis Mandé
Daguerre. The new process is introduced to the Académie des sciences in Paris in 1839. The
Daguerréotype, a unique process of reproducing images on a metallic plate, will undergo many transformations and improvements before it becomes the process of producing multiple images (negative/positive).
Reading: Dictionnaire mondial de la photographie, Larousse, 1994
Session 3: Portraits
Portraits are a form of photography from the very beginning that are economically important to the photographer.
Reading: MARY, Bertrand, La Photo sur la cheminée, Métailié, 1993 ; AMAR, Pierre-Jean, Histoire de la photographie, PUF, 1997
Session 4: Photography Studios in Paris
Photography studios spring up throughout the Western world and especially in Paris on its grands boulevards. In 1840 there were approximately 50 photography studios in Paris. These studios often belonged to painters who moved towards the medium of photography. The bourgeoisie took the most advantage of this invention; for those who didn’t have the means to pay for an original portrait, the photograph became the symbol of their rising social status. Baudelaire couldn’t help comment on the “vile society that pounces like a lone narcissist to look at its own image on the metal plate” (Salon de
1859). In 1849, nearly 100,000 people have their pictures taken in Paris.
Lecture: SAGNE, Jean, L’Atelier du photographe 1840-1940, Presses de la Renaissance, 1998.
Session 5: The Photograph as a Record: Landscapes of Explorers and Tourists
Other commercial activities related to photography develop. The sale of cameras, the reproduction of prints, private excursions, etc. Photographic views from the most remarkable monuments and sites in
the world lead to the creation of the post card.
Reading: FRIZOT, Michel, Nouvelle Histoire de la photographie, Bordas, 1994.
Session 6: Photography as Documentary: The Scenery of Faubourgs Parisiens and Parisian
Architecture
Paris quickly becomes the premier destination for photographers. Reading: BEAUMONT-MAILLET, Paris-Atget, Hazan, 2003.
Session 7: An Objective Medium (1860-1900) Paris: Capitol of Arts and Sciences Archaeologists, ethnologists, zoologists use photography in their studies and discovery of the universe. Reading: FRIZOT, Michel, Nouvelle Histoire de la photographie, op. cit.
Session 8: An Objective Medium (instantaneous)
The State sees photography as a way to build evidence of its patrimony and its technological and industrial developments. The arrival of silver potassium bromide (1880) and small portable cameras
(around 1910) with very sensitive lens makes it possible to take instant pictures with a hand-held
camera, even in the most difficult conditions.
Reading: ROSENBLUM, Naomi, Une Histoire mondiale de la photographie, Abbeville Press, 1992.
Session 9-10: Representation of Paris in the 19th Century
Between myth and reality, how photography enables one to better understand the social and political history of Paris in the 19th century. In this way the photographic images immerse us in the reality of daily life in the capitol and also allow us to understand the major urban developments and transformations during this period.
Reading: CRARY, Jonathan, L’Art de l’observateur. Vision et modernité au XIXème siècle, Jacqueline
Chambon, 1998.
Session 11: The Wide Use of the Photographic Image in the Media
Photography and printing: the circulation of image progresses rapidly through the media and current events are now told through photography.
Reading: FRIZOT, Michel, Nouvelle Histoire de la photographie, op. cit.
Session 12: Is Photography a Valid Art Form? (1860-1910)
The issue of photography as a valid art form is at the forefront of artistic debates in Paris in the 19th
century.
Reading: ROUILLÉ, André, La Photographie en France : Textes et controverses, une anthologie 1816-
1871, Macula, 1988 ; DEREN COKE, Franck Van, The Painter and the Photograph From Delacroix to
Warhol, University of New Mexico, 1972
Session 13: The Pictorial Reference
Natural vision and symbolic imagery in English and French pictorials. Characters and history of pictorialism, the first photographic movement where the principal players, Julia Margaret Cameron and
Robert Demachy, attempt to give the photographic image a form close to impressionist painting.
Reading: POIVERT, Michel, Le Pictorialisme en France, Hoëbeke, 1992.
Session 14: The Arrival of Color
The arrival of color photos is progressive. Research starts in the 19th century and reaches a result in
1935 with the Kodak laboratory’s invention of Kodachrome. The 35mm negative film undergoes a complex treatment that only the Kodak laboratories are capable of processing. Color photography in
small format is now accessible to the public. The improvements after that include the Ektachrome
process and the increase in sensitivity from 10 ISO for Kodachrome to more than 1000 ISO today. In
1963, Polaroid creates the Polacolor that offers a color print in just minutes without a film lab. Reading: AMAR, Pierre-Jean, L’ABCédaire de la photographie, Flammarion, 2003.
Session 15: Modernism: Constructivism of Moholy-Nagy and Surrealism with Man Ray
In artistic movements such as Russian constructivism, German Bauhaus or Italian Futurism, photography is a means of expression equal to others. The Dadaists and the surrealists incorporate photography into their practice.
Reading: KRAUSS, Rosalind, Le Photographique. Pour une théorie des écarts, Macula, 2000.
Session 16: Photography at the Time of the Avant-Gardes: New Techniques and New Visions in the Parisian Artistic Scene
Continuation and conclusion of the history of photography during the first part of the 20th century. Reading: KRAUSS, Rosalind, Le Photographique. Pour une théorie des écarts, Macula, 2000.
Session 17: Social Documentary through 1945: Photography in the United States
What was a simple document in the 19th century becomes an important means of information. The themes of art and propaganda take an unexpected turn thanks to (or due to) the use of photography in
the press, posters, leaflets, etc.
Reading: LEMAGNY, Jean-Claude, ROUILLÉ, André, Histoire de la photographie, Bordas, 1993 & LUGON, Olivier, Le Style documentaire d’August Sander à Walker Evans 1920-1945, Macula, 2001.
Session 18: Social Documentary in the United States after WWII
Continuation and conclusion of the relationship between photography and history.
Reading: BOURDIEU, Pierre, Un Art moyen, essai sur les usages sociaux de la photographie, Minuit,
1965 & FREUND, Gisèle, Photographie et société, Seuil, 1974.
Session 19: The Word and the Image: Photography and the Press 1920-2001
Photojournalism (press and fashion) is at the heart of the cultural experience in Paris. The magazine Vu, started in 1928 by Lucien Vogel, attempts in many ways to connect the world’s public through beautiful images in a magazine. Vu inspires Henry Luce, who starts Life in 1936, as a prototype of successful weekly news magazines. At the end of the 19th century, photography replaces fashion plates.
Magazines such as Vogue, published in Paris, New York and London, or Harper’s Bazaar influenced all other periodicals in the 1920s. Finally, in the area of advertising, photography becomes quickly vital. Today, advertising is the primary means of financing the press, representing approximately 70% of its budget.
Reading: FREUND, Gisèle, Photographie et société, Seuil, 1974 & ROSEMBLUM, Naomi, Une Histoire mondiale de la photographie, op. cit.
Session 20: Representation of Paris in the 20th Century
Contemporary photographers seem less attracted to the architectural uniqueness of the city (Atget) and more interested in its inhabitants (Doisneau, Cartier-Bresson, Willy Ronis). Photography that uses Paris as a theme provides a sociological and unedited image of French society in the 20th century.
Reading: DOISNEAU, Robert, Doisneau-Paris, Flammarion, 2006.
Session 21: Pure Photography: Artistic Expression since 1950
After the Second World War, the boundary between photography and the visual arts is practically abolished. Warhol, Rauschenberg, Hockney or the New Realists in France combine the two in their works.
Reading: VANLIER, Henri, Histoire photographique de la photographie, Les Cahiers de la photographie,
1992
Session 22: The Contemporary Artistic Scene, Part I
Visits to contemporary galleries in Paris specializing in photography.
Session 23: The Contemporary Artistic Scene, Part II
Visual artists today use photography to question the representation of reality (Boltanski) or to record their ephemeral works (Christo). Currently, visual photography hinges on the primary factor which is European and American postmodern criticism (Cindy Sherman).
Reading: Histoire de la photographie de 1839 à nos jours, Taschen, 2000 & Cat. Cindy Sherman, Flammarion, 2006.
Session 24: Reflection on the Specificity of the Medium of Photography since 1970
Intellectual particularities of Parisian universities and French intellectuals that lead to the essay of Roland
Barthes, La Chambre claire.
Reading: SCHAEFFER, Jean-Marie, L’image précaire. Du dispositif photographique, Seuil, 1987 ; DUBOIS, Philippe, L’Acte photographique, Nathan, 1992.
Required readings:
Amar, Pierre-Jean. Histoire de la photographie. PUF, 1997.
Bajac, Quentin. L'image révélée. L'invention de la photographie. Gallimard, 2001. Beaumont-Maillet. Paris-Atget. Hazan, 2003.
Bourdieu, Pierre. Un Art moyen, essai sur les usages sociaux de la photographie. Minuit, 1965. Crary, Jonathan. L’Art de l’observateur. Vision et modernité au XIXème siècle. Jacqueline Chambon, 1998.
Deren Coke, Franck Van. The Painter and the Photograph From Delacroix to Warhol. University of New Mexico, 1972.
Dictionnaire mondial de la photographie. Larousse, 1994.
This course covers the history of photography from its beginning in 1839 through the present day. In addition to understanding how the techniques and uses of photography have developed over time, the course examines the role of the printed image, both as an art form and as a document that depicts the historical, political and socioeconomic movements in Paris and other parts of the world. In order to understand the different forms and uses of photographic expression, the course examines works by artists such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray, Cindy Sherman, Doisneau, Cartier-Bresson, etc. Site visits to galleries and museums in Paris are also an integral part of the course.
By the end of the course, students are able to:
Lectures, discussion, and several site visits throughout Paris (La Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Musée d'Orsay, Jeu de Paume, etc.)
Class attendance and participation (20%); oral in- class presentation on a chosen work (30%); written midterm exam (30%); final project on an exhibit (gallery or museum in Paris) dedicated to photography
Session 1: Introduction
Man has always felt the need to reproduce images. Confronted with the difficulty of drawing and developing images with his own hand, he begins to invent image machines, such as the camera obscura,
known since Antiquity. In the field of chemistry, the understanding of light effects on various mediums is ancient as well. At the beginning of the 19th century, industry, communication and techniques develop and favor the beginning of photography, which responds to the need of French society that is in full development.
Reading: BAJAC, Quentin, L'image révélée. L'invention de la photographie, Gallimard 2001
Session 2: 1839: The First Techniques and Photographs in Paris
It is in this favorable context that the first form of photography appears: the daguerréotype, an invention that is the result of a collaboration by Joseph Nicéphore Niepce and Jacques Louis Mandé
Daguerre. The new process is introduced to the Académie des sciences in Paris in 1839. The
Daguerréotype, a unique process of reproducing images on a metallic plate, will undergo many transformations and improvements before it becomes the process of producing multiple images (negative/positive).
Reading: Dictionnaire mondial de la photographie, Larousse, 1994
Session 3: Portraits
Portraits are a form of photography from the very beginning that are economically important to the photographer.
Reading: MARY, Bertrand, La Photo sur la cheminée, Métailié, 1993 ; AMAR, Pierre-Jean, Histoire de la photographie, PUF, 1997
Session 4: Photography Studios in Paris
Photography studios spring up throughout the Western world and especially in Paris on its grands boulevards. In 1840 there were approximately 50 photography studios in Paris. These studios often belonged to painters who moved towards the medium of photography. The bourgeoisie took the most advantage of this invention; for those who didn’t have the means to pay for an original portrait, the photograph became the symbol of their rising social status. Baudelaire couldn’t help comment on the “vile society that pounces like a lone narcissist to look at its own image on the metal plate” (Salon de
1859). In 1849, nearly 100,000 people have their pictures taken in Paris.
Lecture: SAGNE, Jean, L’Atelier du photographe 1840-1940, Presses de la Renaissance, 1998.
Session 5: The Photograph as a Record: Landscapes of Explorers and Tourists
Other commercial activities related to photography develop. The sale of cameras, the reproduction of prints, private excursions, etc. Photographic views from the most remarkable monuments and sites in
the world lead to the creation of the post card.
Reading: FRIZOT, Michel, Nouvelle Histoire de la photographie, Bordas, 1994.
Session 6: Photography as Documentary: The Scenery of Faubourgs Parisiens and Parisian
Architecture
Paris quickly becomes the premier destination for photographers. Reading: BEAUMONT-MAILLET, Paris-Atget, Hazan, 2003.
Session 7: An Objective Medium (1860-1900) Paris: Capitol of Arts and Sciences Archaeologists, ethnologists, zoologists use photography in their studies and discovery of the universe. Reading: FRIZOT, Michel, Nouvelle Histoire de la photographie, op. cit.
Session 8: An Objective Medium (instantaneous)
The State sees photography as a way to build evidence of its patrimony and its technological and industrial developments. The arrival of silver potassium bromide (1880) and small portable cameras
(around 1910) with very sensitive lens makes it possible to take instant pictures with a hand-held
camera, even in the most difficult conditions.
Reading: ROSENBLUM, Naomi, Une Histoire mondiale de la photographie, Abbeville Press, 1992.
Session 9-10: Representation of Paris in the 19th Century
Between myth and reality, how photography enables one to better understand the social and political history of Paris in the 19th century. In this way the photographic images immerse us in the reality of daily life in the capitol and also allow us to understand the major urban developments and transformations during this period.
Reading: CRARY, Jonathan, L’Art de l’observateur. Vision et modernité au XIXème siècle, Jacqueline
Chambon, 1998.
Session 11: The Wide Use of the Photographic Image in the Media
Photography and printing: the circulation of image progresses rapidly through the media and current events are now told through photography.
Reading: FRIZOT, Michel, Nouvelle Histoire de la photographie, op. cit.
Session 12: Is Photography a Valid Art Form? (1860-1910)
The issue of photography as a valid art form is at the forefront of artistic debates in Paris in the 19th
century.
Reading: ROUILLÉ, André, La Photographie en France : Textes et controverses, une anthologie 1816-
1871, Macula, 1988 ; DEREN COKE, Franck Van, The Painter and the Photograph From Delacroix to
Warhol, University of New Mexico, 1972
Session 13: The Pictorial Reference
Natural vision and symbolic imagery in English and French pictorials. Characters and history of pictorialism, the first photographic movement where the principal players, Julia Margaret Cameron and
Robert Demachy, attempt to give the photographic image a form close to impressionist painting.
Reading: POIVERT, Michel, Le Pictorialisme en France, Hoëbeke, 1992.
Session 14: The Arrival of Color
The arrival of color photos is progressive. Research starts in the 19th century and reaches a result in
1935 with the Kodak laboratory’s invention of Kodachrome. The 35mm negative film undergoes a complex treatment that only the Kodak laboratories are capable of processing. Color photography in
small format is now accessible to the public. The improvements after that include the Ektachrome
process and the increase in sensitivity from 10 ISO for Kodachrome to more than 1000 ISO today. In
1963, Polaroid creates the Polacolor that offers a color print in just minutes without a film lab. Reading: AMAR, Pierre-Jean, L’ABCédaire de la photographie, Flammarion, 2003.
Session 15: Modernism: Constructivism of Moholy-Nagy and Surrealism with Man Ray
In artistic movements such as Russian constructivism, German Bauhaus or Italian Futurism, photography is a means of expression equal to others. The Dadaists and the surrealists incorporate photography into their practice.
Reading: KRAUSS, Rosalind, Le Photographique. Pour une théorie des écarts, Macula, 2000.
Session 16: Photography at the Time of the Avant-Gardes: New Techniques and New Visions in the Parisian Artistic Scene
Continuation and conclusion of the history of photography during the first part of the 20th century. Reading: KRAUSS, Rosalind, Le Photographique. Pour une théorie des écarts, Macula, 2000.
Session 17: Social Documentary through 1945: Photography in the United States
What was a simple document in the 19th century becomes an important means of information. The themes of art and propaganda take an unexpected turn thanks to (or due to) the use of photography in
the press, posters, leaflets, etc.
Reading: LEMAGNY, Jean-Claude, ROUILLÉ, André, Histoire de la photographie, Bordas, 1993 & LUGON, Olivier, Le Style documentaire d’August Sander à Walker Evans 1920-1945, Macula, 2001.
Session 18: Social Documentary in the United States after WWII
Continuation and conclusion of the relationship between photography and history.
Reading: BOURDIEU, Pierre, Un Art moyen, essai sur les usages sociaux de la photographie, Minuit,
1965 & FREUND, Gisèle, Photographie et société, Seuil, 1974.
Session 19: The Word and the Image: Photography and the Press 1920-2001
Photojournalism (press and fashion) is at the heart of the cultural experience in Paris. The magazine Vu, started in 1928 by Lucien Vogel, attempts in many ways to connect the world’s public through beautiful images in a magazine. Vu inspires Henry Luce, who starts Life in 1936, as a prototype of successful weekly news magazines. At the end of the 19th century, photography replaces fashion plates.
Magazines such as Vogue, published in Paris, New York and London, or Harper’s Bazaar influenced all other periodicals in the 1920s. Finally, in the area of advertising, photography becomes quickly vital. Today, advertising is the primary means of financing the press, representing approximately 70% of its budget.
Reading: FREUND, Gisèle, Photographie et société, Seuil, 1974 & ROSEMBLUM, Naomi, Une Histoire mondiale de la photographie, op. cit.
Session 20: Representation of Paris in the 20th Century
Contemporary photographers seem less attracted to the architectural uniqueness of the city (Atget) and more interested in its inhabitants (Doisneau, Cartier-Bresson, Willy Ronis). Photography that uses Paris as a theme provides a sociological and unedited image of French society in the 20th century.
Reading: DOISNEAU, Robert, Doisneau-Paris, Flammarion, 2006.
Session 21: Pure Photography: Artistic Expression since 1950
After the Second World War, the boundary between photography and the visual arts is practically abolished. Warhol, Rauschenberg, Hockney or the New Realists in France combine the two in their works.
Reading: VANLIER, Henri, Histoire photographique de la photographie, Les Cahiers de la photographie,
1992
Session 22: The Contemporary Artistic Scene, Part I
Visits to contemporary galleries in Paris specializing in photography.
Session 23: The Contemporary Artistic Scene, Part II
Visual artists today use photography to question the representation of reality (Boltanski) or to record their ephemeral works (Christo). Currently, visual photography hinges on the primary factor which is European and American postmodern criticism (Cindy Sherman).
Reading: Histoire de la photographie de 1839 à nos jours, Taschen, 2000 & Cat. Cindy Sherman, Flammarion, 2006.
Session 24: Reflection on the Specificity of the Medium of Photography since 1970
Intellectual particularities of Parisian universities and French intellectuals that lead to the essay of Roland
Barthes, La Chambre claire.
Reading: SCHAEFFER, Jean-Marie, L’image précaire. Du dispositif photographique, Seuil, 1987 ; DUBOIS, Philippe, L’Acte photographique, Nathan, 1992.
Amar, Pierre-Jean. Histoire de la photographie. PUF, 1997.
Bajac, Quentin. L'image révélée. L'invention de la photographie. Gallimard, 2001. Beaumont-Maillet. Paris-Atget. Hazan, 2003.
Bourdieu, Pierre. Un Art moyen, essai sur les usages sociaux de la photographie. Minuit, 1965. Crary, Jonathan. L’Art de l’observateur. Vision et modernité au XIXème siècle. Jacqueline Chambon, 1998.
Deren Coke, Franck Van. The Painter and the Photograph From Delacroix to Warhol. University of New Mexico, 1972.
Dictionnaire mondial de la photographie. Larousse, 1994.
Doisneau, Robert. Doisneau-Paris. Flammarion, 2006.
Dubois, Philippe. L’Acte photographique. Nathan, 1992. Freund, Gisèle. Photographie et société. Seuil, 1974.
Frizot, Michel. Nouvelle Histoire de la photographie. Bordas, 1994.
Krauss, Rosalind. Le Photographique. Pour une théorie des écarts. Macula, 2000.
Lemagny, Jean-Claude and André Rouillé. Histoire de la photographie. Bordas, 1993.
Lugon, Olivier. Le Style documentaire d’August Sander à Walker Evans 1920-1945. Macula, 2001.
Mary, Bertrand. La Photo sur la cheminée. Métailié, 1993.
Poivert, Michel. Le Pictorialisme en France. Hoëbeke, 1992.
Rosenblum, Naomi. Une Histoire mondiale de la photographie. Abbeville Press, 1992.
Rouillé, André. La Photographie en France : Textes et controverses, une anthologie 1816-1871. Macula, 1988.
Sagne, Jean. L’Atelier du photographe 1840-1940, Presses de la Renaissance, 1998.
Schaeffer, Jean-Marie. L’image précaire. Du dispositif photographique. Seuil, 1987.
Vanlier, Henri. Histoire photographique de la photographie. Les Cahiers de la photographie, 1992.
Abécédaire de la photographie. Flammarion, 2004.
Histoire de la photographie de 1839 à nos jours. Taschen, 2000.