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The Impact ofPhotography

Geoff Nunberg

IS103

History of Information

Oct. 31, 2007

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The Range of Photography

Applications in private life, statefunctioning, science, journalism, art…

And by extension, to broadcast,cinema, x-ray, etc.

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Agenda

The invention of photography

The photographic "truth"

Manipulating & questioning the photographictruth, then and now

Photography as documentation

Fixing identitiesDocumenting the deviant

The physical classification of deviance

How we read photographs: as particular, real,veridical, "objective"

(What's left out: photography and art)

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Photography BeforePhotographs

The camera obscura: images fromnature

Ibn al-Hatham 965-1039

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Photography BeforePhotographs

The prettiest Landskip I ever saw was one drawn on the Walls of adark Room, which stood opposite on one side to a navigableRiver…. Here you might discover the Waves and Fluctuations ofthe Water in strong and proper Colours, with a Picture of a Shipentering at one end and sailing by Degrees through the wholePiece. I must confess, the Novelty of such a Sight may be oneoccasion of its Pleasantness to the Imagination, but certainly thechief reason is its near resemblance to Nature. Joseph Addision, inthe Spectator, 1712, on the camera obscura at Greenwich

G. Canaletto, LondonGreenwich Hospital fromthe North Bank of theThames, 1753

Greenwich Royal Observatory

Camera obscura at Cliff House,Ocean Beach

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Photography BeforePhotographs

The camera lucida

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Photography BeforePhotographs

Lenses and mirrors -- an oldmasters' "cheat"?

Detail from Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini portrait, 1434

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Creating a permanentimage

1725: Johann Heinrich Schulze demonstrates thatsilver compounds are visibly changed by the actionof light; makes stencil impressions on glass, but doesnot try to capture images from nature.

1800: Thomas Wedgewood makes images on leatherimpregnated with silver nitrate, but is unable toprevent progressive darkening

1819: Sir John Herschel discovers that sodiumhyposulfite ("hypo") will dissolve silver halides, canbe used to "fix" photographic prints. Later inventsthe words "negative" and "positive" and"photography"

Sir John Herschel, photographedby Julia Cameron, 1867

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The earliest photographs

1826: Nicéphore Niépce makes"heliograph" on plate from window in Gras;requires > 8 hr. exposure.

From 1829, Niépce collaborates with LouisDaguerre, who announces in 1837 a new"chemical and physical process" which "isnot merely an instrument which serves todraw Nature; it gives her the ability toreproduce herself."

Daguerreotype permits shorter exposures(but still minutes long); does not permitmaking multiple images

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The earliest photographs

1839: William Henry Fox Talbot invents "photogenicdrawing": method of printing on paper, later thecalotype, which makes use of latent image,permitting 1-3 min exposures.

Permits multiple prints, less sharp than daguerrotype with"painterly" effects.

1851: Collodion process permits sharp printing onpaper

Cuneiformtablet, Ninevah

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The earliest photographs1839: In photograph of rue du Temple, Daguerreinadvertently makes first photograph of a person

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The truth of photographs

1839: In truth, the Daguerreotyped plate isinfinitely more accurate in its representation thanany painting by human hands. If we examine awork of ordinary art, by means of a powerfulmicroscope, all traces of resemblance to naturewill dissapear -- but the closest scrutiny of thephotographic drawing discloses only a moreaccurate truth., a more perfect identity of aspectwith the thing represented.

E. A. Poe

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The truth of photographs

While we give [sunlight]credit only for depictingthe merest surface, it actually brings out the secretcharacter with a truth that no painter would everventure upon, even if he could detect it.

The Daguerrotypist Holgrave, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s TheHouse of Seven Gables, 1851

What he [the camera] saw was faithfully reported,exact, and without blemish.

Am. Photgrapher James F. Ryder in 1902, recalling his firstcamera from the 1850’s

[A photograph] cannot be disputed—it carries withitevidence which God himself gives through theunerring light of the world's greatest luminary. . . .it will tell its own story, and the sun to testify to itstruth. . . Cal. Newspaper, 1851

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The capture of motion

Eadward Muybridge, Galloping Horse, 1878

Richard Caton Woodville, "Charge of the LightBrigade, 1856 (image reversed)

Art for the purpose of representation does not require to give the eyemore than the eye can see, and when Mr. Sturgess gives us a pictureof a close finish for the Gold Cup, we do not want Mr. Muybridge totell us that no horses ever strode in the fashion shown in the picture.It may indeed be fairly contended that the correct position(according to science) is the incorrect position (according to art).London Daily Globe

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The photograph as a modelfor journalistic objectivity

The news as “A daily photograph of the day'sevents.” (Charles Dana)

The New York Herald is now the representative ofAmerican manners,of American thought. It is thedaily daguerreotype of the heart and soul of themodel republic. It delineates with faithfulness theAmerican character in all its rapid changes andever varying hues. London Times, 1848

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The brief, happy reign ofthe Daguerreotype

By 1840's, improved lens andincreased senstivity of plates reduceexposure time for portraits.Daguerreotype becomes "the mirrorwith a memory" (Oliver WendellHolmes)

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The brief, happy reign ofthe Daguerreotype

The photograph as a record ofpersonal existence, family continuity

Connection to the “postal age”

The photograph as an instrument offameIn Daguerrotype,

we beat the world.Horace Greeley

1854: Phineas Barnumstages first modern beautypageant, usingDaguerrotypes for judging

"General" Tom Thumb

Sarah Bernhardt, by Nadar

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Second Thoughts

During this lamentable period, a new industry arose which

contributed not a little to confirm stupidity in its faith and to ruin

whatever might remain of the divine in the French mind. The

idolatrous mob demanded an ideal worthy of itself and appropriate to

its nature. In matters of painting and sculpture, the present-day Credo

of the sophisticated, above all in France is this: “I believe that Art is,

and cannot be other than, the exact reproduction of Nature. Thus an

industry that could give us a result identical to Nature would be the

absolute of Art.” A revengeful God has given ear to the prayers of this

multitude. Daguerre was his Messiah. ... From that moment our

squalid society rushed, Narcissus to a man, to gaze at its trivial image

on a scrap of metal.

Charles Baudelaire

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Photos for the millions

1884 George Eastman invents paper roll film;

1888 introduces Kodak camera

1900 introduces Brownie camera for $1

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Pictorialism: An Aesthetes' Reactionto Popular Photography?

Robert Demachy, "Behindthe Scenes," 1905 Gumprint

My picture, 'Fifth Avenue, Winter' isthe result of a three hours' standduring a fierce snow-storm onFebruary 22nd 1893, awaiting theproper moment. My patience wasduly rewarded. Of course, the resultcontained an element of chance, as Imight have stood there for hourswithout succeeding in getting thedesired pictures." Alfred Stieglitz

Emil Mayer, "The Hand-Scale," from VienneseTypes. Bromoil process,1910

Edward Steichen,Rodin/"TheThinker," 1902

Steiglitz, The FlatironBuilding, 1902

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The New Realism/"StraightPhotography"

Paul StrandEdward Weston

Leica 1, 1924Andre Kertesz

Cartier-Bresson

Sometimes it happens that you stall, delay, wait forsomething to happen. Sometimes you have the feelingthat here are all the makings of a picture—except for justone thing that seems to be missing. … You wait and wait,and then finally you press the button—and you departwith the feeling (though you don't know why) thatyou've really got something…

If you start cutting or cropping a good photograph,it means death to the geometrically correct interplay ofproportions. Besides, it very rarely happens that aphotograph which was feebly composed can be saved byreconstruction of its compositon under the darkroom'senlarger; the integrity of vision is no longer there. HenriCartier-Bresson, "The Decisive Moment"

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Manipulating thePhotographic Truth

1854-55: Wm. Howard Russell reports for Times from Crimeaon incompetence of general staff, suffering of troops.

1855: At urging of Prince Albert, Roger Fenton sent to Crimeato take photos to counter Russell’s Times reports

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Crimea: The First“Reported” War

Half a league, half a league,Half a league onward,All in the valley of DeathRode the six hundred."Forward the Light Brigade!Charge for the guns!" he said.Into the valley of DeathRode the six hundred.

Forward, the Light Brigade!"Was there a man dismay'd?Not tho' the soldier knewSome one had blunder'd.Theirs not to make reply,Theirs not to reason why,Theirs but to do and die...

Oct 25, 1854: Light Brigade charges the Russian gunsat Balaclava

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The Case of the DisappearningCannonballs

“The Valley of Death,” photographs byJames Fenton, April 4, 1855

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Doctoring the Truth

1871: Paris Commune: Photographs of executions bycommunards are doctored to change identity ofvictims.

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In Search of Ghosts

ArthurConan Doyle

“Spirit photograph” taken bythe paranormal hoaxerWilliam Hope in 1922

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Modern alterations:A shifting standard?

I discover my photographic death. Do I exist? I am a little black, I am a little white, I am a little shit, On Fidel's vest.Carlos Franqui

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Modern alterations:A shifting standard?

Photo of Beiruit following Israeliraid, 8/5/6, as published byReuters and as originally taken

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Modern alterations:A shifting standard?

Kent State, 1970

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Fixing Identities

Communards, Paris 1871

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Fixing Identities

Communards, Paris 1871

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Documenting the Deviant

Wanted posters for Lincolnassassins, Butch Cassidy

"Bank book" prepared for bank clients byPinkerton Detective Agency, ca. 1875

Inmate of Bethlam Royal Hospitalfor the Criminally Lunatic, 1870s

Entry for 13-year-old"vagrant," San JoaquinCounty Jail, ca. 1900

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The Sordid Details

Public obsession with crime-scene photos

Murder scenes, Paris, 1890s

Arthur Fellig("WeeGee"),

1930s

Police display body of Baby-Face Nelson, 1934

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The Documentation ofDeath

Robert Capa, The Falling Soldier, Spain,1936

Eddie Adams: South Vietnampolice chief executing Viet Congcaptaim, Feb 1, 1968

Kent State, 1970

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Documenting the Other

Photography as an instrument of social control

Photographs of Modoc Indiansmade by gov't following 1874war.

Photos of Downieville CA ChinesePrepared by Justice of the Peace, ca. 1890

One of a set of images prepared for Harvard naturalistLouis Agassiz to support thesis that human races weredifferent species.Truth before all. The more pity I felt at the sight of thisdegraded and degenerate race, the more impossible itbecomes for me to repress the feeling that they are notof the same blood as we are. 1846

Auschwitzdocumentary photo

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Documenting the other, 2

Photography and the awakening of socialconscience

Jacob Riis:How the Other

Half Lives

Lithograph preparedfrom Riis photo

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Documenting the OtherLewis Hine, Carolina Cotton Mill, 1909

"Some boys and girls were so smallthey had to climb up on to thespinning frame to mend brokenthreads and to put back the emptybobbins. Bibb Mill No. 1. Macon,Ga."

The golf links lie so near the mill That almost every dayThe laboring children can look out And see the men at play.

-- Sarah Norcli e Cleghorn, 1916

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Documenting the OtherWalker Evans and Dorothea Lange, Farm SecurityAdministration, mid-1930s

Walker Evans

Image from"Let Us NowPraiseFamousMen" Lange, photos of Dust Bowl and Japanese

relocation in WWII

Evans

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Classifying Deviance

1882: Bertillon presents system of criminalidentification, anthropometry (later calledBertillonage)

AlphonseBertillon

"Unchangeable in formfrom birth, this organ[the ear] is theimmutable legacy ofheredity andintrauterine life."

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The Renown of Bertillon

"I came to you, Mr. Holmes, because I recognizedthat I am myself an unpractical man and because Iam suddenly confronted with a most serious andextraordinary problem. Recognizing, as I do, thatyou are the second highest expert in Europe ------"

"Indeed, sir! May I inquire who has the honour to bethe first?" asked Holmes with some asperity.

"To the man of precisely scientific mind the work ofMonsieur Bertillon must always appeal strongly."

"The Hound of the Baskervilles"

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The "Criminal Type"

Lombroso: Hereditary criminals are identified bylarge jaws, handle-shaped ears, shifty eyes, etc.

Cesare Lombroso

"Revolutionaries and political criminals -- the semi-insane and morally insane"

The criminal is "an atavistic beingwho reproduces in his person theferocious instincts of primitivehumanity and the inferioranimals."

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The arbitrariness ofphotographic "truth"

We regard the photograph, the picture on our wall,as the object itself (the man, landscape, and so on)depicted there.

This need not have been so, We could easilyimagine people who did not have this relation tosuch pictures. Who, for example, would be repelledby photographs, because a face without color andeven perhaps a face in reduced proportions struckthem as inhuman.

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations,IIxi

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Photography in Science

Scientific Atlases: The tension beteen the typicaland the characteristic

From Bernhard Albinus' Table ofthe Skeleton and Muscles of theHuman Body, 1749

As skeletons differ from one another, not only as

to the age, sex, stature and perfection of the

bones, but likewise in the marks of strength,

beauty and make of the whole; I made choice of

one that might discover signs of both strength

and agility; the whole of it elegant… Yet

however it was not altogether so perfect, but

something occurred in it less compleat than one

could wish. As therefore painters, when they

draw a handsome face, if there happens to be

any blemish in it mend it in the picture, thereby

to render the likeness the more beautiful; so

those things which were less perfect, were

mended in the figure, and were done in such a

manner as to exhibit more perfect patterns…"

Albinus

Rhododendronargentum, JosephHooker, 1849

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Photography in Science

The virtues of the typical…an anatomical archetype [Typus] will be suggested here, ageneral picture con- taining the forms of all animals aspotential, one which will guide us to an orderly description ofeach animal. . . . The mere idea of an archetype in generalimplies that no particular animal can be used as our point ofcomparison; the particular can never serve as a pattern[Muster]for the whole.' Goethe

But rendering the typical leaves too much discretion to"subjective" judgment…

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Composite Types

1870's: Darwin's cousin Francis Galton makescomposite photographs, part as aid to criminology,part as effort to apply Darwinism to human

differences. Coins eugenics, "nature vs nurture,""regression to the mean," notion of statisticalcorrelation, pioneers questionaires and surveys.

With Wm. Herschel,tries to put study offingerprintson a scientific basis.

Francis Galton

Composite: Violent Criminals

Composite: Jews

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Composite Types &"Objectivity"

Francis Galton

Composite: Violent Criminals

"… the imaginative power even of thehighest artists is far from precise, and isso apt to be biased by special cases thatmay have struck their fancies, that notwo artists agree in any of their typicalforms. The merit of the photographiccomposite is its mechanical precision,being subject to no errors beyond thoseincidental to all photographicproductions." Francis Galton

Composite Jews

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Photographic exhibits: Thedebate over interpretation

The limits of X-rays to display micro-anatomy,the temptation to "clarify" images:

"I have vigorously avoided artistic aids; in those fewcases where, because of the uneven covering of theemulsion [Deckung]on the negative, a few visiblecontours had to be added afterwards, I haveexplicitly so indicated." Rudolph Grashey, 1905

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Photographing Types

Photographs by August Sander

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Photographing Types

Photographic kitsch

From Norman Rockwell’s “FourFreedoms” paintings, 1941

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Photos of Concepts

Sandy Skoglund, “Shelter, “Clothing,” “Food”

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Photos of Concepts

Can a photo illustrate a concept?"Photographs are necessarily of unidealized individual things,whether zebras, geese, or medieval churches [whereas] drawingsmay represent a composite distillation.” Sydney Landau

American Heritage illustrations for brioche, brocade, espadrille.

Merriam Webster illustrations for rampant, skunk, skeleton, etc.

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Fictionalizing Photos

Cf Victorian uses of photographs in illustrations,"Any dodge, trick and conjuration of any kind is open to thephotographer's use.... It is his imperative duty to avoid the mean,the base and the ugly, and to aim to elevate his subject.... and tocorrect the unpicturesque.....” Henry Peach Robinson

Julia Cameron,Lancelot and Guinevere,1875

Henry Peach Robinson, Fading Away, 1858

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Fictionalizing Photos

Illustration to Henry James’The Golden Bowl, 1904

Henry Peach RobinsonThe Lady of Shalott

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Modern PhotographicFictions

fotonovelas

Tina Barney

Sam Taylor-Wood Paul Outerbridge, TheCoffee Drinkers, 1939

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Modern PhotographicFictions

Cindy Sherman

Yinka Shonibare, from "Diary ofa Victorian Dandy"

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The Particularity of Photos

Cf Victorian uses of photographs inillustrations, tableaux

Oscar Rejlander, “The Two Ways of Life,” 1858

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Revisiting Allegory

Joel Peter Witkin, Las Me ninas

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Revisiting Allegory

Eleanor Antin, The Triumph of Pan, 2004