1The Impact ofPhotographyGeoff NunbergIS103History of InformationOct. 31, 20072The Range of PhotographyApplications in private life, statefunctioning, science, journalism, art…And by extension, to broadcast,cinema, x-ray, etc.3AgendaThe invention of photographyThe photographic "truth"Manipulating & questioning the photographictruth, then and nowPhotography as documentationFixing identitiesDocumenting the deviantThe physical classification of devianceHow we read photographs: as particular, real,veridical, "objective"(What's left out: photography and art)4Photography BeforePhotographsThe camera obscura: images fromnatureIbn al-Hatham 965-10395Photography BeforePhotographsThe 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 GreenwichG. Canaletto, LondonGreenwich Hospital fromthe North Bank of theThames, 1753Greenwich Royal ObservatoryCamera obscura at Cliff House,Ocean Beach6Photography BeforePhotographsThe camera lucida7Photography BeforePhotographsLenses and mirrors -- an oldmasters' "cheat"?Detail from Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini portrait, 14348Creating a permanentimage1725: 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 darkening1819: 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, 18679The earliest photographs1826: 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 images10The earliest photographs1839: 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 onpaperCuneiformtablet, Ninevah11The earliest photographs1839: In photograph of rue du Temple, Daguerreinadvertently makes first photograph of a person12The truth of photographs1839: 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. Poe13The truth of photographsWhile 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, 1851What 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, 185114The capture of motionEadward Muybridge, Galloping Horse, 1878Richard 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 Globe15The photograph as a modelfor journalistic objectivityThe 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, 184816The brief, happy reign ofthe DaguerreotypeBy 1840's, improved lens andincreased senstivity of plates reduceexposure time for portraits.Daguerreotype becomes "the mirrorwith a memory" (Oliver WendellHolmes)17The brief, happy reign ofthe DaguerreotypeThe photograph as a record ofpersonal existence, family continuityConnection to the “postal age”The photograph as an instrument offameIn Daguerrotype,we beat the world.Horace Greeley1854: Phineas Barnumstages first modern beautypageant, usingDaguerrotypes for judging"General" Tom ThumbSarah Bernhardt, by Nadar18Second ThoughtsDuring this lamentable period, a new industry arose whichcontributed not a little to confirm stupidity in its faith and to ruinwhatever might remain of the divine in the French mind. Theidolatrous mob demanded an ideal worthy of itself and appropriate toits nature. In matters of painting and sculpture, the present-day Credoof the sophisticated, above all in France is this: “I believe that Art is,and cannot be other than, the exact reproduction of Nature. Thus anindustry that could give us a result identical to Nature would be theabsolute of Art.” A revengeful God has given ear to the prayers of thismultitude. Daguerre was his Messiah. ... From that moment oursqualid society rushed, Narcissus to a man, to gaze at its trivial imageon a scrap