ART 318

19th Century HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY
or
20th Century HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

INSTRUCTOR: ELLEN LAND-WEBER

Goal Your goal for both courses, 19th Century History of Photography, and 20th Century History of Photography, is to understand how over the past 165 years the forces of historical context, technological innovation, and creative spirit have worked together to create a body of images that have profoundly influenced our sense of ourselves. The course methods are slide lectures, reading, class discussion, and writing brief but thoughtful analytical essays.

BOOKS: The texts are Naomi Rosenblum's A WORLD HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY and Beaumont Newhall's HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY, and three essays on reserve in the library. The weekly assignment is to read the appropriate chapters in the texts, and supplement this reading with other books and articles on 19th or 20th C. photography (depending upon which course you are taking) found in the library.

SLIDE IDENTIFICATION QUIZZES: There will be two slide quizzes, one at midterm and one during finals week. Study slides will be in the Independent Study Lab in the library. You are also expected to know the photographs in the assigned text reading.

INDEPENDENT STUDY LAB: A selection of slides from the lectures will be available for study in the Independent Study Lab in the library. Your instructor will add new items each week. Slides in the slide identification quizzes will be from this group as well as the Newhall text.

YOUR ESSAYS: Your other responsiblity will be to write three short essays on assigned topics from class readings, plus a Time Line. Details about each assignment will be explained in class. Check the weekly schedule for due dates. They will be graded and returned to you throughout the semester.

Each essay should be 2 to 4 typed pages, carefully written and proofread. They should reflect thoughtful analysis of information found in the texts, library books, and lectures.

ATTENDANCE: Attendance is considered to be extremely important and is part of your grade. You are allowed four cuts. Five to seven absences drops your grade by one letter grade. Eight to nine cuts drops your grade two letter grades, and ten or more constitutes a failing grade.

GRADES: Each slide review quiz is worth 20%, the essays will cumulatively be worth 60%. Late essays will be dropped half a grade if turned in within 7 days of being due, or a whole grade after 7 days. Exceptions made only with a note from your doctor.

SAMPLE ESSAY ASSIGNMENTS FOR 20TH CENTURY HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY.

These are examples from previous classes. They may be changed.

Note: Each assignment requires reading an essay found in thebooklet of reprinted essays on reserve in the library.

1. Read the essay by William Stott from his book, DOCUMENTARY EXPRESSION AND THIRTIES AMERICA. First, summarize his definition of documentary photography in one or two paragraphs, then explain your definition of documentary photography if you disagree with Stott. Next, compare the Jacob Riis photograph of the Italian immigrant mother (in basement apartment) and Walker Evans' photograph of Annie Mae, tenant sharecroppers wife, in terms of your definition of documentary photography. What information does each photograph convey to us, and how? In what ways are they similar, in what ways different? In what ways are they successful or unsuccessful as documentation of social conditions?

2. Summarize the main points of Walter Benjamin's essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." This is a dense essay and will require slow, careful reading, probably with a dictionary close by. Stick with it, because it is one of the most important critical essays regarding contemporary photographic practice, and is well worth the extra effort you may need to take to digest the ideas. Choose one photograph by Cindy Sherman from the Sherman book placed on Reserve in the library and give a brief critique in regard to Benjamin's ideas.

3. Summarize briefly Susan Sontag's description of Diane Arbus' photography in "America, Seen Through Photographs Darkly," from her book, ON PHOTOGRAPHY. Analyze Sontag's main points using an Arbus photograph as your point of reference. (Choose a photograph not mentioned in the Sontag essay.)

4. Summarize the main points of Andy Grundberg's essay "Camera Culture in a Postmodernist Age." Choose a photograph from a book or magazine by one of the photographers he writes about in this essay and analyze it in regard to postmodernist theory. Include a good photo-copy of the picture you describe.

5. Time Line. Make a time line decade by decade from 1890 to 1990. Include all the photographers we have covered plus important world events (for example world wars, the Great Depression, McCarthy era, JFK, Martin Luther King assassinations), cultural, and technological revolutions and events, etc. If a photographer's important work spans several decades, indicate the type of work done in each decade. Be creative in your presentation, but above all, make your time line clear and easy to read.

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