History and theory of photography, part I: 1839-1940
A Marsh
8 points * 3 hours per week * First semester * Clayton * Prerequisites: First-year sequence in visual arts (two visual arts subjects at first-year level)
The first part of the subject charts the history of photography from the invention of the camera to surrealism. It considers the uses of photography as a recording device in psychology, social history and the legal system as well as the relationship between photography and the visual arts in the modernist period. The camera as a weapon in nature and in society, ie surveillance of populations (especially in the developing world) will be addressed critically. The role of photography in the print media will be discussed in terms of a shrinking world and finally pornography and eroticism will be analysed focusing on the metaphor of the camera as `keyhole.'
Assessment
Seminar paper (1500 words): 25% * Essay (3000 words): 50% * Visual test (1.5 hours): 25%
Preliminary reading
Jeffrey I Photography: A concise history Thames and Hudson, 1981
Prescribed texts
Barthes R Camera Lucida Jonathan Cape, 1982
Solomon-Godeau A Photography at the dock U Minnesota P, 1991
Tagg J The burden of representation: Essays on photographies and histories U Massachusetts P, 1988