History and Theory of Photography 1

Display Schedule

Subject guarantor:

Tomáš DVOŘÁK, Václav JANOŠČÍK, Josef Ledvina

Name of lecturer(s):

Tomáš DVOŘÁK, Václav JANOŠČÍK, Josef Ledvina

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

students will be introduced to the history of photography, media and visual culture of the 19th century and to the main contemporary historical and theoretical approaches in the field

Mode of study:

lecture

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

n/a

Course contents:

01. (3/10) Introduction: theory and history of photography (Tomáš Dvořák)

Course structure overview; requirements for completion and study materials; introduction to required reading for the next lecture.

02. (10/10) The Emergence of Technical Images (Tomáš Dvořák)

The lecture is devoted to visual culture at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries with emphasis on the mechanical and technical forms of depiction (camera obscura, camera lucida, laterna magica, Lichtenberg and Chladni figures, panorama and diorama, optical toys, mechanical recording devices, print and lithograph). It also covers various approaches to issues in historical perception and its relation to the development of visual technologies and artifacts, particularly the method of media archeology.

Jonathan CRARY, “Modernizing Vision.” In: Hal Foster (ed.), Vision and Visuality. Seattle: Bay Press 1988, pp. 29–44.

03. (17/10) Reality-effect: photography, painting, literature (Tomáš Dvořák)

The lecture presents and critically interprets photography’s claim on realism in the 19th century and situates it into a wider context of literary, theatrical and artistic techniques attempting to create the impression of reality. It also outlines the genesis, nature and function of mass culture and mass media and their relationships to art.

Geoffrey BATCHEN, „Electricity Made Visible.“ in: W. Chun – T. Keenan (eds.), New Media, Old Media: A History and Theory Reader. New York – London: Routledge 2006, pp. 27–44.

04. (24/10) no lecture (MFDF Jihlava)

05. (31/10) A visit at the photography archive of the Institute of Art History (Petra Trnková)

06. (7/11) Photographic portrait and the problem of modern individuality (Tomáš Dvořák)

The lecture covers photographic portraits of the 19th and early 20th centuries with emphasis on Nadar, Daumier, Galton and Sander; tracing the changes and mutual relationships of the portrait genre in painting, drawing and graphics, including the silhouette and caricature traditions. It explains the genesis of the concept of photographic portrait in relation to the tradition of physiognomy, criminological identification or attempts to define and capture social types and thus trace the mutual conditions of photographic conventions of representing human individuality and the philosophical, sociological and bureaucratic understanding of the subject at the time.

John STAUFFER – Zoe TRODD – Celeste-Marie BERNIER, Picturing Frederick Douglass. An Illustrated Biography of the Nineteenth Century’s Most Photographed American, New York – London: W. W. Norton & Co. 2015, pp. 8–55.

07. (14/11) Photography as (scientific) visualization (Tomáš Dvořák)

The lecture focuses on epistemological aspects of photography: it analyses the relationships among technical devices, automation and knowledge and presents the use of photography in scientific research of the 19th century (astronomy, physic, physiology, psychiatry, statistics) with emphasis on the graphic and photographic methods of E.-J. Marey and changes in the understanding of objectivity in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Thomas KEENAN, „Counter-forensics and Photography.“ Grey Room, 2014, č. 55, s. 58–77.

08. (21/11) Photography & anthropology at the services of colonial powers (Ladislav Šerý)

Christopher PINNEY, Photography and Anthropology. London: Reaction Books 2011, pp. 17–62.

09. (28/11) Photographic reproductions of artworks (Tomáš Dvořák)

The lecture is devoted to the development of photograph reproduction processes (photogravure and photolithograph) in the 19th century with emphasis on the reproduction of artworks and its consequences for expert and lay perception (tradition) of visual arts and the understanding of the difference between painting and photography.

Walter BENJAMIN, “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility.” The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press 2008, pp. 19–55.

10. (05/12) Photography in print, image and text (Hana Buddeus)

The lecture maps out the intersection of the image and text in the history of photography and potential forms of applying those combinations in theory („rhetoric“ of the image, narration issues, „reading“ the image) and in practice (image newspapers and magazines, photojournalism, photo albums, photography in advertising).

Roland BARTHES, “Rhetoric of the Image.” Image – Music – Text, London: Fontana Press 1977, pp. 32–51.

11. (12/12) Pictorialism (Hana Buddeus)

The lecture will cover the development of the relationship of photography to painting, touching on issues of indexicality, respectively iconicity of the photographic image and points towards various times in the history of photography when photographers were interested in the potential use of photographic technology for creating stylized images rather than objective copies of reality. This begins with the self-awareness process of photography - (Anna Fárová), refined printing and Stieglitz's pictorial photography. The issues of photography as an image and intersecting of painting and photography will be further developed in examples from 20th century art („Picture Generation“, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Gerhard Richter, etc.) through theory writings pointing at the image considerations of photography in contemporary art (Michael Fried, Jean Francois Chevrier, Douglas Crimp).

Jean-François CHEVRIER. “The Adventures of the Picture Form in the History of Photography.” in: Douglas FOGLE, The Last Picture Show: Artists Using Photography 1960–1982, Minneapolis: Walker Art Center 2003.

12. (19/12) discussion of final essay themes (Tomáš Dvořák)

Recommended or required reading:

see course contents

texts available at:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B36pcjuZK5yyUW1rVWNzMXRBclU

Assessment methods and criteria:

A requirement for completing the course attendance requirements (max. 2 absences per semester are tolerated), submission of both required results (if not submitted then only one paper on the assigned date, overall course grade: F).

The following grades are determined by the content of the two results (100-90% = A, 90-80% = B, 80-70% = C, 70-60% = D, 60-50% = E, 50-0% = F).

40% - 1st written paper of 2 -3 standard pages, description & interpretation of a 19th-century photograph.

Due date: November 30, 2016

60% - 2nd written paper of 5 - 10 standard pages on a priorly agreed topic must be submitted by January 8, 2017 (both texts in .doc/.odt/.pdf format sent to tomdvorak@famu.cz. If there is no confirmation of the sent email recieved the paper will be considered NOT submitted.

The examwill have the form of a discussion of both texts with the teacher.

Course web page:

Note:

On alternate year for 1. and 2. class

Schedule for winter semester 2016/2017:

	06:00–08:0008:00–10:0010:00–12:0012:00–14:0014:00–16:0016:00–18:0018:00–20:0020:00–22:0022:00–24:00
Mon	místnost 112 Učebna KF 112 (Lažanský palác) DVOŘÁK T. 13:10–14:45 (přednášková par. 1)
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
	Mon	13:10–14:45	Tomáš DVOŘÁK	Učebna KF 112 Lažanský palác		přednášková par. 1

Schedule for summer semester 2016/2017:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

• Photography EN - Bachelor (qualification subject)