Histories of Photography
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Begins: Tuesday 4 October 2022
Until: Tuesday 1 November 2022
(11am-1pm) - Lettsom House, First Floor, 11 Chandos Street, London W1G 9EB (NB: There is no lift in this building)
- Lecturer: Ben Street
The history of photography in terms of still images is much shorter than that of drawing, paintng or sculpture. This course will trace the history of photography looking at specific examples of photographs from a range of contexts. We will not only contextualise photography in terms of technology and function but also explore how to look at and analyse a photograph.
Lectures
Week 1 – Writing with light: the early years. This lecture will explore the origins of photography in nineteenth-century France and Britain, its relationship with painting and the possibilities and shortcomings of the medium.
Week 2 – Photography and modernism. This lecture will investigate the use of photography in early twentieth-century art in Russia, Germany and France in order to trace its adoption as a medium for modern art.
Week 3 –Photography in motion. This lecture will consider the rise of street photography in France and elsewhere and draw parallels with the rise of urban culture and photography itself.
Week 4 – Photography at mid-century. This lecture will look at photography’s coming of age in the 1950s in America, Japan and elsewhere. The importance of war photography will also be addressed.
Week 5 – Photography as an art. The 1980s and 90s saw the rise of new voices in photography whose works shifted the public perception of the artform.
Lecturer
Ben Street is a freelance art historian, lecturer and writer. He lectures on modern and contemporary art for Tate, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Christie’s Education and the Royal Academy. He is the author of interpretative materials for major exhibitions at Tate, the Royal Academy and the National Gallery and has contributed essays for museum and gallery publications across the world. Ben’s recent book is How to enjoy Art.