History of Photography
ARH 324
Spring 2009
Professor Kate Palmer Albers
Class meetings: Tuesday and Thursday, 11-12:15
Location: CCP 108
Contact information
Office: Art Building, Room 292
Office hours: Tuesday 3:15-4:15, Thursday 9-10am
Email: kpalbers@email.arizona.edu
Office telephone: 626-4865
Grader: Christiana Caro (christianacaro@gmail.com)
Course Description : This course is an introduction to the history of the photographic medium, from its invention in the early nineteenth century through the present day. We will survey major artists and makers as well as important developments in aesthetics, theory, and the role of photography in culture. Some of the major recurring topics of the course include the ongoing debates about photography and its relation to art, the role of technology in shaping photographic imagery, and the various social and cultural manifestations of the medium in journalism, science, politics, advertising, art, etc. The basic goals of the course are to develop an understanding and appreciation of the medium of photography in art and culture and to develop visual and critical thinking skills relevant beyond the scope of this class. Upon completion of the course students are expected to be able to be knowledgeable of historical developments in and theoretical approaches to the medium of photography; be able to recognize, describe, analyze, and interpret visual images; and be familiar with strategies with which to approach photographic images.
Required Textbooks
Robert Hirsch, Seizing the Light: A Social History of Photography 2 nd ed. (McGraw Hill, 2009)
Vicki Goldberg, editor, Photography in Print: Writings from 1816 to the Present (UNM Press, 1981)
Recommended:
Terry Barrett, Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images , 2 nd edition (Mayfield
Publishing Co, 1996)
Grading
Paper #1: 20%
Midterm: 25%
Paper #2: 25%
Final Exam: 30%
Papers
Paper #1 is exercise in visual description and analysis on a photograph of your choice.
Due Thursday, Feb. 12 th in class.
Paper #2 builds on the skills developed in Paper #1 to incorporate a consideration of context along with visual analysis. You must choose a different photograph.
Due Thursday April 16 th in class.
Full assignment sheets will be handed out for each paper.
Exams
Exams will be in short answer and essay format with questions based on the images we look at in lecture and the assigned readings. A selection of images will be posted on Imagen and the exam will be pulled from this selection.

Schedule of classes
Week 1
Thursday, Jan 15
Week 2
T Jan 20
R Jan 22
Introduction
• Prehistory and Invention: Daguerre, Talbot
• Invention, cont.
Reading in Goldberg:
“Bill Presented to the Chamber of Deputies, France, June 15, 1839”
William Henry Fox Talbot, “Some Account of the Art of Photogenic Drawing”
(1839)
Hirsch: Chapter 1 and 2
Week 3
T Jan 27
R Jan 29
• Studio Portraiture: Southworth and Hawes, Hill and Adamson, cartes-de-visit
• Portraits in “science”: Hugh Welch Diamond, Duchenne de Boulogne
• Photography as art: Nadar, Oscar Rejlander, H.P. Robinson, Julia Margaret Cameron
Reading in Goldberg
Lady Eastlake, “A Review in the London Quarterly Review” (1857)
Charles Baudelaire, “The Salon of 1859” (1859)
Oscar C. Rejlander, “An Apology for Art-Photography” (1863)
Henry Peach Robinson, “Pictorial Effect in Photography” (1869)
Hirsch: Chapters 4 and 6, and pages 40-47
*Special event: Thursday, Jan 29 th 5:30pm at the CCP
Film: Worst Possible Illusion: The Curiosity Cabinet of Vik Muniz
Filmed in Tucson, this intimate look at Vik Muniz and his work was produced and directed by Anne-Marie
Russell, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson. Russell will introduce the film.
Week 4
T Feb 3
R Feb 5
• Missions Héliographiques: Maxine Du Camp, Henri Le Secq, Edouard Baldus, Gustave le
Gray • Colonial Expansion and travel photography: Félice Beato, John Thompson, Francis
Frith
• War and Photography: The Mexican American War; Roger Fenton and The Crimean War;
Matthew Brady and Alexander Gardner and the American Civil War
Reading in Goldberg
Oliver Wendell Holmes, “The Stereoscope and the Stereograph” (1859)
Hirsch: pages 47-54 and Chapter 5
*Special event: Thursday, Feb 5 th 5:30pm at CCP
Lecture: Charlie White: Violence, Desires, and Social Anxieties continue next page
Through a process that entails creating characters, casting actors, and building sets to construct scenes both disturbing and familiar, artist Charlie White dissects the violence, desires, and social anxieties that trouble the
American collective unconscious.
Week 5
T Feb 10
• Photographic Surveys in the American West: Timothy O’Sullivan, Carleton Watkins,
R Feb12
William Henry Jackson // Re-photographic Projects
• Kodak and snapshots • Naturalism / Peter Henry Emerson

** Paper #1 due in class on Thursday**
Reading in Goldberg
William Henry Jackson, “Diaries” and “Time Exposure”
Peter Henry Emerson, “Naturalistic Photography” (1889)
Berenice Abbott, “The World of Atget” (1964)
Hirsch: Chapter 7
Week 6
T Feb 17
R Feb 19
• Pictorialism: Edward Steichen, Clarence White
• Photography and movement
Reading in Goldberg
Sadakichi Hartmann, “A Visit to Steichen’s Studio” (1903)
Hirsch: Chapter 8 and pages 147-157
Week 7
T Feb 24
R Feb 26
• Social Reform Photography: Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine
• Class cancelled: College Art Association (CAA) meeting in Los Angeles
No office hours today
Reading in Goldberg
Alan Trachtenberg, “Lewis Hine: The World of His Art” (1977)
Hirsch: 218-233
Week 8
T Mar 3 • Camerawork and American Modernism: Alfred Stieglitz, Gertrude Käsebier, Paul Strand,
Charles Sheeler
• Camerawork and American Modernism, cont. R Mar 5
Reading in Goldberg
Allan Sekula, “On the Invention of Photographic Meaning” (1975)
Paul Strand, “The Art Motive in Photography” (1923)
Hirsch: pages 157-168, 170-181
Week 9
T Mar 10
R Mar12
SPRING BREAK
Week 10
T Mar 24
R Mar 26
MIDTERM REVIEW
MIDTERM EXAM
• The New Vision: Alexander Rodchenko, Lázló Moholy-Nagy
• Photomontage: Hannah Höch, John Heartfield • Surrealism: Man Ray, André Kertész,
Brassai
Reading in Goldberg
Man Ray, “Self Portrait” (1963)
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
(1936)
László Moholy-Nagy, “From Pigment to Light” (1936)
Hirsch: 181-189, 212-215
* Special event: Friday March 27 th Linda Connor exhibition opens at CCP

Week 11
T Mar 31
R Ap 2
• Group f.64: Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham
• Documentary: Walker Evans, Farm Security Administration, Margaret Bourke-White
Reading in Goldberg
Paul Strand, “The Art Motive in Photography” (1923)
Edward Weston, “Daybooks” (1923-1930)
Ansel Adams, “A Personal Credo” (1943)
Roy Emerson Stryker, “The FSA Collection of Photographs” (1973)
Hirsch: Chapter 11, 233-246
Week 12
T Ap 7
R Ap 9
• 1930s Europe: Cartier-Bresson, Kertesz, Brassai
• The 1940s in the US: Sommer, Callahan, DeCarava
Reading in Goldberg
Henri Cartier-Bresson, “The Decisive Moment” (1952)
Harry Callahan, “Statement” (1964)
Hirsch: Chapter 13, 264-270, 5-307
Week 13
T Ap 14
R Ap16
• The Family of Man/ MoMA • Robert Frank
• Street Photography: Garry Winogrand, Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander
* paper #2 due in class on Thursday*
Reading in Goldberg
Robert Frank, “Statement” (1958)
Susan Sontag, “America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly” (1977)
Hirsch: 307-310, Chapter 16
Week 14
T Ap 21
R Ap 23
• Vietnam and mass media • Pop Art: Andy Warhol, Robert Rauchenberg
• Conceptual photography: John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, David Hockney, Robert Cummings
Reading in Goldberg
Roland Barthes, “The Photographic Message” (1977)
Hirsch: 340-348
Week 15
T Ap 28
R Ap 30
• New Approaches to landscape: “New Topographics”
• Appropriation, feminism, race: Sherry Levine, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, Barbara
Kruger, Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, Yasumasa Morimura
Hirsch: 348-370, Chapter 18
Week 16
T May 5 • The Directorial Mode / Constructed Realities
Reading in Goldberg
A. D. Coleman, “The Directorial Mode” (1976)
Final exam: Thursday May 14 th , 11am -1pm
** make summer travel plans accordingly; make-up exam will not be scheduled for students leaving town before this date **

Course policies
• Grading policy
A = Excellent (90-100%) Student completes all course requirements and performs at an outstanding level
B = Good (80-89%) Student completes all course requirements and performs at an above-average level
C = Satisfactory (70-79%) Student completes all course requirements
D = Poor (60-69%) Student completes all course requirements but performs at a below-average level
E = Failure (below 60%) Student does not complete all course requirements, completes them inadequately, or both. E is a failing grade.
I = Incomplete. Only given for documented medical reasons. See UA General Catalog.
• Late assignments must be approved by the professor in advance of the due date and will be granted only in exceptional circumstances such as documented medical emergency. Late assignments are graded down by ½ grade per day late (ie: B becomes B- after one day, C+ after two days)
• Make-up exams are only granted due to documented medical emergency.
• All assignments must be complete in order to receive a passing grade.
Attendance and late policy:
Attendance is required and essential to the successful completion of the course.
Any student not present in the first meeting will be administratively dropped to accommodate the waiting list.
All holidays or special events observed by organized religions will be honored for those students who show affiliation with that particular religion,
Absences pre-approved by the UA Dean of Students (or Dean's designee) will be honored.
If you will be absent for a religious holiday, please let me know.
General courtesy
Please arrive on time. Late arrivals are disruptive for everyone in class.
Please turn your cell phones and pagers off or to vibrate/silent before class.
Please do not text message or go online during class.
• Email: I answer emails on weekdays, during the day (ie: M-F, 9-5). Please plan accordingly.
A Note on Content: The subject matter of this course contains some material that may challenge your moral, religious or political values and beliefs. During the course of the semester, we will encounter and discuss works of art that contain or deal with nudity, profanity, sexuality and violence. If this subject matter will offend you, this may not be an appropriate course for you to take.
Students with Disabilities: If you anticipate issues related to the format or requirements of this course, please meet with me to discuss ways to ensure your full participation. If you determine that formal, disability-related accommodations are necessary, you must be registered with Disability Resources (621-3268; drc.arizona.edu) and notify me of your eligibility for reasonable accommodations. We can then plan how best to coordinate your accommodations. http://drc.arizona.edu/teach/syllabus-statement.html
Student Code of Academic Integrity: Integrity and ethical behavior are expected of every student in all academic work. This Academic Integrity principle stands for honesty in all class work, and ethical conduct in all assignments. Conduct prohibited by this Code consists of all forms of academic dishonesty, including, but not limited to cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, and plagiarism. Since the student codes, policies and procedures may be revised semester to semester, it is your responsibility to keep yourself up-todate on University policy. The full policy can be seen at: http://dos.web.arizona.edu/uapolicies
Safe Learning Environment: The University seeks to promote a safe environment where students and employees may participate in the educational process without compromising their health, safety or welfare.

The Arizona Board of Regents’ Student Code of Conduct, ABOR Policy 5-308, prohibits threats of physical harm to any member of the University community, including to one’s self. Threatening behavior can harm and disrupt the University, its community and its families.
Policies against threatening behavior by students: http://policy.web.arizona.edu/~policy/threaten.shtml
The professor reserves the right to change, with adequate notice, the contents of this syllabus and/or the requirements for the course.