History and uses of photography (19th-20th centuries)

 

In 1839, astronomer and deputy François Arago revealed the invention of photography in a speech that placed it under a triple tutelage: presented to the Académie des Sciences, it would become a tool for physicists, botanists and doctors; to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, an asset for painters in need of models; and to Parliament, it would appear as a sign of French progress.

From the beginning, photography was seen as a useful machine with multiple applications. The daughter of chemistry and optics, heir to the drawing machine, photography is nonetheless, in the words of the painter Delacroix, "a false copy by dint of being exact". It is around its claim to objectivity that the industrial, scientific, documentary and artistic uses of photography revolve.

This seminar offers to trace the history of photography from the angle of technique, understood as an instrument for the production of knowledge and as an artistic medium.

The Bibliothèque Centrale's iconographic collections will be explored punctually over the course of the semester and will serve as the basis for practical projects developed by students.


Evaluation methods

Evaluation will be based on an individual or collective photographic project linked to the Bibliothèque Centrale's iconographic collections (photographic series, note of intent and oral presentation at the end of the semester).

General Bibliography

BAJAC Quentin, La photographie du daguerréotype au numérique, Paris, Gallimard, 2010

CARTIER-BRESSON Anne, Le vocabulaire technique de la photographie, Paris, Marval, 2008.FONT-RÉAULX Dominique de, Peinture & photographie : les enjeux d'une rencontre, 1839 - 1914, Paris, Flammarion, 2012.

FRIZOT Michel, Nouvelle histoire de la photographie, Paris, Larousse, 2001.

GUNTHERT André and POIVERT Michel, L'art de la photographie : des origines à nos jours, Paris, Citadelles & Mazenod, 2007.

LUGON Olivier, Le style documentaire : d'August Sander à Walker Evans, 1920-1945, Le champ de l'image, Paris, Macula, 2001.

ROUILLÉ André, Photography: Between Document and Contemporary Art, Paris, Gallimard, 2005.