Introduction to the History of Photography

How was the camera calibrated with the face? In what way was the invention of photographic portrait related to a political, class, and economic revolution? What did people want from their portrait? Is pornographic photography a portrait? When was the "mug-shot" invented? How did doctors try to photograph the mind through the face? In what ways did photography assist viewing, measuring, and managing the body and society? What links can we draw between the family photo album and vernacular historiography?

The course "Introduction to the History of Photography" explores the photographic practice in its broad-systemic-mediatic contexts, as a central social, cultural, and political phenomenon in the modern era, and not merely as an artistic tool. The course presents different ways of looking at the complex past of this medium. Two main axes construct the lectures: thematic axis (by subject) and chronological (timeline). This section will focus on the history of the photographed portrait and examine how historical, technological, social, and theoretical changes affect how photographs are produced and consumed. We will investigate the relevance of the history of photography to the work of contemporary photographers and artists. We will discuss various fascinating visual materials – photographs of medicine, psychiatry, pornography, police, and more. The course will be delivered online via Zoom.