Basic Critical Theory for Photographers

281 Pages·2005·4.08 MB·english

by  Ashley la Grange

Basic Critical Theory for Photographers

Basic Critical Theory
for Photographers
Ashley la Grange
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Contents
How to use this book vii
Frontispiece xi
Foreword xiii
Acknowledgements xvii
1 John Berger, Ways of Seeing 1
2 John Szarkowski, The Photographer’s Eye and Stephen Shore,
The Nature of Photographs 15
3 Susan Sontag, On Photography 30
4 Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida 76
5 Martha Rosler, In, Around and Afterthoughts
(On Documentary Photography) 113
6 Abigail Solomon-Godeau, Inside/Out 125
7 Clive Scott, The Spoken Image: Photography and Language 133
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Contents
8 Andy Grundberg, The Crisis of the Real 149
9 Raghubir Singh, River of Colour 159
10 Bertrand Russell, Appearance and Reality 169
11 Italo Calvino, The Adventures of a Photographer 172
12 Poems by Felix Morisseau-Leroy and George Szirtes 187
13 Robert Adams’, John Baldessari’s and Peter Godwin’s Analysis of
Particular Photographs 193
Figures 199
Bibliography 222
Appendixes 226
Glossary 236
Index 248
vi
How to use this book
Many people are put off critical theory because they see it as difficult
(oftenunnecessarilydifficult),andcannotseeitsrelevancetotheirownpracticalwork.
The situation is not helped by the fact that much critical theory is written by
academics, for other academics who are already familiar with the issues, vocabulary
and earlier arguments. The result is that critical theory becomes unnecessarily
elitist and many people who would be quite capable of debating the issues are
discouragedfromdoingso.Theideabehindthisbookistodrawthesedisenfranchised
people into some of the debates. Each chapter is followed by a series of
assignments, some theoretical, some practical and some a combination of both,
which should generate critical thinking by the student. The student and/or
institution the student is studying at must decide the range of assignments to be
done and the depth at which they should be done. Many of the assignments can
be used as discussion points rather than for written work.
The selection of areas to include in the book has been very difficult; there are very
important issues and writers that have been ignored. The book does not attempt
to cover all the issues and schools of thought, it attempts to encourage students to
think critically and hopefully they will then apply this type of thinking to other
issues.Inpart,textshavebeenchosenthatdevelopargumentsorideasraisedinearlier
texts so allowing the student to follow the development of ideas by different writers.
For example, Sontag, Rosler, Solomon-Godeau and Szirtes all deal with the work
of Arbus. The texts have been summarised without editing out issues that some
readers may feel are not key to the main argument. This has been done for several
reasons: to avoid editorialising the summary; to give the reader a better feel of how
the argument developed; and to allow the reader to decide for themselves which
issues are the most important or interesting.
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Howtousethisbook
The indexing should prove particularly useful as some of the key texts, Sontag’s
On Photography for example, were not indexed in the first place. All references to
photographers by the various writers have been left in and indexed as an aid to
research.Asafurtheraidtoresearch,keywordsthatwouldnotnormallybeindexed,
such as ‘appearance’ and ‘reality’, are included.
Although the book is illustrated, it would be impossible to reproduce all the
photographs required to illustrate all the points of view of the writers. Access to
a range of monographs on the work of the photographers is essential to respond
adequately to many of the issues raised.
The first chapter is a summary of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing. It is first
for two reasons: it is easy to understand having been written for a general
audience and it leads into photography from art. This should help those
students who have never studied photography before but, who will be familiar,
to some extent, with art. The book is still in print making reference to it easy
(it should be referred to as it is extensively illustrated). Although first published
in 1972 the issues it raises, like sexism and the effects of advertising, are still
relevant today.
The second chapter is a summary of John Szarkowski’s The Photographer’s Eye and
Stephen Shore’s The Nature of Photographs. Unlike the Ways of Seeing they were
written for a photographic audience but are also clearly written and are very well
illustrated. They have been chosen for two reasons; because there is a sense in that
whatever else a photograph is, it is at a basic level, what they describe it as; and they,
to some extent, can be seen as expressing the views of ‘straight’ photography, an
approach to photography that dominated the twentieth century. The Nature of
Photographs is still in print so referring to it is easy.
The third chapter is a summary of Susan Sontag’s On Photography. This collection
of essays is undoubtedly one of the most influential pieces of photographic
criticism written and is probably required reading in most university courses on
photography. It deals with a wide range of issues but many students find it an
intimidating read. It is still in print and the summary should be read in
conjunction with the full text.
The fourth chapter is a summary of Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida.
Again this influential book is often found on university courses. Not an
easy read, it is an intensely personal search for photographic truth and
deals with issues that often arise in photographic criticism. It too is still
in print and the original and the summary should be used in conjunction
with each other.
viii
Howtousethisbook
The fifth chapter is a summary of the first part of Martha Rosler’s essay In, Around
and Afterthoughts (On Documentary Photography). This essay picks up issues on
documentary photography that had been raised by Sontag, and allows the student
to follow the development of arguments by different critics. The essay is not
infrequently published in collections of essays on photography, so is relatively easy
to find.
ThesixthchaptersummarisesAbigailSolomon-Godeau’sessayInside/Out.Thisessay
further develops some of Sontag’s and Rosler’s arguments as regards documentary
photography. Despite the quality of the essay it seems harder to find than the
Rosler essay.
Chapter seven is a summary of the first chapter of Clive Scott’s book The Spoken
Image which explores the relationship between photography and language. It has
been included to introduce students to some of the concepts in semiology and
semiotics. These are philosophies of language that both relate to the work of
Barthesandareseenasbeingimportantinshapingsomecontemporaryapproachesto
photography.
Chapter eight is a summary of Andy Grundberg’s essay The Crisis of the Real.
In it, Grundberg explains what post-modernism is. This movement in photography
developed in reaction to straight photography and is probably the main alternative
to straight photography. Post-modernism is, however, very vaguely defined and
Grundberg explains it very well.
Chapter nine is a summary of Raghubir Singh’s introduction to his book River of
Colour.AsaleadinglatetwentiethcenturyIndianphotographer,hisintroductionisan
example of a non-Western approach to photography. He explains the differences
between Indian and Western art and in doing so adds to the debate as to the merits
of using colour as opposed to monochrome in photography.
Chapter ten is a summary of a chapter of Bertrand Russell’s book The Problems of
Philosophy and is included to show that issues raised in the criticism of
photography are not specific to photography itself.
Chapter eleven is a short story by Italo Calvino. Although not an academic essay it
illustrates how photography can be evaluated in other ways and in doing so raises
a number of interesting issues. It also relates to summaries in this book.
Chapter twelve contains various poems. The first is by Felix Morisseau-Leroy which
again presents a non-Western view of photography. There are also three poems
by George Szirtes on the work of Diane Arbus, which relates to summaries in this
book.
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