Introduction to the History of Photography

Hugo Erfurth, Marc and Bella Chagall, 1923 Hugo Erfurth, Oskar Kokoschka, 1920 Hugo Erfurth, Max Beckmann, 1928

Series Köpfe des Alltags : 1928 - 1930, published 1931 source: George Eastman House ( Yemenititischer Knabe ) “Yemenite Boy” 1933

George Hendrik Breitner, Girl in Red Kimono, Geesje Kwak, 1893–95 The Dam in Amsterdam, 1895 - 1898 pencil and brush on paper, 40 × 51 cm George Hendrik Breitner, "View of construction site in Amsterdam?" (n.d.),  modern scan from original negative. Collection RKD, The Hague George Hendrik Breitner : Afbraak hoek Wijde Steeg, Amsterdam, ca.1908-10, oil on canvas. Oudezijds Achterburgwal, Amsterdam (c. 1890–1900) Photograph, 30 x 35 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam  "View of Schiedamsedijk and the corner with Leuvebrugsteeg" (circa 1906), gelatin silver print. Collection RKD, The Hague George Hendrik Breitner, "Horses and a passerby on Cruquiusweg" (n.d.), modern scan from original negative. Collection RKD, The Hague link: Second-sight: The Photographs of George Hendrik Breitner Snapshot: Painters and Photography, Bonnard to Vuillard  

EMILE ZOLA. A Restaurant, Taken from the First Floor or Staircase of the Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1900. Emile Zola (1840-1902) learned the rudiments of photography in 1888 from Victor Billaud, a newspaper editor in Royan during a vacation period at the sea side locality, in the Atlantic coast of France. After the completion of his cycle of novels titled The Rougon-Macquart in 1894, Zola dedicated himself fully to photography as a devoted amateur with a quasi-professional zeal and knowledge of photographic technique. He developed his own negatives and made enlargements as well as duly recorded experiments with materials and methods. His photographs document the artist’s private environment, his travels, family life, friends and his interest in all things modern as a witness to a changing world and to the developments of modern culture and of modern life. Photography is not a central subject in his literary works, and yet his...

Winter - Fifth Avenue, 1893 carbon print (?) 39.9 x 32.4 cm.   The Terminal/New York , by Alfred Stieglitz, 1902 Reflections—Night, New York , by Alfred Stieglitz, circa 1896   From My Window at the Shelton, North, 1931 Links: Alfred Stieglitz at the Metropolitan Museum Alfred Stieglitz at George Eastman House  

    Robert Demachy "In Brittany", 1904 From: Camera Work, No 5 1904 Robert Demachy "Toucques Valley", 1906 from: Camera Work. No 16 1906 Robert Demachy Dancer, c. 1909 Robert Demachy Academie,  1900     Robert Demachy Struggle, 1904

Clarence H. White The Ring Toss , 1899 Clarence H. White Drops of Rain, 1903 Clarence H. White, Boy with Wagon, 1898 from: Camera Work, No 23, 1908

Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye (1999) A PBS documentary link:     Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) and American Photography

Advertisement for the Photo-Secession and the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession,  designed by Edward Steichen. Published in Camera Work no. 13, 1906 The following notice appeared in Camera Work, no. 3, Supplement, July 1903 The Photo-Secession     "So many are the enquiries as to the nature and aims of the Photo- Secession and requirements of eligibility to membership therein, that we deem it expedient to give a brief résumé of the character of this body of photographers.     The object of the Photo-Secession is: to advance photography as applied to pictorial expression; to draw together those Americans practicing or otherwise interested in the art, and to hold from time to time, at varying places, exhibitions not necessarily limited to the productions of the Photo-Secession or to American work.     It consists of a Council (all of whom are Fellows); Fellows chosen by the Council for meritorious photographic work or labors in...

 The Photographic Salon exhibition of 1902 (source: Leggat pdf) The Salon was created in 1893 by members of the Linked Ring. "Many artists regard the hanging of their work at the Royal Academy almost as an accolade. So too with photographers. In the 1880s, the exhibitions mounted by the Photographic Society were regarded as the premier event. However, several of its members were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the Society's emphasis on scientific as opposed to aesthetic matters. As time went on differences between the photographic scientists and photographic artists became greater and more acrimonious, and Henry Peach Robinson was becoming increasingly frustrated by the failure of the Photographic Society to recognize that there was an artistic dimension as well as a scientific one to photography. The Photographic News for 19 August 1892 pinpointed the problem: "If photography is ever to take up its proper position as an art it must detach itself from s...