Getting the Picture The Visual Culture of the News

Powerful and often controversial, news pictures promise to make the world at once immediate and knowable. Yet while many great writers and thinkers have evaluated photographs of atrocity and crisis, few have sought to set these images in a broader context by defining the rich and diverse history of news pictures in their many forms.

For the first time, this volume defines what counts as a news picture, how pictures are selected and distributed, where they are seen and how we critique and value them. Presenting the best new thinking on this fascinating topic, this book considers the news picture over time, from the dawn of the illustrated press in the nineteenth century, through photojournalism's heyday and the rise of broadcast news and newsreels in the twentieth century and into today's digital platforms. It examines the many kinds of images: sport, fashion, society, celebrity, war, catastrophe and exoticism; and many mediums, including photography, painting, wood engraving, film and video. Packed with the best research and full colour-illustrations throughout, this book will appeal to students and readers interested in how news and history are key sources of our rich visual culture.

Jason E. Hill is Visiting Lecturer in the art department at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA and was previously the Terra Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in American Art at the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art in Paris, France.

Vanessa R. Schwartz is Professor of History, Art History and Film at the University of Southern California, USA. She was the founding director of the Visual Studies Graduate Certificate program at USC from 2006-2009 and is currently directing the new Visual Studies Research Institute and the Certificate Program.

Introduction

PART I: The Big Pictures
1. 'Gericault's Raft of the Medusa, 1818–9', Jordan Bear, University of Toronto, Canada
2. 'Gen. Wool and His Troops in the Streets of Saltillo, 1847', Martha Sandweiss, Princeton University, USA
3.'An Abolitionist Daguerreotype, 1850', Matthew Amato, University of California at Santa Cruz, USA
4. 'Alexander Gardner, A Contrast! Federal buried and a Confederate unburied, where they fell, on Battlefield of Antietam, 1862', Anthony Lee, Mount Holyoke, USA
5. 'Winslow Homer, "Civil War Report" Harper's Weekly, 1865', Michael Leja, University of Pennsylvania, USA
6. 'Commune Photo, Rue St-Sebastien, 1871', Jeannene Przyblyski, California Institute of the Arts, USA
7. 'Chevreul Interview, 1886', Thierry Gervais, Ryerson University, Canada
8. 'Emiliano Zapata: Revolutionary Charro, c. 1910', John Mraz, Benemérita Universidad, Mexico
9. 'William Warnecke's Assassination Attempt on Mayor Gaynor, 1910', Jason Hill, University of Nevada, USA
10. 'Match and Pictorial Sports Reporting, c. 1925', Michel Frizot, University of Zurich, Switzerland
11. 'Dead! Ruth Snyder and the Mortification of Tabloid Photography, 1928', Richard Meyer, Stanford University, USA
12. 'Cartier-Bresson, The Gare Saint-Lazare, 1932', Catherine Clark, MIT, USA
13. 'Robert Capa, The Falling Soldier, 1936', Sally Stein, University of California, Irvine, USA
14. 'Child in Warsaw Ghetto, with Hands Raised, 1943', Barbie Zelizer, Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania, USA
15. 'Rosenthal, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, 1945', Alexander Nemerov, Stanford, USA
16. 'Grief, Soviet World War II Photo, 1946', David Shneer, University of Colorado Boulder, USA
17. 'Grey Villett's Lash Of Success, 1962', Mary Panzer, Independent researcher, USA
18. 'Abraham Zapruder, Assassination of John F. Kennedy, 1963', David Lubin, Wake Forest University, USA
19. 'Eddie Adams, Street Execution of a Vietcong Prisoner, 1968', John Lucaites and Robert Hariman, Indiana University, USA
20. 'Eugene Smith, Minamata Pièta, 1972', Gennifer Weisenfeld, Duke University, USA
21. 'Valerie Banks, 1974', Martin Berger, University of California at Santa Cruz, USA
22. 'Rodney King Video, 1992', Christian Delage, Cardozo School of Law, USA
23. 'Abu Ghraib, 2003', Abigail Solomon-Godeau, University of California Santa Barbara, USA
24. 'Pete Souza's The Situation Room, 2010', Liam Kennedy, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

PART II: Re-Thinking the History of News Pictures
1. 'Tabloids and Celebrity News Pictures', Ryan Linkof, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA
2. 'Sports', Thierry Gervais, Ryerson University, Canada
3. 'Fashion’ Justine de Young, Harvard College Writing Program, USA
4. 'Crime – After the Event: The Challenges of Crime Photography', Will Straw, McGill University, Canada
5. 'War', Caitlin Patrick, University College Dublin, Ireland
6. 'Horace Vernet's Capture of the Smahla: Reportage and Actuality during the Early Years of the Illustrated Mass Press in France', Katie Hornstein, Dartmouth College, USA
7. 'Staying Close to Power: Picturing the King's Entourage in turn-of-the-century Morocco', Patricia Goldsworthy, Western Oregon University, USA
8. 'Sketch Reporting after Press Photography', Jason Hill, University of Nevada, USA
9. 'The Picture Editor', Nadya Bair, University of Southern California, USA
10. 'Rotogravure', Andre Zervignon, Rutgers, USA
11. 'Wire Service Photography', Zeynep Gursel, Macalester College, USA
12. 'Color', Kim Timby, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, France
13. 'Transporting People, Film, Cameras and Publications', Vanessa Schwartz, University of Southern California, USA
14. 'Newspapers', Kevin Barnhurst and John Nerone, University of Leeds, England
15. 'Magazines', Jordana Mendelson, New York University, USA
16. 'Newsreels', Joe Clark, Franklin and Marshall College, USA
17. 'Photojournalism in the Museum', Kristen Gresh, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, USA
18. 'Television', Steve Colicelli, University of Southern California, USA
19. 'Web', André Gunthert, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, France
20. 'Mason Jackson and the Early History of Press Illustration', Jennifer Tucker, Wesleyan University, USA
21. 'Appraising News Pictures: A Farewell to the Photo Icon?', Vincent Lavoie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
22. 'Adam Broomberg, Oliver Chanarin, and World Press Photo: Contemporary Art and Contemporary Photojournalism', Erina Duganne, Texas State University, USA
23. 'Photojournalism as Formal Paradigm in Contemporary Art', Gaëlle Morel, Ryerson Image Centre, Canada

Bibliography
Index