Photography: A Cultural History

A richer, more kaleidoscopic account of the history of photography

Incorporating the latest research and international uses of photography, Photography: A Cultural History, 4/e surveys the history of photography in such a way that students can gauge the medium's multifold developments and see the historical and cultural contexts in which photographers lived and worked. Mary Marien’s comprehensive survey shows how photography has sharpened, if not altered forever, our perception of the world. It provides a unique focus on contemporary photo-based work and electronic media.

The book was written to introduce students to photography, requiring no previous technical knowledge of photography. The fourth edition has been revised to include new material and to expand topics that have received recent scholarly and public attention. Material on the history of photography in China, ranging from the nineteenth century to the present, has been added throughout the new edition. For the first time, adopting instructors may receive access to a PowerPoint set containing many images from the book.  

Mary Warner Marien is a professor in the Department of Fine Arts at Syracuse University New York where she teaches courses on photographic history as well as on art criticism and its history. In 2008 she won an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writer award for her continuing work on the history and theory of documentary photography and is the author of 'Photography and its Critics' (Cambridge University Press, 1997) as well as numerous articles on the history of photography.

In This Section:

    I) Brief Table of Contents

    II) Detailed Table of Contents

I) Brief Table of Contents

PART ONE: PHOTOGRAPHY’S DOUBLE INVENTION

Chapter 1. The Origins of Photography (to 1839)

Chapter 2. The Second Invention of Photography (1839— 1854)

PART TWO: THE EXPANDING DOMAIN (1854—1880)

Chapter 3.  Popular Photography and the Aims of Art

Chapter 4. Imaging of the Social World

Chapter 5. Science and Social Science

PART THREE: PHOTOGRAPHY AND MODERNITY (1880—1918)

Chapter 6. The Great Divide

Chapter 7. Modern Life

PART FOUR: A NEW VISION (1918—1945)

Chapter 8.Art and the Age of Mass Media

Chapter 9. Documentary Expression and Popular Photography

PART FIVE: THROUGH THE LENS OF CULTURE (1945—1975)

Chapter 10. The Human Family

Chapter 11. The Cold War Era

PART SIX: CONVERGENCES (1975 TO THE PRESENT)

Chapter 12. Globalism, Technology, and Social Change

Chapter 13. The Culture of Critique

Chapter 14. Into the Twenty-First Century

II) Detailed Table of Contents

PART ONE: PHOTOGRAPHY’S DOUBLE INVENTION

Chapter 1. The Origins of Photography (to 1839)

Before Photography

The Invention of “Photographies”

Responses to the Announcement of the Daguerreotype

The Politics of Invention

Chapter 2. The Second Invention of Photography (1839— 1854)

The Second Invention

Photography and the Sciences

Recording Events with the Camera

War and Photography

Expeditionary and Travel Photography

Portraiture and the Camera

Photography and Fiction

PART TWO: THE EXPANDING DOMAIN (1854—1880)

Chapter 3.  Popular Photography and the Aims of Art

Photographic Societies, Publications, and Exchange Clubs 79

The Stereograph

The Carte-de-Visite

Art and Photography

Photography as a Fine Art

Women Behind the Camera

Chapter 4. Imaging of the Social World

War and Photography

Later Conflicts

Topographical Surveys and Photography

Chapter 5. Science and Social Science

Photography and the Social Sciences 143

Photography in Medicine and Science 154

PART THREE: PHOTOGRAPHY AND MODERNITY (1880—1918)

Chapter 6. The Great Divide

Mass Media and Mass Markets 165

The Challenge for Art Photography

Pictorialism

Chapter 7. Modern Life

The Modern City

Science and Photography

Photography, Social Science, and Exploration

War and Revolution

PART FOUR: A NEW VISION (1918—1945)

Chapter 8.Art and the Age of Mass Media

Photojournalism

Revolutionary Art: The Soviet Photograph

Dada and After

Surrealist Photography

Experimental Photography and Advertising

California Modern

Chapter 9. Documentary Expression and Popular Photography

The Origins of Documentary

Popular Science/Popular Art

World War II

War and Photography

PART FIVE: THROUGH THE LENS OF CULTURE (1945—1975)

Chapter 10. The Human Family

The Family of Man

Cultural Relativism and Cultural Resistance

Photographing the Atomic Bomb

Chapter 11. The Cold War Era

Annihilation, Alienation, Abstraction: America

Technology and Media in Postwar America

Photography in Art

The Czar’s Pantheon

PART SIX: CONVERGENCES (1975 TO THE PRESENT)

Chapter 12. Globalism, Technology, and Social Change

Photography and the Global Experience

Photography, Nature, and Science

Post-Photography

The Predicaments of Social Concern

Neutral Vision

The Look of Politics

Chapter 13. The Culture of Critique

The New Social Documentary

The Postmodern Era

Family Pictures

Nature and the Body Politic

Enter Fashion

The Passing of Postmodernism

Chapter 14. Into the Twenty-First Century

War and Photography

The Past in the Present

The Medium of the Moment

Science and Society

Pre-Production/Post-Production

Screens and Platforms

Epilogue

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