Photographic Truths
Mathew Brady. 6 pdr Gun at Arsenal. c. 1862.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/I?cwar:151:./temp/~ammem_P57v::displayType=1:m856sd=cwpb:m856sf=04276:@@@
Ways in
which photography met 19th century science's needs: |
William Pratt. Edgar Allan Poe. 1849. Ambrotype |
Used to document and preserve visual data |
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Used for identification purposes |
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Assumed to be "truthful," used as evidence of the "real" |
The Scientific Portrait |
Anonymous. Spurzheim’s Phrenological Head from Phrenology or the Doctrine of Mental Phenomenon. 1832. |
Phrenology = the study of the shape and physical features of the skull and head that is based on the belief that these features can determine character and personality traits |
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Physiognomy = the study of facial characterisitcs based on the belief that these features can determine character and personality traits |
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Francis Galton. Violent Criminals Compositie. 1885.
Alphonse Bertillon. From Indentification Anthropometrique. 1893.
Bolton, Richard ed. The Contest of Meaning: Critical Histories of Photography. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1993.
Unknown Photographer. Twelve Boston Physicians and Their Composite Portrait. c. 1894.
Orwell, Miles. American Photography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Francis Galton. The Jewish Type. 1883.
Bolton, Richard ed. The Contest of Meaning: Critical Histories of Photography. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1993.
Faces and Races. no date.
http://students.washington.edu/karamck/gallery2.shtml
Time cover. The New Face of America. Fall 1993 special issue.
Marien, Mary Warner. Photography: A cultural History. Second edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006.
The Other = refers to that which is 'other' than the concept being considered. The term often means a person other than oneself, and is often capitalised. The Other is singled out as different. |
J.E. Whitney Studio. Cut Nose. 1862. Carte-de-visite.
caption: Cut Nose: Who in the Massacre of 1862, in Minnesota, murdered 18 Women and Children and 5 Men. |
Ethnographic Studies
ethnogoraphy = descriptive anthropology
John Lamprey. Front and Profile Views of a Malayan Male. c. 1868 – 69.
Marien, Mary Warner. Photography: A cultural History. Second edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006.
Unknown photographer. Anthropological Cabinet of Natives. c. 1873. Carte-de-visite.
Photographer Unknown. Brinjara and Wife from The People of India. 1868.
Marien, Mary Warner. Photography: A cultural History. Second edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006.
J.T. Zealy. Jack (driver), Guinea. 1850. Daguerreotype. |
J.T. Zealy. Renty, African born slave. 1850. Daguerreotype. |
Harvard zoologist, Louis Agassiz intendedthese photographs to be read as scientific evidence for polygenesis, the idea that human races had separate origins and were thus inescapably and irrevocably different. |
theory of special creation = belief that races were created at different times and in different parts of the world |
 http://www.khm.de/mk/seminar/export/re-active/re-active0910.html |
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J.T. Zealy. Delia, American born, daughter of Renty, Congo. 1850. Daguerreotype. |
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Dr. Hugh Welch Diamond
1809 - 1886
Dr. Hugh Welch Diamond. Mental Patient. 1855. |
Diamond believed that photographs could be useful aides in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness |
Sought the physical symptoms of madness |
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The project expresses a belief in "normal" vs. "abnormal" character |
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Dr. Hugh Welch Diamond. Mental
Patient. 1855.
http://artistresearcher.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/gal53_diamond_001z.jpg
Hugh Welch Diamond. Seated Woman with Bird. c. 1855. Albumen print.
Marien, Mary Warner. Photography: A cultural History. Second edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006.
transparency
= a direct translation of reality in which subjects are not suggested,
as in the calotype and daguerreotype, but are clearly stated and
defined
without overt intervention |
"The picture speaks for itself." Dr. Hugh Welch Diamond |
Duchenne de Boulogne
1806 - 1875
Duchenne de Boulogne. Study of
muscles in the face and emotion. 1852 - 56.
Koetzle, Hans-Michael. Photo Icons: The Story Behind the Pictures . Volume 1. Koln: Taschen, 2002. 2 vols.
Duchenne de Boulogne. Study of
muscles in the face and emotion. 1852 - 56.
Koetzle, Hans-Michael. Photo Icons: The Story Behind the Pictures . Volume 1. Koln: Taschen, 2002. 2 vols.
Duchenne de Boulogne. Study of
muscles in the face and emotion. 1852 - 56.
Koetzle, Hans-Michael. Photo Icons: The Story Behind the Pictures . Volume 1. Koln: Taschen, 2002. 2 vols.
Duchenne de Boulogne. Study of
muscles in the face and emotion. 1852 - 56.
http://artistresearcher.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/502px-duchenne-facialexpressions.jpg
Jean-Martin Charcot
1825 - 1893
Photographer Unknown. Attitudes Passionelles plate 21 from Charcot’s P’lconographie photographique de La Salpetriere. 1876.
Marien, Mary Warner. Photography: A cultural History. Second edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006.
hysteria = a nervous affection, occurring almost exclusively in women, in which the emotional and reflex excitability is exaggerated, and the will power correspondingly diminished, so that the patient loses control over the emotions, becomes the victim of imaginary sensations, and often falls into paroxism or fits. |
Charcot used hypnosis to induce hysterical state in patients believing that hysteria was a neurological disorder |
Made weekly public presentations of his patients who would act out the symptoms of mental illness |
"I stand here merely as a photographer, I write down what I see." - Charcot |
Photographer Unknown. Hysteria Induced Epilepsy from photographique de La Salpetriere. 1876.
http://www.imageandnarrative.be/gender/_img/devilliers02.jpg
more on Charcot and photography
How do we picture the "Other?"
the smallest girl in the world - |
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Michael Jackson on trial |
