Re: History of Photography

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From: Peter Marshall (petermarshall@cix.co.uk)
Date: 02/25/00-03:57:08 PM Z


> Now that I think of it … get thee to a good library at a good art
> school … like
> mine at the San Francisco Art Institute which has an enthusiastic
> library staff.
> Jack Fulton

I think this is the best advice on this topic. I think you need to ask
what you want a general history for. I haven't looked at Robert Hirsch's
yet, but we have about a dozen others on the library shelves, including
most of those mentioned. I wouldn't recommend any of them to my students
to actually buy - there are other books that are more likely to excite
their imagination.

One of the things I'm working on at the moment is setting up
photography.about.com as a useful history resource for students. At the
moment there are roughly 35 history features there, all with web links to
pictures and other material, and I'm adding one most weeks (when I stop
reading email I'll be working on the second part of a series dealing with
Edward Weston - and in this part also Tina Modotti). I'm also working on a
'Directory of Notable Photographers', which will start with a couple of
hundred names and then grow. Another site I'd mention would be 'Masters of
Photography' which is making work by quite a few photographers available,
together with some texts and links.

In writing my site I've found some very notable ommissions from all the
history books, and not just more recent photographers. Most histories are
very weak on 20th century non-American photographers (outside of
photojournalism - and even there some surprisingly good photographers
don't get a mention.) Even Rosenblum for all the size of the book is
disappointing, and many of her comments on those she does include are less
than cursory.

Peter Marshall
Photography guide at About.com http://photography.about.com/
email: photography.guide@about.com
_________________________________________________________________
London's Industrial Heritage: http://www.cix.co.uk/~petermarshall/
The Buildings of London etc: http://www.spelthorne.ac.uk/pm/default.htm
Also on Fixing Shadows: http://www.people.virginia.edu/~ds8s
and elsewhere......


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