The History of Photography: On the Art of Fixing a Shadow

The History of Photography: On the Art of Fixing a Shadow is a Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies class taught by Karen Koehler.

Course Description
This course will be a selective examination of the history of photography in Europe and the U.S, from the earliest daguerreotypes in the 19th century to the digital works of the present. We will consider the evolution of photography in relationship to other art forms, including architecture, literature, painting, collage, video, performance, printmaking, and film. We will treat the photograph as an art historical document, and above all, interrogate the works as aesthetically resonant reflections of specific historical moments. This will be a rigorous critical examination of both canonical and non-canonical photographs, and we will work to link the "decisive moment" of the image to those social, political, cultural and intellectual moments in the past that informed their creation and reception. Students will be responsible for a series of papers, regular trips to Five College Museums, and a final student symposium on the state of photography in the 21st century, including global perspectives.

Learning Goals

 * Multi-Cultural
 * Project-based
 * Presenting
 * Reading
 * Writing