Optics, Aesthetics, Epistemology : the History of Photography Reconsidered
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OPTICS, AESTHETICS, EPISTEMOLOGY: THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY RECONSIDERED Peter Wollheim B.A., University of Rochester, 1970 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (COWNICATION STUDIES) in the Department of Communication Studies @ Peter Wollheim 1977 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY November 1977 All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. Approval Name: Peter Wollheirn Degree: Master of Arts (Communication Studies) Title of Thesis: "Optics, Aesthetics, Epistemology: The History of Photography Reconsidered." Examining Committee: Chairperson: Thomas J. Mallinson J. C. Haqpr - Supervisor J. Zaslove E. Gibson EMrnal Examiner Associate Professor Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University Date Approved : November 29th.1977. PARTIAL COPYRTCHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis or dissertation (the title of which is shown below) to usere of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to marte parclai or singie copies only for. such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its 'own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thesis/~issertation: "OPTICS AESTHETICS, EPISTEMOLOGY: THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY RFXONS IDERED" Author : (signature) PETER WOLLHFIM (name) NQV: 23rd. 1977 (date) This thesis dfals with the status of "truthi' - spis+;mological, assthhetic, and psycholcgical - % r. gn~toyra~hicr~pr~:s~+r:?arltior.. Using aaterials from the sociology of art arid c1~mparativ2 epistemof ogy, the photograph is contrast+d wLzh th~medi.;val Icon, and its evolution exatnined ir, ternms of various "truthsf* 3bout natur3 and optics as def icad by scicrAtificinquiry. Th+ thlsls concfuiles by exa~ininganxieties that photography arouses in modern culturz, an:? demor.strates that they ar pdrt caf 'idrgor anthivaiences which can be investigated as the f3tishlziny of appearancss ix capitalistic society. iii As the mirror said, "It's all done uith people." --- Tom Bobbirds Thanks 3lso go tc Gary gilcox, the intrepid airo or of -----Photsqypgh~r magazine, fo: allowing me to try out a variety of ids-as in print befo~ecornmitticy +h+~to th~3sspayes; to i;ir.3.Pf:>isvrj, ui the Cuudciidzi Fokk C~n~piliyf3r p~ovidlngv?iuabi'-3 information on studio portraiture; to Rev. aensua Jones for EiblFcal refermces; ind to dss, Pam Parford, Linda Clark, and Suzie Sz+rkes fcr clerical assist2nct. I would also lik~to express my gratitude to tns Canada Council fcr thij Arts and sirncn Fra ser UniverskC.y's P~3siLif?n+,*sOffice, S~nate,and Dcan of Graduate Studies for financial support of my research. P?rsonal thanks also gs to Louis Dayuerr3, for starting it all; to U.D. ~i.12~for his madndss; and James Lsr;ikin, for the loan of his Exakta, Mcre thatks ars ?xt-?eded to ths Cralley;, anu vanccuvor Schccl of Art, for listeriing; to my parents; tc Eir,da Kowa'iski, for sharin5~the yrowth of my vision Petting me sip t5c mornixy's t~a23 silent.?-. While I accept final Table of Contents Approval i i AL-t-rnt i i i 'I" U I. * U" C Quotat ion iv Acknowledgements v Foreward viii Introduction: Photography: the Search for an Aesthetic I. The Photograph and the Icon 11. The Eye as Machinery 111. The Aesthetics of the Rational IV. Image and Essence Footnotes Bibliography vii This thesis is part of a losger wosk-ic-progress on pha+ograpftic criticisoa, the miri purpose of which is 'to Liberate photagrap+.y from ths confines cif its current ideological frameworks. The geceral aettod of that work is set forth in this thesis, and will be follovea up by accou~tscf how individual photographic artists have fought against the cofiventicnal concepts of the photograph as representation, and how the form and style of their works reflect this struggle. The reader is therefore invited to consult other reviews and articles that 1 have writteri on this topic. 1 viii Photagraphy: the Search for ar~assthetic Despite its increasing popularity and accdptanca as a fine art, photography remaias onE of the asst pr~blematicand barren areas of serious aesthetic critiuist~. Hithic the last ten years voices as diverse as Ap~lrtuwgand Wu2.a~Photoqrg~hy have called attention %a this vacuum, but there is still no recognized and cc herent body of photographic critic is^, Or. the whole, the greatEst obstacle to the gsawth sf such criticism is the habit of rggizrdlng the carnera as a sy~tax-free and scjmeuhat passive instrumect suitabk for merely recordisg visual images. The pre-history of photographic c~iticismis tho battle for the recogcition of photography as an exprsssive wediua fought hy Alfred Steiglitz, the F/54 group, and a number of other photcgraphers, curators, editofs, art historians acd critics. To a large exte~ttheir goal has been accoiaplished aad phctography is row accepted by museums, galleries and art schools as a legitimate field of interest. But ia a short aoncgraph on The Criticism @ Photography. 2s (197(1)2, Profassor John L,bkard suggested that there is still a residual refusal, on the part of prcfessional critics, tc treat photography as soia~+.hlngother that a mechanical cperatior. sccessible to artist a~dnon- artist alike, r~garal~usof ski11 or tzaicing, Vard suggested that the general public complements this attitude by respordinq to the subject matrer of photographs rather thar, to the style of d-;piction.3 Horf recently B.D, Coleman, fcrmer critic for the Villaae Voice and gg~York Times, has cites some immwiiate anG practical obstacles to the creation ot an on-goiag discussion. As Coleman points out, there are fen public forums for the axchacg~of views aside from consuwer-oriented magazines largely dominated by the commercial interests of advestisers. This of ten engenders a cheap pseudo-criticism which either reflects the momentary idiosyccrasies of a particular reviewer, or discusses the image as an end-product of certain combinations of equipwnt. Coleman noted that the readership of these magazines uses photography primarily as a craft or hobby, and rsspords to critical writing by cft~nrequesting informa tion on cameras and lenses. Speaking from experience, Ccfl-aman deplored #'the lack of a func+,ior,al. vocabulary for the criticism of photography." The language currently applied to photographs as distinct fro@ other kicds of images is derived ~ntirely frcm the jargon of tech~ique; it is a form cf shop talk which pertains to the manufacturiny of photographs as cb jects rather than to their 5f~rkinCjsoh effects as images. Ir essence, it deals not with the creative/intelfectua1 problems of the photographer as artist and communicator, but xith the practical difficulties faced by the photographer as craftsman.* There are a number of additicnal problems which hinder critical discourse. Ccntemporary aesthetic theory relies tteavif y on definitions and distinctions, but the term "photcgraphW apppliss aqually to snapshots, photograms, x-ray acd aerial phctcgraphs, co~mrcialportraits and wedding pictures, i.d, and passport shots, and a variety of other images made for purely utilitarian pu rposes.The borderlines betuaer; some conimerciaf work - in advertisi~g,architectural cr fashion photography - ar,d '$fine arte photographs are often indistinguishable, Photomicrographs made during the course of scientific research have often beer. exhibited for their aesthetic qualities. at what point can or shculd a critic wake meaningful distinctions between art and technology? S~condly,photogsaphshave become a commonplace eleiwnt in the mass media and we are exposed to dozens, if not hundreds of ~hotographsdaily in newspaFers, magazims, books, posters, an TV, billboards, caie~dars,etc. One result of this widespread usage fs that photographs have corns to b~ @oreuskd than viewed since ?hey compete with other messages for our attention. Photographers are increasingly faced with a situation nct unlike that ~xp~riencedby pcets of the early ninete~cthcentury, whsn advertising and the popular press threatened to reduce poetic dictioc to a liiggu xglqaris for selfiog insuranc~policies and diuretics,s Photography is deeply embedded in vbat is now called i*popufar culture", a sub-ject which has drawn only a minimum of scholarly interest, Critics cf Mfir,e artw have avoided the area en tire1y. 6 Photography has also blosscmed out during a particularly chaotic pzriod in the history of the arts and their criticism, As Harold Rosenberg aptly put it, the w~rkof art has become "an asxious objecta. "*Am I a masterpiece, it must ask itself, 'or ar, asscmhlage of j~ntc?*~f7With the profusiot of styles and wcvements during the last century criticisnt has become a fairly risky activity. Ore thing (has) been learned from the nstori~us mistakes of the past one hundred years, and the lesssz was thoroughly confusing. It was ehat co new work, no matter how apparently senseless, repulsive or visually vacant, could be rejected without runnirig the risk that it would turn up as a masterpiece of the era. The story cf the Ridicule Of The Badicals - ot the Impressionists, Van Gogh, Batisse, fl~digliani,Duchamp - had becom part of the folklore of painting.8 The same trend 9s evidert in the 0th~~arts acd critics saels to hav~responded by staunchly defending yesterday*^ standards, or jumpir,g cn to each new and with-it: b~rduagou, The photographic critic works in an era durirg which the barely adorried act of public masturbation has receZvcd serious attention ir a major jcusnal of the fine arts.9 Among the problems associated with this anxiety are refurbished harig-overs from the Romantic idealization of art and artist, Its photographic version reachtd a visible peak following the release of Antonioni*~Blow-TJE {1967), when phrases like cantera" and "StAg photographern received a nw supercharge.