HISTORY OF 20th CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHY Summer Session 1, May 26–July 3, 2020 Art History 383 Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00–4:00 pm Kaitlin Booher PhD Candidate, Art History, Rutgers University [email protected]
Beginning with Kodak’s Brownie camera—the first camera introduced to the masses—and ending with the iPhone—the camera most people carry in their pockets, this course will survey some of the key artists, applications, and debates of photography throughout the 20th century. The course will have a particular focus upon photography of the United States. Moving chronologically, we will consider amateur and professional photographs, artistic movements, socially concerned documentary photography, and news coverage. We will explore the impact of both World Wars and the Vietnam war upon culture and photographic styles, as well as intersections between modern painting, sculpture, and photography. The collecting practices and exhibitions of the Museum of Modern Art from the 1940s through the 1970s provide an entry to key debates about the medium’s place in the museum and the art market. Works by the Pictures Generation will explore the impact of Marxist and feminist thought upon artists using the medium of photography. In the final part of the course, we will consider YouTube, Instagram, and fashion magazines as sites for artists to explore contemporary issues of representation, identity, race, and gender.
This course will include a trip to the Zimmerli Art Museum to see photographs in the museum’s collection.
Requirements and Grading - Attendance at all lectures and participation in all discussions: 10% - Mid-term examination: 25% - A synopsis of your term paper and its annotated bibliography of at least five published sources, submitted in advance of your paper’s rough draft (see below). Note that the bibliographic sources can include reviews, newspaper reports, scholarly articles, and book chapters: 10% - One 5-page museum paper focusing on a single photograph (see below). The final paper draft will be submitted in class: 25% - Final examination: 30%
1 Readings Students must complete the assigned reading for any one class before we meet. My lectures are conducted with the assumption that you have completed the readings. You are responsible for integrating these materials into your papers, exam answers, and your class participation, (tip: ask specific questions about assigned readings).
The Midterm and Final Exams There will be a mid-term and final exam based on the readings and the material we cover in class. These exams will require that students retain knowledge of the photographers (named or not) and the photographs covered.
Museum Paper After viewing photographs at the Zimmerli, students will chose one of the works about which to write a 5-page paper. Students will draw upon at least three outside resources for research and will have some time during class to work with me to develop their papers.
Important dates Midterm Exam Date: June 11, 2020
Museum Paper Due: June 25, 2020
Final Exam Date: July 2, 2020
Submitting your work Please hand in your final paper drafts both on paper and as an electronic copy (deposited on your Sakai dropbox).
Online Resources All readings and PowerPoint presentations will be posted on the course’s Sakai site.
Attendance Policy Class attendance is mandatory, especially since we have a condensed summer schedule. If you miss more than two classes, your final grade will be marked down one half grade for each additional missed class. See the university’s attendance policy at http://sasundergrad.rutgers.edu/academics/courses/registration-and-course- policies/attendance-and-cancellation-of-class
Academic Integrity Policy Plagarism in any form will not be tolerated. For help in defining what plagiarism is, how to avoid it, and how to cite properly, see the resources at the Rutgers’ academic integrity
2 website: http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/resources For a humorous tutorial on what plagiarism is, see: http://www.scc.rutgers.edu/douglass/sal/plagiarism/intro.html
COURSE SCHEDULE:
Week 1 Tues. May 26 Course Introduction course overview, review of assignments and exams, discussion of how to look at and write about photographs.
Photography in the United States, 1890-1911 Camera Notes, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Gertrude Kasebier
John Szarkowski, “Introduction,” The Photographer’s Eye (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1964), no page numbers.
Kodak, the Snapshot and Vernacular Photography. Diane Waggoner, ‘Photographic Amusements 1888-1919,’ in Sarah Greenough and Diane Waggoner, The Art of the American Snapshot 1888-1978 (Washington: National Gallery of Art, 2007), 7-44.
Thurs. May 28 1915-1920: Pictorialism versus Straight Photography “Photography in the Modern Age,” in Mary Warner Marien, Photography, A Cultural History (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2003), 167-196.
Week 2 Tues. Jun 2 Avant-Garde Photography in Germany
Avant-Garde Photography in Russia Watch selection from Man with a Movie Camera (USSR, 1929; dir. Dziga Vertov; 68 min.) in class
Thurs. Jun 4 Fashion, Advertising, and Commerce in the 1930s
3 Clarence White, Paul Outerbridge Jr., Man Ray, Lee Miller Commercial Photography Studios
Surrealism and Photography Readings TK
Week 3 Tues. Jun 9 Museum Paper Prep and Midterm Review Discussion of the term paper and review for midterm exam.
American Documentary from the New Deal to WWII
Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and FSA Photography
World War II and Photojournalism
Thurs. Jun 11 Midterm Exam in First Part of Class
American Documentary Photography after the War Walker Evans and Robert Frank
1960s: Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, and Gary Winogrand
Postwar and Post-Colony in African Photography Seydou Keïta, Malik Sidebe
Thurs. Jun 18 Photography in Latin America and Japan
Photography and Conceptual Art
Week 5 Tues. Jun 23 The Pictures Generation, 1970s
The 1980s, Photography and Culture Wars
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Thurs. Jun 25 Museum Paper Due
The Dawn of Digital Photography
Week 6 Tues. Jun 30 Fact and Fiction in Contemporary Photography Carrie Mae Weems, Tina Barney, Philip Lorca-DiCorcia,
Photography Today Andres Gursky, Edward Burtynsky, Alison Rossiter, and Penelope Umbrico
Thurs. July 2 Final Exam
Please note: Syllabus is subject to change
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