Photography and the Book

The course surveys the photographic medium from its inception to the present by tracing the history of the photographic book. The earliest photographers embraced the book medium, the development of both fine art photography and scientific illustration are linked to photographic books, and today, virtually all printed books are made by means of digital photographic technology. Within the history of photography photobook studies are an increasingly active research area. In an age of increasingly digital image production, photographic books are newly historical artifacts requiring contextualization and analysis. We will consider: the book as an object; image-text relationships; how photographic books relate to the art market and the museum; photographic books and activism; the challenges of incorporating early photographic prints into printed volumes; the relationship of hand-made and mass-produced books; and the development of the photobook genre in the 20th century and its evolution in the 21st centuries.