Reading American Photographs
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Copy number Shelfmark Shelf mark R073075 Ned. Fotomuseum Ned. fotomuseum
TitleReading American Photographs
Author
Edition[nummer] 1
[jaargang] III
[tijdschrift; titel] KATALOG
[tijdschrift; maand] sept
[tijdschrift; pagina] 54-55
Photographer
Year of publication1990
Materialartikel
Document TypeArticle
SubjectCulturele studies en fotografie, documentaire fotografie, Farm Security Administration, FSA, USA, Geschiedenis en fotografie, Geschiedenis van de fotografie: USA, Beeld en Tekst, Literatuur en fotografie, Theorie van de fotografie
Abstract
An in depth review of Alan Trachtenberg's book: ""Reading
American Photographs: Images as History, Mathew Brady to Walker
Evans'' (1989). Trachtenberg's book ""is a discourse on the
creation of a social meaning''; because ""meanings are not
fixed, values cannot be taken for granted, that what an image
shows depends on how and where and when, and by whom, it is
seen''. As the reviewer states: ""Because photographic meaning
is a social construction, it requires a comprehensive
archaelogy''. Trachtenberg's task is to ""examine not only the
photographer's intentions but also the social construction of
meaning that has given certain images resonance in American
culture''. Trachtenberg discusses 5 photographic projects
thoroughly: 1. early portraiture (especial Mathew Brady's); 2.
visualizing the Civil War; 3. depicting the American West as
part of government explorations; 4. photographing the industrial
city (Stieglitz vs. Lewis Hine); 5. Walker Evans' depiction of
America during the 30s. Citing Trachtenberg: ""(The book)
contains the history of participation by photographers in the
making of America, the illumination of its culural patterns, the
articulations of its social and politcal contradictions''.
Citaten:
Trachtenberg, A.: Reading American Photographs (1989)
American Photographs: Images as History, Mathew Brady to Walker
Evans'' (1989). Trachtenberg's book ""is a discourse on the
creation of a social meaning''; because ""meanings are not
fixed, values cannot be taken for granted, that what an image
shows depends on how and where and when, and by whom, it is
seen''. As the reviewer states: ""Because photographic meaning
is a social construction, it requires a comprehensive
archaelogy''. Trachtenberg's task is to ""examine not only the
photographer's intentions but also the social construction of
meaning that has given certain images resonance in American
culture''. Trachtenberg discusses 5 photographic projects
thoroughly: 1. early portraiture (especial Mathew Brady's); 2.
visualizing the Civil War; 3. depicting the American West as
part of government explorations; 4. photographing the industrial
city (Stieglitz vs. Lewis Hine); 5. Walker Evans' depiction of
America during the 30s. Citing Trachtenberg: ""(The book)
contains the history of participation by photographers in the
making of America, the illumination of its culural patterns, the
articulations of its social and politcal contradictions''.
Citaten:
Trachtenberg, A.: Reading American Photographs (1989)
| Copy number | R073075 |
| Institution name | |
| Shelf mark | Ned. fotomuseum |