[Athena] Architecture and Photography in the nineteenth cy.

[Jean-François Picard <jean-francois.picard AT mouchez.cnrs.fr>]

Début du message réexpédié :

Répondre à : h-france AT lists.uakron.edu

Reminder - Call For Paper

First International Meeting of the European Architectural History Network, Guimarães, Portugal, 17-20 June 2010

 

Architecture in Nineteenth-century Photographs

Heavily represented in collections of nineteenth century photographs, architectural photography provides inroads into major themes of the period:  industry and technology, exploration and exoticism, documentation and preservation, history and nationalism, etc.  However, most histories of photography use the progressive development of the medium as the organizing structure for the presentation of the material.  Architecture lent itself to the long exposure times required by the early photographic processes and was used extensively as subject by the first generation of photographers. 

            Architectural photography was the focus of three major exhibitions organized between 1982 and 1994 which gave pride of place to photographic technique. Since then, despite the musings of Susan Sontag, the theorizing of Roland Barthes, and three decades of post-colonial, post-structuralist and gender-conscious criticism, the study of architectural photography continues to privilege technical virtuosity.  Because the history of architectural photography parallels both the development of photographic techniques and the expressive modalities assumed by the medium, a thematic exploration of the subject is overdue. 

            This session invites papers that consider thematic questions related to the photography of architecture in the nineteenth century. For instance: the significance of the structures scrutinized by photography, the role of the photographs as commodities on the intellectual and cultural market as it relates to architecture, the impact of the medium on the practice and study of architecture, the fascination for and consumption of photographs of exotic architecture by the “armchair tourist”, the institutional and cultural reasons for the absence of women from nineteenth century architectural photography, vernacular architecture  in photographs, commodification of architecture for the Baedeker- or Cook-guided middle and even lower-class tourist, photography and historic preservation or urban renewal.  Exploration of these questions is intended to focus on how nineteenth century architecture photography eschews the tropes of functionality to reflect the aesthetic and intellectual concerns of the time. A genuine understanding of the first decades of architectural photography needs to account for the relevant technical parameters of production but also demands that each photographic image of architecture be studied as a primary visual document and an aesthetic object.  It is this multi-faceted enquiry, which is invited in this session on nineteenth-century architectural photography. 

Please send paper proposals to Dr. Micheline Nilsen, Indiana University South Bend, AA107, 1700 Mishawaka Avenue, South Bend, IN 46634-7111 USA, 001-574-520-4277, Fax: 001-574-520-4317, e-mail: mnilsen AT iusb.edu. Submission deadline: October 30, 2009.

 

The full call for papers can be viewed on the conference website www.eahn2010.org  or downloaded at the following URL:  http://www.eahn2010.org/EAHN2010_CPF.pdf

 

 

Micheline Nilsen, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Art History, NS033E

Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts

Indiana University South Bend

1700 Mishawaka Avenue

South Bend, IN 46634-7111

574-520-4277

mnilsen AT iusb.edu

P Please consider the environment before printing this email.