Week04 slides - newtraditionalists.net

Benjamin's Art in the
Age of Mechanical
Reproduction and
Perception, Light, and
the Camera
Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction
Walter Benjamin
15 July 1892 – 26
September 1940)
German literary critic,
philosopher, social critic,
translator, radio
broadcaster and essayist.
seminal work of Benjamin attempts to characterize the vast cultural changes in process at the
beginning of the 20th C.
re-written over a course of years the generally accepted text was revised by Benjamin many
time.
Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction (1935)
become well known in the last half of
• has
the 20th C. and a touchstone of cultural
criticism
•
despite the fact that in "1968, none of his work had
been published in English in book form."
-Benjamin’s age of mechanical reproduction (1977) Richard Kazis
"His 1936 essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” has become a
standard reference for any attempts to analyze and understand the interrelation of political,
technological and artistic development under capitalism." Kazi 1977
Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction
the
text
is
characterized
by
Text
Benjamin's unease with the
reprographics and a
fundamental change that are
resultant in the arts.
Benjamin's chief target of
criticism is film (cinema) as an
alienating agent
this trajectory is a long lineage of research, philosophy, science, and art converging after
centuries.
oy vey! that's a lot of
history
and the immediate predecessor, the
• cinema
photograph, are at the core of Benjamin's
crisis
over the past 3000 years of
• events
humanity are seen as relevantly connected
to the development of these media
• by scores of scientists, artists, philosophers
we will try to look some key areas of this development, but in no way is this a inclusive list of
this history see http://www.precinemahistory.net/ for an idea of the scope
tour of this material and the nature of
• brief
the issue by looking at: light, projection, and
perception
light & perception
overwhelmingly for the
vast majority of
humans, our native
perceptive means is
dominated by vision
seeing is knowing, visual culture, visual arts, observation of phenomena,
light & perception
Plato's Allegory of the Cave
-one of the most seminal philosophic treatises in early W. Civ. = Allegory of the Cave by Plato -in the work, The
Republic c. 380 BCE.
-This dialogue is an attempt to demonstrate two key Platonic ideas that there is a an ideal form and our
perception can be flawed
light & perception
Newton as a Divine
Geometer, 1795.William
Blake
-Geometry via Euclid being a point of entry into the study of light. Euclid's application mathematical methods led
to his theory that light travels in a linear fashion. (Optica 300BCE)
-The division of physical phenomena into understandable/usable definitions. This common theme in metaphysics,
think of the Bible: the divisions earth and the waters, day and night
allegorically the compass, prime tool of the geometer, scaffolds this dsicipline as an act of the creator. The Geom.
analysis of light to describe the engine for the dominant sense starts very early in history but enters art history as
materialist instrument: the Camera Obscura
Camera Obscura
-Latin; camera for "vaulted chamber/room", obscura for "dark", together "darkened chamber/room"
-a room with a small aperture leading to the outside. the light phenomena creates projected image on the far wall
-in general the smaller the aperture the better the focus-to a limit
Camera Obscura
the camera obscura
phenomena is directly
linked with the inventions
and discoveries of the
linear perspective, the
camera, photograph, &
projectors
'portable' Camera obscura in "Encyclopédie,
ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et
des métiers", Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond
d'Alembert , 1751
Camera Obscura are the manufactured utilization of a phenomenological occurrence the pinhole projection.
Camera Obscura
phenomena
Camera Obscura are the manufactured utilization of a phenomenological occurrence the pinhole projection.
Camera Obscura
phenomena
The image shown here is a naturally occurring pinhole projection phenomena. Projects image of the New Royal
Palace at Prague Castle (size approx. 4 x 2 m) created at the attic wall by a hole in the tile roofing.
Camera Obscura
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen)
(965 in Basra - c. 1039 in
Cairo)
-10th century, muslim scientist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) born in in what is now Basra, Iraq
-in his writings, detailed description of naturally occurring pinhole projections such the small spaces within the
leaves of a tree or weaves of a basket in Book of Optics circa 1021 CE
Camera Obscura
• there are numerous other early references
• Mo-Ti, Mo-Tzu 5th C. BCE
of Alexandria & Aristotle 4th C.
• Euclid
BCE
Aristotle 4th C. BCE "sunlight traveling through small openings between the leaves of a tree, the holes of a sieve,
the openings wickerwork, and even interlaced fingers will create circular patches of light on the ground."
Camera Obscura
Alhazen is credited with earliest clear description of this phenomena and demonstrations of an image of the
exterior projected onto a interior. Worked with multiple light sources to prove the linear nature of light.
other notable Camera
Obscura in history
Bacon, to safely observe a solar
• Roger
eclipse in the 13thC. England
and 14th C. again solar
• 13th
phenomena - Peckham, Saint-Cloud,
•
Gershon
1290 Arnaud de Villeneuve - perhaps
the first live cinema?
this point in history 13-14th C. we see artists begin to develop tools and media as rapidly as philosophy and
science around this period as imaging devices, perspective machines, and optics
as an example the work of Brunelleschi
Filippo Brunelleschi
Brunelleschi presumed depiction in
Resurrection of the Son of Theophilus (detail),
Masaccio.
Brancacci chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine,
Florence
shown here as a model for the Massacio fresco
other notable Camera
Obscura in history
And The Camera Obscura: The
• Brunelleschi
Discovery of Pictorial Perspective
there is compelling evidence that Brunelleschi circa 1425 put together the principles of linear perspective from
observations of his paintings from a experiment with a new viewing machine and an image of the Florentine
Baptistery
other notable Camera
Obscura in history
And The Camera Obscura: The
• Brunelleschi
Discovery of Pictorial Perspective
some evidence that the image you peeped through was actually a painting created with a camera obscura in the
following paper
Shigeru Tsuji's 'Brunelleschi And The Camera Obscura: The Discovery of Pictorial Perspective', Art History vol.13,
1990, pp. 276-292
-another source: http://www.webexhibits.org/arrowintheeye/brunelleschi1.html
other notable Camera
Obscura in history
And The Camera Obscura: The
• Brunelleschi
Discovery of Pictorial Perspective
Brunelleschi's experiment from first person view
-the viewer looks through a small hole on the back of the painting, facing the Baptistery. He would then set up a
mirror, facing the viewer, which reflected his painting. To the viewer, the painting of the Baptistery and the
Baptistery itself were nearly indistinguishable.
Filippo Brunelleschi was a
contemporary of Massacio and
almost certainly shared the
discoveries with him as typified
in what is considered perhaps
the first painting done in strict
linear perspective, Trinità.
Trinità (Holy Trinity), circa 1426-1428, Massacio.
667 × 317 cm (262.6 × 124.8 in)
Santa Maria Novella, Florence
Fresco.
this work strikes me as a cross between a religious offering and memento mori in that the
vanishing point is just at the sponsors earthly remains. Not only does it prescribe humanist
views in a distinctly liturgical painting but also flatters the commissioning family through an
implied importance
Filippo Brunelleschi was a
contemporary of Massacio and
almost certainly shared the
discoveries with him as typified
in what is considered perhaps
the first painting done in strict
linear perspective, Trinità.
Trinità (Holy Trinity), circa 1426-1428, Massacio.
667 × 317 cm (262.6 × 124.8 in)
Santa Maria Novella, Florence
Fresco.
horizon/sight line
vanishing point
this work strikes me as a cross between a religious offering and memento mori in that the
vanishing point is just at the sponsors earthly remains. Not only does it prescribe humanist
views in a distinctly liturgical painting but also flatters the commissioning family through an
implied importance
Leon Battista Alberti
illustration of the 'intersection' or veil
"To make clear my exposition in writing this brief commentary on
painting, I will take first from the mathematicians those things with
which my subject is concerned."
Alberti Della Pittura (On Painting), 1436
-Alberti a polymath, good prototype of the Renaissance Man, was an engineer, architect, painter, writer, and
experiments with perspective tools. he was a student of classical mathematics and strictly followed the
prescriptions, but is seen being able to make them relevant to his time.
-He reportedly also had an ego the size of a church.
Holy Sepulchre (Shrine of the Holy
Sepulchre), 1464-67.
Leone Battista Alberti.
Cappella Rucellai, San Pancrazio,
Florence, Italy
-funerary chapel for Giovanni Rucellai, adorned with marble, porphyry, mosaic.
-shape of the temple is inspired, in scale of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem
-a rectangular plan, set to the golden ratio, Corinthian fluted pilasters
-crown consists of a battlement lily (probably in honor of the Annunciation in which the chapel was dedicated) and
-a lantern , made like a temple with a circular base, was moved forward from the center during the nineteenth
century restoration, to improve visibility.
Holy Sepulchre (Shrine of the Holy
Sepulchre), 1464-67.
Leone Battista Alberti.
Cappella Rucellai, San Pancrazio,
Florence, Italy
-we can see Alberti's strict observation of the rules of symmetry and geometry with subtle variations to create
some surprises in the design (individual badge forms) or the door being subtly placed on left side of the rear of the
chapel
details of panels from Holy Sepulchre (Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre), 1464-67.
Leone Battista Alberti.
Cappella Rucellai, San Pancrazio, Florence, Italy
Alberti used a different geometric motif on each of thirty panels, hinting at a metaphysical relationship with
pattern and mathematics reminiscent of pythagorean cultism.
three designs represent the heraldic devices of the Rucellai family
Two center panels displayed on this slide demonstrate the unfurled sail of the ships of the Rucellai family(top) and
the infamous diamond ring of another Rucellai family member(bottom)
"I believe nothing more convenient can be found than the
veil, which among my friends I call the intersection, and
whose usage I was the first to discover. It is like this: a veil
loosely woven of fine thread, dyed whatever colour you
please, divided up by thicker threads into as many
parallel square sections as you like, and stretched on a
frame."
Alberti-della Pintura 1436
top: illustration of Alberti's Intersector c. 1436
bottom: A drawing apparatus from Albrecht Dürer,
Underweysung der Messung, 2nd edition, 1538.
Nuremberg.
-1457 in, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, Vasari reports that Leon Battista Alberti
uses an instrument to help him enlarge, Alberti's 'intersection' is a type of instrument as we see in this Dürer print
-Dürer familiar with the 'abbreviated construction' as described by Alberti
magic lanterns
left: sketch from the Codex Atlanticus,
Da Vinci c. 1515
right: magic lantern unknown origin,
but with characteristics common to
17th -19th C. devices
1515 Leonardo writes/ sketches what appear to be a projector Codex Altanticus
these devices have been misattributed to Althanius Kircher because of his claims in Ars Magna Lucis Et Umbra
magic lanterns
Frontispiece of
Kircher’s (1671)Ars
magna, engraved by
Petrus Miotte of
Burgundy. This
frontispiece visualises
what is at the stake in
the Ars Magna.
Athanius Kircher Ars Magna Lucis Et Umbra (The Great Art of Light and Shadow) contains discussion of the camera
obscura and magic lantern. Kircher-Austrian Monk Scientist and the amazing layers of symbolism in the
frontspiece of Ars Magna situate him as a prime educator in the mid to late Renaissance
Kircher claims falsely to have invented Magic Lantern, despite this discredit the large number of well illustrated
devices and treatises make this an incredibly important document
magic lanterns
Magic Lantern Slide Lecture on St. Peter's Basilica, 1897.
An illustration from the December 1897 catalogue of T. H. McAllister Company, Manufacturing
Opticians, New York
http://arthistoryresources.net/arth-technology/images/lanternslideshow1897b.jpg A Magic Lantern Slide Lecture on St. Peter's
Basilica, 1897. Illustration from the December 1897 catalogue of T. H. McAllister Company, Manufacturing Opticians, New York
showing the very advanced magic lantern that used lime and tanks of hydrogen and oxygen to burn a very bright light.
magic lanterns
Examples of Magic Lantern slide
media.
Hand-Coloured Lantern Slide of
Antoine-Jean Gros's Napoleon
Bonaparte Visiting the Plague
Stricken at Jaffa (March 11,
1799), 1804 (detail)
http://arthistoryresources.net/arth-technology/images/gros-napoleonjaffa.jpg-A Hand-Coloured Lantern Slide of Antoine-Jean
Gros's Napoleon Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Stricken at Jaffa (March 11, 1799), 1804 (detail
magic lanterns
Examples of Magic Lantern slide media.
left: 19th-Century Black-and-White Lantern Slide
right: Sphinx and Pyramid of Khufu, Number 27 in a series of lantern slides entitled Round the
World
http://arthistoryresources.net/arth-technology/images/sphinx2.jpg-The Sphinx and Pyramid of Khufu
Number 27 in a series of lantern slides entitled Round the World
http://arthistoryresources.net/arth-technology/images/streetlanternslide.jpg-A 19th-Century Black-and-White Lantern Slide
Fantasmagoria
Fantasmagoria 1780s-early 1900's
Traveling shows of performance artists would project subject matter from the occult, black magic etc. they employ techniques
such as putting the projectors on wheels to pan the images and effect a simulated 3d by projecting on smoke or translucent
fabric
Etienne-Gaspard Robertson (1764 - 1837)
Giuseppe Balsamo (1743 - 1795)
http://www.cmog.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/frontispiece-robertson_cropped.jpg
http://www.cmog.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/peppers-ghost.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2016/2468468726_fd7f452e7d.jpg
http://www.mementoproduction.be/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/gravure-spectacle-fantasmagorique-robertson.jpg
Fantasmagoria
• emerges in the mid 1700's
• common through the early 1900's
• two important showmen
Robertson (1764 • Etienne-Gaspard
1837)
• Giuseppe Balsamo (1743 - 1795)
Fantasmagoria 1780s-early 1900's
Traveling shows of performance artists would project subject matter from the occult, black magic etc. they employ techniques
such as putting the projectors on wheels to pan the images and effect a simulated 3d by projecting on smoke or translucent
fabric
Etienne-Gaspard Robertson (1764 - 1837)
Giuseppe Balsamo (1743 - 1795)
http://www.cmog.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/frontispiece-robertson_cropped.jpg
http://www.cmog.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/peppers-ghost.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2016/2468468726_fd7f452e7d.jpg
http://www.mementoproduction.be/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/gravure-spectacle-fantasmagorique-robertson.jpg
Fantasmagoria
Fantasmagoria
Slide shows the slanted screen allowing for an apparition to appear to the audience through careful reflection, reminiscent of
the Camera Lucida a portable form of the Cam. Obsc.
Camera Obscura in Ars
Magna Lucis Et Umbra
Large Portable Camera Obscura. Engraving by Athanasus Kircher, 1646
Athanius Kircher Ars Magna Lucis Et Umbra (The Great Art of Light and Shadow)
Camera Obscura
controversial methods
"For more than a
hundred years, it has
been suggested that the
great 17th-century
Dutch master Johannes
Vermeer made use of
the camera obscura as
an aid to painting."
-Vermeer and the Camera Obscura
By Philip Steadman
Officer and Laughing Girl
Johannes Vermeer.
c.1657
oil on canvas
Vermeer and the Camera Obscura By Philip Steadman
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/vermeer_camera_01.shtml
Camera Obscura
controversial methods
illustrations via Vermeer's Camera website
http://www.vermeerscamera.co.uk/
The Ambassador's,
Hans Holbein the Younger.
c.1533
oil on panel
There is also evidence of sleight of hand that suggest other artists previous to Vermeer were employing optical
technology such as in The Ambassadors.
-double portrait and vanitas
-according to Colvin and Hervey
left: Jean de Dinteville, Seigneur of Polisy (1504–1555), French ambassador to the court of Henry VIII
right: Georges de Selve (1508/09–1541), Bishop of Lavaur
The Ambassador's (detail),
Hans Holbein the Younger.
c.1533
oil on panel
using the proper type of perspective to inspect the anamorphosis. Lensing and/or mirror technology that will
allow this is easily available by the beginning of the 16th C.
Hockney-Falco thesis
concave mirrors could be used to render images long before complex camera arrangements
the hand in the camera is now back with digital technology
the chemists
of inventors, researchers, scientists
• scores
were codeveloping chemical process which
continuous tone prints were made from
the early 1800's
following are but a few of the most well
• the
known
the continuous tone print is another branch of this co-development in optics
the chemists
Engraving depicting a man leading a horse, 1825. Nicephore Niepce. Heliogravure
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce inventor
By 1813, Joseph Niepce, never one to stick with one pursuit for too long, had become fascinated with popular art
of lithography. In lithography, an image is placed on a stone and treated so that some areas repel ink and some
areas retain ink. Since Niepce himself had no artistic talent, his son Isadore would make the designs for his
lithographs. Niepce would place engravings (which he made transparent) on plates coated with light-sensitive
varnishes and expose them to sunlight through a process he called heliography (sun writing).
Read more: http://www.madehow.com/inventorbios/69/Joseph-Nic-phore-Niepce.html#ixzz2JIZG8ltM
above: coating a copper plate with a kind of light-sensitive bitumen, Niepce found he could take a negative imprint
of an image and use that to create a printing plate
NN used the method to make a copy of the Flemish 17th Century print
the chemists
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce inventor
View from the Window at Le Gras (La cour du domaine du Gras) was the first successful permanent photograph
from nature, created by Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 at Saint-Loup-de-Varennes. The image captures the roof and
surrounding countryside of his estate, Le Gras, as seen from an upstairs window.
the chemists
contact print of View from the Window at Le Gras (La cour du domaine du
Gras) Nicéphore Niépce in 1826
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce inventor
a modified camera obscura focused light onto a 20 cm × 25 cm (7.9 in × 9.8 in) pewter plate coated with bitumen
of Judea, a mixture similar to asphalt. The bitumen mixture hardened when exposed to the light, while the
unexposed portions remained water soluble and could be washed away with a mixture of oil of lavender and white
petroleum. As a result of the 8-hour exposure, sunlight illuminates the buildings on both sides.
the chemists
top: reconstructed image from research
of site
bottom: the original Heliograph. Now
housed at the Gernsheim Collection,
Ransom Centre, UT Austin.
currently at the Gernsheim Collection, Ransom Centre, UT Austin
co-developers
Hercule
• Antoine
Romuald Florence
• French Brazilian
develops the negative/
• positive
technique 6 yrs
after but 2 yrs before
Daguerre
co-developers
• Louis Daguerre
• daguerreotype process
commercially
• first
successful photo process
positive is made on
• direct
a silvered copper plate
co-developers
Neipce and Daguerr sign a ten year
• 1829
partnership agreement to mutually work on
Heliography and Daguerreotypes for the cause
of photography. Within some of the
correspondence Daguerre writes, "there should
be found some way of getting a large profit out
of the invention before publication...".
Niépce dies, Daguerre continued to
• 1833
research the chemistry and mechanics of
recording images
meanwhile in
persistence of vision
of vision is a phenomena that
• persistence
causes sensation of movement across the
visual plane
afterimage is thought to persist for
• an
approximately one twenty-fifth of a second
on the retina
yet another related line of inquiry leading to cinema
persistence of vision
POV timeline
Peter Roget lecture: 'Persistence of
• 1824
Vision With Regard To Moving Objects’
John Paris lectures/William Fitton
• 1825
starts to manufacture 'Thaumatrope' toy—
Greek for 'Magic Motion'
POV timeline
Peter Roget lecture: 'Persistence of
• 1824
Vision With Regard To Moving Objects’
John Paris lectures/William Fitton
• 1825
starts to manufacture 'Thaumatrope' toy—
Greek for 'Magic Motion'
persistence of vision
Thaumatrope section
pov timeline
of POV by writers from antiquity
• mentions
including Plato, Seneca, Claudius
Ptolemaeus
• 1832 Simon Stampfer invents ‘Stroboscope’
• 1833 Joseph Plateau 'Phenakistoscope'
two almost identical to each
• those
other in size
William Horner very well known
• 1834
'Zoetrope'
persistence of vision
Zoetrope examples
pov timeline
former governor of California Leland
• 1872
Stanford, had taken a position on a
popularly debated question of the day —
whether all four feet of a horse were off
the ground while trotting.
• Stanford wagered $25000
hired Eadweard Muybridge to take
• and
photos for evidence
the Stanford Wager
The Horse in Motion by Eadweard Muybridge. "Sallie Gardner," owned by Leland
Stanford; running at a 1:40 gait over the Palo Alto track, 19th June 1878
-In 1872, Muybridge settled Stanford's question with a single photographic negative showing his Standard bred
trotting horse Occident airborne at the trot.
-This negative was lost, but the image survives through woodcuts made at the time (the technology for printed
reproductions of photographs was still being developed). Slide shows event from 1878.
- Muybridge continued additional studies, as well as improving his camera for quicker shutter speed and faster
film emulsions.
the Stanford Wager
animated version of The Horse in Motion, Eadweard Muybridge. 1878
-In 1872, Muybridge settled Stanford's question with a single photographic negative showing his Standard bred
trotting horse Occident airborne at the trot.
-This negative was lost, but the image survives through woodcuts made at the time (the technology for printed
reproductions of photographs was still being developed). Slide shows event from 1878.
- Muybridge continued additional studies, as well as improving his camera for quicker shutter speed and faster
film emulsions.
the Stanford Wager
animated version of The Horse in Motion, Eadweard Muybridge. 1878
-In 1872, Muybridge settled Stanford's question with a single photographic negative showing his Standard bred
trotting horse Occident airborne at the trot.
-This negative was lost, but the image survives through woodcuts made at the time (the technology for printed
reproductions of photographs was still being developed). Slide shows event from 1878.
- Muybridge continued additional studies, as well as improving his camera for quicker shutter speed and faster
film emulsions.
Muybridge continues
'Zoopraxiscope'-1879, Muybridge.
Result of these inquiries in 1879, Muybridge realeases 'Zoopraxiscope'
POV to motion picture
George Eastman develops
• 1889
a flexible celluloid photographic
film
Interior view of Kinetoscope with
peephole viewer at top of cabinet
William Kennedy
• 1891-92
Dickson employee of Thomas
Alva Edison develop a system for
moving flexible film past an
aperture - 'Kinetoscope'
-this is a peep show as only one person can see the image
-these devices, many in Edison's name, were often used to display very racy material such as the artist's nude
model (female, of course) and other 'what the Butler saw' types of films
POV to motion picture
Thomas Armat
• 1892
credited for developing a
projector
1896 Edison is
• by
incorporating the design
the public into
• cementing
the cinematic experience
stepping away from the single user model into a public experience
POV to motion picture
sons of Claude• 1895
Antoine Lumière
(photographic film business)
patent the Cinématographe
spurred as
• partially
competition with Edison
Auguste Lumière (left) and Louis Lumière (right)
Their father, Claude-Antoine Lumière (1840–1911), ran a photographic firm and both brothers worked for him:
Louis as a physicist and Auguste as a manager. Louis had made some improvements to the still-photograph
process, the most notable being the dry-plate process, which was a major step towards moving images.
Edison's Films were extremely expensive to get in Europe.
POV to motion picture
of the many innovations
• one
The Cinématographe
Camera used for the film,
which was also used as a
film projector and
developer.
also the sprocket method for advancing the film
cinema
Lumieres are most well known for a short
• The
entitled: L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat ( The
Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station)
the first film to use long establishing shot,
• perhaps
medium shot, closeup as the subject (Train)
approaches and crosses
the picture plane
shot in 1895 doesn't debut until Jan 1896 (not at their first screening)
myth of people dodging the train
Lumieres had an interest in pursuing 3D, 1903 reshot a stereoscopic version see linked video
Benjamin text is in full crisis with the demonstrated methods. His thirst for authenticity often creates paradoxical
assertions.
The Cast Gallery at the
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
relying on cast reproductions to teach history expense and scarcity $1000in 1917 = $17,937.03 today
http://arthistoryresources.net/arth-technology/images/classicartcasts1.jpg
we essentially wouldn't be here if Benjamin's criticism took hold
partial list of casts required to
run an art program in 1917
Text
CLICK HERE for the complete list
relying on cast reproductions to teach history expense and scarcity $1000in 1917 = $17,937.03 today
http://arthistoryresources.net/arth-technology
Miss Abbott's lists are included in David M. Robinson's report, "On Reproductions for the College Musuem and Art
Gallery," Art Bulletin, 3, 1917, 15-21. The list was drawn up by Edith R. Abbott of the Metropolitan Museum. The
minimum list is priced at $1000 and was confined to the historic periods of Greek Art. The second is priced $3000
and includes some Egyptian, Assyrian, Byzantine, Medieval, and Renaissance Art, as well as Greek and Roman. A
third list, priced at $5000, is divided into $3000 for casts of classical art (list provided), and $2000 to be spent on
other styles.
we essentially wouldn't be here if Benjamin's criticism took hold
paradox of a recording
Eugène Atget (French, 1857-1927)
what i refer to as a paradox of a recording
the inefficacy of a recording to capture the entirety of an event, work of art
paradox of a recording
"...the argument about photo vs
painting..."
"Earlier much futile thought had
been devoted to the question of
whether photography is an art.
The primary question—whether
the very invention of photography
had not transformed the entire
nature of art—was not raised."
Eugène Atget (French, 1857-1927)
Maison d'Andre Chenier en 1793 - 97 rue de
Clery (2e arr)
1907
Art in the Age...-Benjamin
paradox of a recording
"...the argument about photo vs
painting..."
"Earlier much futile thought had
been devoted to the question of
whether photography is an art.
The primary question—whether
the very invention of photography
had not transformed the entire
nature of art—was not raised."
Eugène Atget (French, 1857-1927)
Vieille Boutique 8 Rue Volta (3 arr)
1911
Art in the Age...-Benjamin
it is this distancing nature of the media, the ability to cobble materials together from temporally disjointed takes
of film that lead Benjamin to feel ungrounded. His view that this media is performing a disengagement, alienating
action. Which ironically he seems finds so hauntingly beautiful in Atget's photos, the crime scene-ness. His
philosophy also argues in subtext for a reification of hierarchies of high and low art, while he overtly criticizes
such action if done in the name of politics; a distinct crisis investigated often in the 20th C. cultural theory
review for midterm
• consist of two parts:
• 20 questions
between multiple choice and
• split
image identifications
• 2 essay questions
review for midterm
•
image identifications can be of pivotal players
(theorists, artists), artworks, or any image
identified in the lecture slides. we will start
with slides and they will be timed 3 minutes
each
•
you will need to
•
•
identify the person, object, etc.
•
and a short answer to describe the image in an
inclusive manner e.g. the title of the work we read
in class, philosophy of the theorist, significance
give an approximate date—e.g. date of the
project, approximate date of the life of person,
etc. (anything within the last 2 centuries within
10years, else within 50 years)
review for midterm
• Two Essay questions
minutes per question, 30 minutes total
• 15
max.
must furnish their own 'blue book'
• students
and writing implements