This comprehensive study offers detailed analysis of how
classical painting challenged, resisted, and was influenced by the
emergence of photography. Photography divided opinion since its
invention; some saw it as an invaluable tool in the enhancement of
artistic production, for others it was too mechanical to ever
represent the grand concept of "art." This volume examines the
fraught yet rich relationship that developed between them, from
portraiture and landscapes to still lifes, nudes, and tableaux
vivants. Accompanied by a rich selection of illustrations, the text
charts this fascinating history from photography’s first forays
into the public domain and the organizations set up to defend it
against criticism, to the influence of figures such as Daguerre,
whose daguerreotype invention raised the possibility of being able
to accurately replicate images. This volume explores not only
photography’s fight for recognition, but also its impact on
painters of the day, as it challenged them to devise new ways to
capture the human form, and forever changed the face of art.
關於作者:
Dominique de Font-Réaulx is the curator of photography at the
Musée d’Orsay in Paris.