The History of Photography by Beaumont Newhall

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intheviewfinder

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My knowledge of the history of photography comes from the old Time-Life photography series and a fellow named Minor White (I attended MIT in the 1970's). I knew of Beaumont Newhall's Aperture connection to Mr. White and have his "The History of Photography" but mostly I just thumbed through the beautiful photos. Well I blew out my knee this past Tuesday and have been forced to hang about. So I've been reading Newhall's history. It's a fine read for anyone wanting to visit a detailed illustrated history of photography. Yes it's a bit text-booky but really does a wonderful job. No matter what, the collection of classic photos is worth the price of admission.

--Rich
 
That must be the first photography book I ever bought. Standard text for college photo history class in the seventies (and probably before and after as well).
Still have a couple of copies of it on my shelf, but haven't had it out in many years.

Gary
 
Lots of copies - over 300 tonight - available on Amazon, and I'm gonna bet your local bookstore can get it for you as well. An excellent resource!
 
It is a standard text for photo history and unfortunately it is flawed and biased. Newhall, who was great friends and proponent of Ansel Adams, purposefully left out certain photographers who did not fit their "idea" or "ideal" of photography. I would start with it as a basic intro and move on from there. There is a fabulous and quite complete history, almost, by a German couple and unfortunately I am forgetting the name! It is quite large and expensive. I couldn't afford it at the time. Maybe someone else here would know the name......It might have been Helmut Gernsheim.
 
kbg32 said:
It is a standard text for photo history and unfortunately it is flawed and biased. Newhall, who was great friends and proponent of Ansel Adams, purposefully left out certain photographers who did not fit their "idea" or "ideal" of photography. I would start with it as a basic intro and move on from there. There is a fabulous and quite complete history, almost, by a German couple and unfortunately I am forgetting the name! It is quite large and expensive. I couldn't afford it at the time. Maybe someone else here would know the name......It might have been Helmut Gernsheim.
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All history books have biases and flaws, that's human nature, especially in a very subjective field like art history. I think, as a historian, that you cannot rely on one book if you want the whole story. Newhall's book should definitely be read, he himself was an extremely important person in the history of photography. Not just a historian, but a subject of that history.

Gernsheim is an important historian too. You may have been thinking of Walter and Naomi Rosenblum. Naomi's "World History of Photography" is a lot bigger and more complete than Newhall's history and explores non-American work more than Newhall did. Interestingly, the Rosenblum's are in the center of an art forgery scandal; they've been accused of making new prints from Lewis Hine's original negatives, which Hine gave to Walter Rosenblum, and forging Hine's signature on them so they could sell them as vintage prints.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/16/a...-lewis-hine-prints.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
 
Newhall was more then purposefully biased, he was vindictive. Especiallly to William Mortensen. I know of the Rosenblum's writings. It was Gernsheim, as I mentioned, that I was thinking of - Helmut and Alison.
 
One of my old photojournalism professors - dr. Larry Schaaf- has written several books about Newhall and other pioneers in photography. If you want more details about how it all started, his books are highly recommended and recent. He caused quite a stir a few years back when Sothby was going to sell a photo called the "Leaf" that was attributed to Newhall. Turns out it was shot by someone else and thirty years earlier than believed. Chris is right, history is always changing.
 
I find most history books are biased in some way and it takes more than one source to get a fuller picture. I don't think we can ever get a full idea of what happened. Plus reinterpretations are written all the time but at least one can gain a better appreciation based upon the current sources.

I remember reading that article in the Times about the printing of the Lewis Hine photographs. I think I also remember another (The Atlantic?) about the case also. I don't think they were ever prosecuted. Naomi Rosenblum's A World History of Photography is on my wishlist but ever time I have $50 to spend on a photobook I purchase something else. The video link is pretty interesting.

I have no idea why I haven't got the Gernsheim book. Nice find thanks. I put it on the wishlist. Hopefully it will be on the bookshelf soon.

The TOP article was a fascinating read (as is a lot of that site's stuff). The link to the Rodger Kingston vernacular photograph collection is a goldmine.

Never heard of Dr Schaaf and have not been very successful searching my usual sources for a Newhall book by him. I did find some stuff about early photographers that looked interesting.

--Rich
 
History is tyranny!

i believe we honor the great masters by doing what they did, seeing with our own eyes. You often hear it said that those who ignore the lessons of history are destined to repeat the same errors. Actually the reverse can also be true, as history is often written by the winners to justify the status quo, so some historians may actually intend us to repeat their orefered lessons of history. The great masters are deemed so because they broke with tradition and opened new doors for the rest of us. i think that is the the most important lesson of their work, not that their unique personal vision is what we should all strive for. I believe we should strive to shed the vision of others, no matter how great, before we can reveal our own.

Newhall cannonizes his old boys club. Lots of good work in one place though. I lost my copy in a flood in 2006 and it's one of the few photo books lost that I have not replaced.
 
Charlie Lemay said:
History is tyranny!

i believe we honor the great masters by doing what they did, seeing with our own eyes. You often hear it said that those who ignore the lessons of history are destined to repeat the same errors. Actually the reverse can also be true, as history is often written by the winners to justify the status quo, so some historians may actually intend us to repeat their orefered lessons of history. The great masters are deemed so because they broke with tradition and opened new doors for the rest of us. i think that is the the most important lesson of their work, not that their unique personal vision is what we should all strive for. I believe we should strive to shed the vision of others, no matter how great, before we can reveal our own.

Newhall cannonizes his old boys club. Lots of good work in one place though. I lost my copy in a flood in 2006 and it's one of the few photo books lost that I have not replaced.
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History is tyranny AND enlightenment - both. To shed the vision of others you have to get inside it first.

To perhaps contradict myself, I'd add that sometimes, in some contexts, the work of the so-called "great masters" is irrelevant. The vast majority of photo history books in the world today elevate Western photography and ignore photography (and photographic masters) from the so-called "third world." And what I mean by "Western" photography is defined incredibly narrowly: England, France, the U.S, and Germany. Photography from the rest of the world has no role to play in the Great Canon of Art History.
 
Newhall is not definitive, though he tried to be. He is a good source to begin with. You can fill in the gaps with many others. History is not tyranny. It is only filled with various tyrannical people who profess to say their way is the only way.
 
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