History of Photography

The history of photography is studied through
slide lectures, readings and class discussion.
The class traces photographic modernism to its
present crisis. We will consider both the
privileged and mundane uses of photography,
paying special attention to the often problematic
relationship between "fine art" and "applied"
photography. The course will offer a close but
contextual reading of photographic work, and will
require attention to questions posed by
aesthetics, art history, sociology, economics,
semiotics, and social and intellectual history.