Photography: The History, Theory, and Literature of the Captured Image

This interdisciplinary course explores the rich history of photography in France, beginning with the work of early inventors (Niépce's heliographie, Daguerre's daguerréotype, Lumière's vues photographiques animées) and practitioners (Atget, Nadar). We will read important theories and literary texts in which photography plays a central role and will study portraits, landscapes, ethnographic, journalistic, medical, experimental, and documentary photographs, and other genres by French and Francophone photographers from the 19th century to today.