STS 221
History of Photography Fall 2022
Division II
Cross-listed STS 221 / ARTH 221

This lecture course will examine the history of photography from its beginnings in the 1830s to the present, from the first grainy black and white images to the work of contemporary artists using cutting-edge photographic technologies. We will examine photographs used for documentary, scientific, and aesthetic purposes, and we will trace the medium’s emergence and acceptance as a fine art. We will also explore photography’s physical and conceptual characteristics as a medium, paying particular attention to its uniquely intimate and frequently contested relationship to “the real.” By the end of the course, students will have a broad understanding of photography as a unique medium within the history of art and knowledge of the theoretical frameworks that developed alongside that history.