As a Branch of Fine Arts: Photography

Author Graham Clarke offers a different experience of reading photography, covering the history of photography through dazzling and penetrating images, from the first hazy "heliograph" taken by Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1826, to the classic compositions of Cartier-Bresson and Alfred Stieglitz, and the striking postmodern strategies of Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman, and Victor Burgin. Clarke, who clearly and precisely explains the historical development of photography, clarifies the insights of interesting criticisms concerning figures such as Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag. At the heart of the book lies Clarke's innovative examination of key themes such as landscape, city, portraiture, the body, and documentary reporting, and his detailed analysis of sample images in terms of their cultural and ideological contexts.

The book, which also covers critical theories of photography, is enriched with original archival studies on important figures and topics. With the chronology he prepared and presented at the end of the book, Clarke also enables the reader to examine the history of photography in a certain order. With its approach to the development process of photography, the book will find a special place in the library of anyone interested in photography, its history, and photographic theories, whether amateur or professional.