The photograph Graham Clarke

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

How do we read a photograph? In this rich and fascinating work, Graham Clarke gives a clear and incisive account of the photograph's historical development, and elucidates the insights of the most engaging thinkers on the subject, such as Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag. From the first misty "heliograph" taken by Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1826 to the classic compositions of Cartier-Bresson and Alfred Steiglitz and the striking postmodern strategies of Robert Mapplethorpe, Clarke provides a groundbreaking examination of photography's main subject areas--landscape, the city, portraiture, the body, and reportage--as well as a detailed analysis of exemplary images in terms of their cultural and ideological contexts. With over 130 illustrations, The Photograph offers a series of discussions of major themes and genres providing an up-to-date introduction to the history of photography and creating a record of the most dazzling, penetrating, and pervasive images of our time.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction
• Chapter 1 What is a Photograph?
• Chapter 2 How Do We Read a Photograph?
• Chapter 3 Photography and the Nineteenth Century
• Chapter 4 Landscape in Photography
• Chapter 5 The City in Photography
• Chapter 6 The Portrait in Photography
• Chapter 7 The Body in Photography
• Chapter 8 Documentary Photography
• Chapter 9 The Photograph as Fine Art
• Chapter 10 The Photograph Manipulated
• Chapter 11 The Cabinet of Infinite Curiosities
• Notes
• List of Illustrations
• Bibliographic Essay
• Timeline
• Glossary
• Index