Making Light of Everything: Early Photography of the Middle East and Current Photomania

Praising the photographs of Francis Frith, the grocery wholesaler-turned-photographer who undertook three photographic expeditions to the Middle East between 1856 and 1860, an Athenaeum critic wrote: “Mr. Frith, who makes light of everything, brings us the Sun’s opinion of Egypt, which is better tha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Middle East Studies Association bulletin 1984-12, Vol.18 (2), p.151-174
Main Author: Chevedden, Paul E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Architectural photography
Art exhibitions
Art museums
Art photography
Cataloging
COMPARISON OF CULTURES
FILM AND SOUND (INCLUDING PHOTOGRAPHY)
MIDDLE EAST
Photograph albums
Photographers
Photography
Portrait photography
STUDY OF HISTORY AS SUBJECT MATTER
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:Praising the photographs of Francis Frith, the grocery wholesaler-turned-photographer who undertook three photographic expeditions to the Middle East between 1856 and 1860, an Athenaeum critic wrote: “Mr. Frith, who makes light of everything, brings us the Sun’s opinion of Egypt, which is better than Champollion’s, Wilkinson’s, Eōthen’s, or Titmarsh’s.” Viewed as re-creations of nature itself, unmeditated reproductions of the real world fashioned by the direct agency of the sun, photographs were extolled as truthful and unbiased representations of reality. This conviction, which ignored the input of the human operator, imbued early photography with a passionate enthusiasm and mission: to reproduce the world in its own image, to make light of everything. Photography emerged not as an art form, still less as the result of certain developments in painting as proposed recently by Peter Galassi, but as an accurate and highly efficient means of transmitting visual information.
ISSN:0026-3184
2329-3233
DOI:10.1017/S0026318400015455