Digital BW, The Print

Joel Eisinger's book, Trace and Transformation: American Criticism of Photography 
in the Modernist Period (1995, U.New Mexico Press), provides a broad look at the 
various perspectives on photowork that were articulated from the time of Pictorialism 
(late 19th C.) through early Postmodernist accounts (late 1960's through early 1980's). 
It's scholarly, but very readable -- a few copies are available on Ebay.

Eisinger's history looks at the serious critical writing on photographs that developed 
during this period, a time when "people were still learning to write about photography, 
still defining the subject, identifying central questions...", and wrestling with the central 
issue that seems unique to photowork:  How can something which, on the one hand, 
seems to be a copy of "reality" (it's mechanical trace) can also be a vehicle of subjective 
vision. It's interesting that the two poles of this issue are the very same ones that has 
driven the discussions on this thread. Eisinger's book gives a long-view context that's 
not possible in short email posts.

John       
    


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