“Photography, Publishing, and the Press: A Cultural History of Image Producers”

In recent years, a dynamic field of research has emerged, offering a way to understand photography through the lens of image producers. This approach has made it possible to grasp the scope of photography as a cultural industry by analyzing—in conjunction with and alongside the analysis of the objects produced—its economic, social, and cultural dimensions. The circulation of images across various published media and their mass dissemination reshape social and cultural relationships and contribute to the formation of our contemporary imaginations. Rooted in cultural and material history, the proposed methodology incorporates the analysis and precise documentation of images as a prerequisite for their use as sources. Interdisciplinary in nature, it brings together the economic, social, and political history of photography. Through case studies, the course will also examine professional models, photographers, camera operators, photo and press agencies, postcard publishers, printers, and others.

→ Attend the presentation by Audrey Leblanc, winner of the Research and Creation Support Program 2019 from the Institut pour la photographie, ORTF and Photography  along with Geneviève Profit, historian, archivist, and curator of the collections on culture and the fine arts for the 19th and 20th centuries at the National Archives.

Center for Art History and Theory
National Institute of Art History
Rotonde Building. Offices 140, 141, 142
2 rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris

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Photograph: Feature story “Beyond the Screen: The News Program’s Photo Department in Cognacq-Jay,” broadcast on September 9, 1963; Maguy Viard, archivist for television news © Bernard Allemane, INA, internal photo archive