Module Directory

The year 1839 saw the birth of photography and the beginning of a revolution in the way people saw themselves, their nations, and their world. In this module, we will explore not only the evolution of the medium over the 175 years since its invention, but also the creation of the field within the discipline of art history.

The module will consider photography in relation to the democratisation of portraiture; the development of new scientific methods and systems of surveillance; the photograph's change in status from document to artwork; the tension between photography and modernist art; the shifting definition of photojournalism; and the medium's role in the field of postmodern art.

The aims of this module are:

• To develop a greater understanding of key developments in the history of European and American photography.


• To introduce students to issues related to some of the main developments in European and American photograph since its invention.


• To raise students’ awareness of different methods for analysing the medium of photography and its personal, documentary and artistic uses.


• To encourage debate about the place of photography in society.


• To familiarise students with specialised debates in past and recent literature around the interpretation of photographs.


• To encourage student awareness of different methods of approaching the discipline through analysis of chosen texts.


• To stimulate students to develop skills in communication through assignments and seminars.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to have:

1. A sound grasp of the history of photography.


2. The ability to interpret photographs and texts based on broad and comparative knowledge of the appropriate historical and interpretative contexts.


3. The confidence to subject the artworks and texts studied to critical analysis and interpretation.


4. The ability to communicate complex ideas concerning representation, medium-specificity, modernity and postmodernity.


5. Insight into the different methods of art-historical investigation that have been explored with reference to European and American photography.


6. Experience in textual analysis relevant to works and theoretical debates from this period.


7. An ability to discuss the history of photography and to reflect critically upon this history through seminar discussion, a coursework essay of 2,750 words, a slide test and a 72-hour research paper.

Skills for your Professional Life

By the end of the module, students should also have acquired a set of transferable skills, and in particular be able to:

1. Define the task in which they are engaged and exclude what is irrelevant.


2. Seek and organise the most relevant discussions and sources of information.


3. Process a large volume of diverse and sometimes conflicting arguments.


4. Compare and evaluate different arguments and assess the limitations of their own position or procedure.


5. Write and present verbally a succinct and precise account of positions, arguments, and their presuppositions and implications.


6. Be sensitive to the positions of others and communicate their own views in ways that are accessible to them.


7. Think 'laterally' and creatively (i.e., to explore interesting connections and possibilities, and to present these clearly rather than as vague hunches).


8. Maintain intellectual flexibility and revise their own position based on feedback.


9. Think critically and constructively.

This module will be delivered via:

• One lecture per week.
• One seminar per week.

Week 21 is Reading Week.