Photo Archives V. The Paradigm of Objectivity

Photographic reproductions of works of art and other research objects have long been considered neutral documents capable of supporting the research methodologies of art history and related disciplines. The introduction of digital imaging saw the adoption of the same model, in that digital copies were presumed closer to the originals.

Today, the neutrality of photography has been deconstructed; nevertheless, the rhetoric of objectivity continues to shape the uses of analog and digital photographs, which are deemed "evidence," even if one is aware of the possibility of technical manipulation and the influence of social conventions. Similarly, there is little awareness that archives are far from neutral guardians of memory.

This symposium explores the relationships among photographic reproduction technologies, archival practices, and concepts of objectivity, with an interdisciplinary outlook and a focus on art history. It is part of the Photo Archives conference series, launched by the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Max-Planck-Institut, and dedicated to the interaction between photography, photographic archives and academic disciplines.

Organization: Anne Blecksmith (The Huntington), Costanza Caraffa (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz - Max-Planck-Institut), and Tracey Schuster (Getty Research Institute).


PROGRAM

Thursday, February 25, 2016
Venue: Museum Lecture Hall, The Getty Center

9:00 a.m.
COFFEE AND REGISTRATION

10:00 a.m.
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
Thomas W. Gaehtgens (Getty Research Institute)
Costanza Caraffa (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut)

10:20 a.m.
SESSION 1: PHOTOGRAPHIC OBJECTIVITY?
Chair: Costanza Caraffa (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut)

OPENING KEYNOTE
Shared Vocabularies of Modernity: Photography, Archives, and the Paradigm of Objectivity
Joan M. Schwartz (Queen’s University, Ontario)

11:00 a.m. COFFEE BREAK


11:15 a.m.
SESSION 1, CONTINUED

In Search of a True Likeness: Sir William Stirling Maxwell and the Photography of Art
Hilary Macartney (University of Glasgow)

Documenting the War: Life Magazine's Coverage of World War II
Melissa Renn (Harvard Business School)

12:40 p.m. DISCUSSION

1:00 p.m. LUNCH


2:15 p.m.
SESSION 2: USING PHOTOGRAPHS
Chair: Virgina Heckert (J. Paul Getty Museum)

An Archeology of Seeing: Toward a Unified Theory of User Perspectives on Digitized Photographs
Paul Conway (University of Michigan)

Personal and Institutional Photo Archives: Changing Subjectivities
Glenn Willumson (University of Florida)

3:30 p.m. DISCUSSION

4:00 p.m. RECEPTION


Friday, February 26, 2016
Venue: Robert C. Ritchie Auditorium, The Huntington

9:00 a.m.
COFFEE AND REGISTRATION

9:30 a.m.
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
Laura Stalker (The Huntington)
Jennifer Watts (The Huntington)

9:40 a.m.
SESSION 3: SERIES AND ARCHIVES
Chair: Anne Blecksmith (The Huntington)

The (Not So Private) Photo Archives - The Photography of Art and Series of Popular Gallery Albums in the 1860s
Friederike Maria Kitschen (Gerda Henkel Stiftung)

To Make a Case: Isabella Stewart Gardner's Archival Installations at Fenway Court
Casey Riley (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum)

11:00 a.m.
COFFEE BREAK


11:20 a.m.
SESSION 3, CONTINUED

Photographic Albums as Archives of Palestinian History
Issam Nassar (Illinois State University)

12:00 p.m. DISCUSSION

12:20 p.m. LUNCH


2:00 p.m.
SESSION 4: PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE?
Chair: Jennifer Watts (The Huntington)

The Photograph as Historical Evidence in the Digital Age
Martha A. Sandweiss (Princeton University)

Accidental Archives: The Elusive Visual Image in the Writing of History
Jennifer Tucker (Wesleyan University)

3:20 p.m. COFFEE BREAK


3:30 p.m.
SESSION 4, CONTINUED

CLOSING KEYNOTE
The View from Everywhere: Objectivity and the Photographic Archive
Kelley Wilder (De Montfort University, Leicester)

4:15 p.m. DISCUSSION

4:45 p.m. CLOSING REMARKS


To register for the symposium please consult the websites of The Getty Research Institute and The Huntington.