1A Final Exam Study Guide 2019

Multiple choice tests are not always as easy as they appear. A few general tips for
this one:

-You have plenty of time to complete the exam. Read the questions and answers
slowly- do not rush.

-Choose the best answer. There may be two or more answers you think are possibly
correct. There is only one best answer.

-Even if you do not recall exactly which may be the right answer from what you've
studied, taking a moment to reflect on the general points made in the readings and
lectures may give you enough context to make a very good guess.

-I view the final exam as a learning opportunity that will help reinforce what you
have heard, seen and read in the class. As I value understanding of concepts more
than memorization of facts, the questions and answers are usually more "wordy"
than you might be used to seeing on multiple choice tests. Again, take your time to
make sure you understand what the questions are asking for.

Lecture 1. Photography early and late

Look at the image notes and your own lecture notes to remind yourselves about the
story of the invention of photography. Who made the first photograph? Who
invented the first commercially viable photographic process?

- Joseph Nicéphore Niépce and Louis Daguerre

Recall the discussion in class about the relationships between Visual Culture, Fine
Art Photography and Photography-as-Art.

Sekula and Baudelaire essays- one question each.

-What, according to Sekula, is "discourse"?

- A photograph is an utterance of some sort, that it carries or is, a

message.

- How would you sum up Baudelaire's attitude towards photography?

- art is the exact reproduction

Lecture 2. Documentary Photography

-lecture notes:
Review the categories of modes of documentary photography and the artists
associated with them.

-Rosler essay:

Recall the discussion in lecture of Jacob Riis' work. What is he best known for? Does
he have a book title that clearly describes his approach? (google him if you can't
remember)

- He used his photographic skills to bring about social reform to the

harshest neighborhoods in NYC and his book How the Other Half
Lives.

Recall both the Documentary and Photography Now lectures. Which artist made
work that was explicitly critical of the photo-documentary tradition's tendency to
make a spectacle of poverty? (clue- we read an essay by this person)

- Martha Rosler

Lecture 3. Surrealism and photography

-lecture notes:

Concentrate on my characterizations of surrealism and the historical sources from

which it drew its program.

Also, pay close attention to the section in my lecture notes in which I discuss in
Surrealist strategies of photographic presentation.

-Sontag essay:

Pay attention to Sontag's discussion of the history of documentary photography.

What kind of subjects do they seem to prefer?

- Photography has always been fascinated by social heights and lower

depths. Documentarists (as distinct from courtiers with cameras)
prefer the latter.

Look for Sontag's discussion of August Sander. According to Sontag, how is his
approach different from that of other documentary photographers?

- Sander’s social sample was unusually broad

Explore Sontag's observations on the relationship between Marxism and Surrealism.

Along with Marx, who was the other major public intellectual who was a primary
influence on the movement?
- Walter Benjamin
At the end of the essay, what does she claim to be the primary intention of
photographers marked by “the surrealist sensibility”?

- Suggest the vanity of even trying to understand the world and

instead propose that we collect it

From the lecture- pay attention to the Benjamin excerpt. Which techniques enable
photography to access the "optical unconscious"?

- The camera revels aspects of reality that register in our sense but
never quite get processes consciously.

Consider which surrealist photographers best epitomize the character of "the

flaneur".

- Eugene Atget, Baudelarie, benjamin

Lecture 4. Photomontage & The New Vision

-lecture notes:

Looking also at the lecture thumbnails and image notes, pay attention to the artists
who explored collage techniques in their paintings before the "invention" of
photomontage by Dadaists.

-Brik essay

Brik has issues with the way cameras are used in photographic and cinematographic
representation in most instances. Read the essay closely for his ideas to address this
problem. Should the camera be identified with the human eye or not?

- The photo-eye must create their own point of view and use it. They
must EXPAND not imitate the human eye.

-Stepanova essay:

Varvara Stepanova discusses a new set of options made available to artists through
the advent of mass media, and makes it clear these offer particularly exciting
challenges to artists working with cameras and associated technology. Pay close
attention to the two distinct ways Stepanova identifies for photographic images to
be used in this new communications environment (i.e. a first stage of photomontage,
followed by another).

- First stage was marked by the combination within a single picture of

diverse photographic fragments of different sizes.
- The second the emphasis shifted to the artist’s direct use of the
camera to produce series of pictures that record an immediate
reality.
 -lecture images and discussion:

Of the photographic artists discussed at length in the lecture, who best exemplified
Brik's idea of subverting photographic conventions?

Recall the character of John Heartfield's photomontage work from the mid- to late-
1930's.

- Hitler

Lecture 5. Conceptualism and photography

-lecture notes

Review my remarks on the genesis of Conceptualism as an artistic movement.

Where does it fit in the “timeline” of avant-garde artistic movements?

Recall the discussion of Visual Culture, Fine Art Photography and "Photography-as-
Art" from the lectures. Would it be safe to say that Conceptualism paved the way for
photographs to be accepted as artworks on an equal footing with other forms of
artistic production?

- yes

Is there an artist discussed in this lecture who can be equally associated with Pop
Art as well as Conceptualism?

- Andy Warhol

-Kelsey essay:

How does Kelsey characterize the attitude of early photo-conceptualist artists

towards prevailing artistic trends? Which particular stereotypes of the artistic
temperament do they seek to undermine?

- Conceptual artists playfully critiqued photographic conventions to

demystify both serious painting and serious photography.

Lecture 6. Postmodern Photography and the Pictures Generation

In my lecture I concentrate on the cultural and political contexts from which

postmodern photography and the "Pictures Generation" artists emerged. What is
most important here is to think about the mood of this environment and how this
shaped artistic practices. Was this a period that inspired optimism in artists? Pay
special attention to any mention of a specific art exhibition, and who organized it.
Also, what is the relationship, if any, between avant-garde movements and
postmodernism? Is postmodernism another avant-garde “ism”, or something else?

-Grundberg and Gauss essay:

In parallel with my remarks in lecture, Grundberg and Gauss discuss the links
between the general cultural attitudes of this period and its artistic production in
more specific terms. Early in the essay he mentions postmodernism's focus on the
instability of the subject (the "I" of identity). Pay special attention to this, and to
which artist he links this idea. Also think about the links between other hallmarks of
postmodern thought and specific artistic strategies employed by artists of this
period.

- Cindy Sherman
- Richard prince, Robert Mapplethorpe, thorne-thomsen, witkin

Lecture 7. The Photographic Tableau

-lecture notes:

Pay attention to the roles of particular critics, curators and artists in the
construction of a theoretical basis for the Photographic Tableau. For which artist is a
conceptual understanding of the history of western painting most important?

Consider also philosophical discussions that may apply to the work of Andreas
Gursky. How can Burke's idea of the sublime be applied to this work?

-essay excerpt: Chevrier

Review this and look out for how Chevrier characterizes the Tableau form, and for
why Chevrier thinks this is a useful idea for artists and critics.
- It is useful because it actualizes the recorded image and accords it
the visual authority of a frontal place, at the level of the human body;
it contradicts the frenetic and blind circulation of media images and
it gives to the photographic image the autonomy of a work of art.
- Tableau means a demarcated frontal plane. Today, photographers
can work with the tableau form to structure their work without
necessarily having to imitate painting.

Lecture 8. Photography Now

-lecture notes
Concentrate on the lecture notes. Pay close attention to the commentary on Mitchell,
Baudelaire, Daguerre and Delaroche. Also try to follow my outline of the differences
between photography considered as material practice vs. as social discourse.

Recall as well Walter Benjamin's commentary on the relationship between

aesthetics and war.

Recall the artists discussed. With which photographic traditions can they most
readily be associated? Is there one whose work suggests a possible future for the
documentary tradition?

I talk about photography's "dual nature" in terms of competing discussions about

"what it is" versus "how it's used". What are the two terms I used several times to
describe this dichotomy?

-Steyerl essay

Focus on the characteristics of the "poor image" as described early on.

- the poor image is a copy in motion. Its quality is bad, its resolution is
substandard. As it accelerates, it deteriorates. It is a ghost of an
image, a preview, a thumbnail, an errant idea, an itinerant image
distributed for free, squeezed through slow digital connections,
compressed, reproduced, ripped, remixed, as well as copied and
pasted into other channels of distribution.

And finally, I ask a question that asks you to synthesize what you may have learned
from this half of 1A. There is no one source for the answer:

Consider and reflect on how photography has been discussed over the past five
weeks. What are the forces primarily responsible for shaping photography's
character?