The Photo Essay in Art History TeachingAuthor(s): William B. MillerSource: Art Journal, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Summer, 1961), p. 242Published by: College Art AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/774395 .

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THE PHOTO ESSAY IN ART HISTORY TEACHING THE PHOTO ESSAY IN ART HISTORY TEACHING

The search for ways to induce the student to perceive the art object is endless, and teachers of art history find that term papers all too of- ten present less the results of direct percep- tion of the art object and more the paraphras- ing (or worse) of available texts on the sub- ject. My search for term projects which give evidence as directly as possible of the student's perception of the art object has led to what I call the "Photo Essay".

The Photo Essay is the student's analysis of a work of architecture, using the camera as the principal tool. I have assigned the Photo Essay as an alternate project in courses in American Art, and as a required project in courses in the History of Architecture, both courses open to students who have taken no previous courses in art. The instructions ask the student to look carefully at a selected building, and then and there to begin to analyze is architectural or- ganization. Each time a discovery is made, a photograph is taken to record the perception. From the lectures in the course the students have become accustomed to seeing slides which present the whole building and prominent de- tails such as the entrance, and in color slides they have seen colors and textures of the build- ing materials, but the instructions for the proj- ect should remind students to consider these aspects of the building in their own analysis. It is mandatory that the interior of the build- ing be included in the photo-analysis.

For the presentation an introductory para- graph names and locates the building, gives the name of the architect-if known-and the date of the building. Here students need to be reminded that they are presenting an archi- tectural analysis and not a history of the build- ing and its inhabitants or its architect. Then follow the photographs arranged in a sequence to present the discovery and analysis which the student has made. Explanatory paragraphs accompany each photograph, but I warn stu- dents to avoid only identification and descrip- tion. The photographs should be the main car- rier of the essay. The instructions encourage neatness in the layout of the presentation, but no special format is required.

I assign this Photo Essay project during the first meeting of the course, so that students can plan to photograph architecture which is not in the immediate vicinity on week ends and during vacation, and so that the most favorable conditions of light and season for photograph- ing are available. The assignment is posted, to- gether with a list of buildings in the vicinity suitable for the project. The list is made up from architectural histories, local and state guides to historical buildings, and from my own familiarity with the architecture of the region. Back issues of architectural magazines are another source for the list, and I urge stu- dents to consult these magazines. I require that the student check with me on his selection before photographing, and this is simply to steer the student to architectual examples worth the effort. For historic houses-private or open to the public-I stand ready to supply the student with a letter of introduction, state-

The author teaches courses in the history of art at Colby College, Waterville, Maine. He has also taught at Amherst.

The search for ways to induce the student to perceive the art object is endless, and teachers of art history find that term papers all too of- ten present less the results of direct percep- tion of the art object and more the paraphras- ing (or worse) of available texts on the sub- ject. My search for term projects which give evidence as directly as possible of the student's perception of the art object has led to what I call the "Photo Essay".

The Photo Essay is the student's analysis of a work of architecture, using the camera as the principal tool. I have assigned the Photo Essay as an alternate project in courses in American Art, and as a required project in courses in the History of Architecture, both courses open to students who have taken no previous courses in art. The instructions ask the student to look carefully at a selected building, and then and there to begin to analyze is architectural or- ganization. Each time a discovery is made, a photograph is taken to record the perception. From the lectures in the course the students have become accustomed to seeing slides which present the whole building and prominent de- tails such as the entrance, and in color slides they have seen colors and textures of the build- ing materials, but the instructions for the proj- ect should remind students to consider these aspects of the building in their own analysis. It is mandatory that the interior of the build- ing be included in the photo-analysis.

For the presentation an introductory para- graph names and locates the building, gives the name of the architect-if known-and the date of the building. Here students need to be reminded that they are presenting an archi- tectural analysis and not a history of the build- ing and its inhabitants or its architect. Then follow the photographs arranged in a sequence to present the discovery and analysis which the student has made. Explanatory paragraphs accompany each photograph, but I warn stu- dents to avoid only identification and descrip- tion. The photographs should be the main car- rier of the essay. The instructions encourage neatness in the layout of the presentation, but no special format is required.

I assign this Photo Essay project during the first meeting of the course, so that students can plan to photograph architecture which is not in the immediate vicinity on week ends and during vacation, and so that the most favorable conditions of light and season for photograph- ing are available. The assignment is posted, to- gether with a list of buildings in the vicinity suitable for the project. The list is made up from architectural histories, local and state guides to historical buildings, and from my own familiarity with the architecture of the region. Back issues of architectural magazines are another source for the list, and I urge stu- dents to consult these magazines. I require that the student check with me on his selection before photographing, and this is simply to steer the student to architectual examples worth the effort. For historic houses-private or open to the public-I stand ready to supply the student with a letter of introduction, state-

The author teaches courses in the history of art at Colby College, Waterville, Maine. He has also taught at Amherst.

Two Photo Essays: upper pair shows Old North Church, Boston; lower pair, Community Church, Uni- tarian, White Plains, N.Y., Jules Gregory, architect.

ment about the project, and request for per- mission to take pictures inside. For such houses I suggest that the student make arrangements well in advance of appearing on the doorstep camera in hand. (I have a list of houses which thus far have forbidden photography inside.) However, churches, town halls and other pub- lic buildings, shopping centers, banks, schools and museums (the Guggenheim is a favorite and photogenic) all provide suitable material for this project. During the past year I have received Photo Essays on buildings in Canada and in Bermuda.

Although there are always some pleasant surprises, high quality in the photography can- not be expected in a project of this sort. I suggest that the "jumbo" size snapshot is ade- quate for the purpose of the Photo Essay. Some students have used a Land Polaroid cam- era, others have submitted color transparencies or black and white enlargements. No one has yet made a movie although I would accept that, too. Most students have a camera or can borrow one. In any case I have encountered no difficulty with students unable to take their pictures somehow. An article in the April 1959 issue of the Architectural Forum by G. E. Kidder Smith provides some excellent sug- gestions on photographing architecture. Natu- rally magazine illustrations, picture post cards or professionally made photographs are dis- allowed for this project. If the student is mak- ing an analysis of the building and aims his camera at the points of his discovery and perception, something of it will show in the photograph.

The combination of taking pictures and writ- ing an analysis produces ready evidence of whether or not the student has seen forms and spaces, textures and materials, and has sensed the architectural character of the whole. The Photo Essay is gratifying to both students and instructor, I find. The students acquire a near "proprietary" interest in their building; they remember it and buildings of the same type or by the same architect as their written exam- inations and conversations with me attest. And it is an assignment which is quite unlike any- thing else they do in college courses. Yet by the emphasis on analysis the Photo Essay falls in no way short of the intellectual rigor sought in the college curriculum.

-WILLIAM B. MILLER

Two Photo Essays: upper pair shows Old North Church, Boston; lower pair, Community Church, Uni- tarian, White Plains, N.Y., Jules Gregory, architect.

ment about the project, and request for per- mission to take pictures inside. For such houses I suggest that the student make arrangements well in advance of appearing on the doorstep camera in hand. (I have a list of houses which thus far have forbidden photography inside.) However, churches, town halls and other pub- lic buildings, shopping centers, banks, schools and museums (the Guggenheim is a favorite and photogenic) all provide suitable material for this project. During the past year I have received Photo Essays on buildings in Canada and in Bermuda.

Although there are always some pleasant surprises, high quality in the photography can- not be expected in a project of this sort. I suggest that the "jumbo" size snapshot is ade- quate for the purpose of the Photo Essay. Some students have used a Land Polaroid cam- era, others have submitted color transparencies or black and white enlargements. No one has yet made a movie although I would accept that, too. Most students have a camera or can borrow one. In any case I have encountered no difficulty with students unable to take their pictures somehow. An article in the April 1959 issue of the Architectural Forum by G. E. Kidder Smith provides some excellent sug- gestions on photographing architecture. Natu- rally magazine illustrations, picture post cards or professionally made photographs are dis- allowed for this project. If the student is mak- ing an analysis of the building and aims his camera at the points of his discovery and perception, something of it will show in the photograph.

The combination of taking pictures and writ- ing an analysis produces ready evidence of whether or not the student has seen forms and spaces, textures and materials, and has sensed the architectural character of the whole. The Photo Essay is gratifying to both students and instructor, I find. The students acquire a near "proprietary" interest in their building; they remember it and buildings of the same type or by the same architect as their written exam- inations and conversations with me attest. And it is an assignment which is quite unlike any- thing else they do in college courses. Yet by the emphasis on analysis the Photo Essay falls in no way short of the intellectual rigor sought in the college curriculum.

-WILLIAM B. MILLER

Drawing Society Plans Publications and Grants

The National Committee of the Drawing Society announced in June a six-year program of exhibitions, books on leading American draftsmen and gifts to the drawing collections of American museums. The Society was founded last fall to stimulate public interest in the art of drawing and encourage high standards of draftsmanship in the United States.

James Biddle, head of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has been named president of the Society. Other officers: Bruce Duff Hooton, art critic and editor of the magazine, Drawing, executive Director; Robert B. Ross, collector and Wall Street attorney, sec- retary, Cecil Backus, collector and investment counselor, treasurer; and Wilder Green, As- sistant Director of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, Vice President.

Members of the National Committee of the Drawing Society include directors and curators of 23 major museums in 15 cities.

New York museums represented on the com- mittee are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Frick Collection, the Brooklyn Museum, the Pierpont Morgan Li- brary, Cooper Union and the New York Public Library.

Other Eastern museums represented include the National Gallery of Art in Washington; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Houghton Library, also in Cambridge; the Bal- timore Museum of Art; the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Massachusetts; and the Wesleyan University Print Collection in Middletown, Connecticut.

Midwestern and Western museums repre- sented on the committee are the Detroit Institute of Arts; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Cleve- land Museum of Art; the Cincinnati Art Mu- seum; the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; the Houston Museum of Fine Arts; the Mills Col- lege Art Gallery in Oakland, California; and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.

The program of the Society was inaugurated by a series of grants to the Metropolitan Mu- seum, the Addison Gallery, the Detroit Insti- tute of Arts, the Houston Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum and the City Art Mu- seum of Saint Louis for the purchase of draw- ings. Further grants will be made to other museums.

The Drawing Society's first publication, an illustrated monograph on the drawings of Ed- win Dickinson, will be published this fall jointly with Yale University Press. Later publi- cations include a series of monographs on out- standing American and European draftsmen and a magazine on contemporary and old master drawing.

Over the next six years, the Society plans a series of exhibitions collectively titled, "The Uses of Drawing." The First exhibition, "Draw- ings for Painting and Sculpture," is to circulate among several United States museums. Later exhibitions in the series will deal with the function of drawing in stage design, illustration, architecture, fashion and decoration.

Drawing Society Plans Publications and Grants

The National Committee of the Drawing Society announced in June a six-year program of exhibitions, books on leading American draftsmen and gifts to the drawing collections of American museums. The Society was founded last fall to stimulate public interest in the art of drawing and encourage high standards of draftsmanship in the United States.

James Biddle, head of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has been named president of the Society. Other officers: Bruce Duff Hooton, art critic and editor of the magazine, Drawing, executive Director; Robert B. Ross, collector and Wall Street attorney, sec- retary, Cecil Backus, collector and investment counselor, treasurer; and Wilder Green, As- sistant Director of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, Vice President.

Members of the National Committee of the Drawing Society include directors and curators of 23 major museums in 15 cities.

New York museums represented on the com- mittee are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Frick Collection, the Brooklyn Museum, the Pierpont Morgan Li- brary, Cooper Union and the New York Public Library.

Other Eastern museums represented include the National Gallery of Art in Washington; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Houghton Library, also in Cambridge; the Bal- timore Museum of Art; the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Massachusetts; and the Wesleyan University Print Collection in Middletown, Connecticut.

Midwestern and Western museums repre- sented on the committee are the Detroit Institute of Arts; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Cleve- land Museum of Art; the Cincinnati Art Mu- seum; the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; the Houston Museum of Fine Arts; the Mills Col- lege Art Gallery in Oakland, California; and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.

The program of the Society was inaugurated by a series of grants to the Metropolitan Mu- seum, the Addison Gallery, the Detroit Insti- tute of Arts, the Houston Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum and the City Art Mu- seum of Saint Louis for the purchase of draw- ings. Further grants will be made to other museums.

The Drawing Society's first publication, an illustrated monograph on the drawings of Ed- win Dickinson, will be published this fall jointly with Yale University Press. Later publi- cations include a series of monographs on out- standing American and European draftsmen and a magazine on contemporary and old master drawing.

Over the next six years, the Society plans a series of exhibitions collectively titled, "The Uses of Drawing." The First exhibition, "Draw- ings for Painting and Sculpture," is to circulate among several United States museums. Later exhibitions in the series will deal with the function of drawing in stage design, illustration, architecture, fashion and decoration.

ART JOURNAL XX 4 242 ART JOURNAL XX 4 242

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.128 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 20:43:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions