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| Heinrich Kühn Lotte 1907 autochrome Art Institute of Chicago |
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| attributed to Frank Eugene Emmeline Stieglitz 1907 autochrome Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Alfred Stieglitz Frank Eugene seated at table 1907 autochrome Art Institute of Chicago |
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| W. Edwin Gledhill Carolyn Even Gledhill 1910 chromogenic print Art Institute of Chicago |
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| André Kertész Paris - Place de la Concorde 1925 gelatin silver print Art Institute of Chicago |
A History of Photography
Prodigies flooded the market – the magnetic corset,
The one-twist tooth extractor, the camera.
At the exhibitions only the occasional
Yokel, up from the south, gaped in disbelief.
The church was not in principle opposed
To such a machine. Baudelaire granted its
Historical worth. Now, great-grandparents
Could be scrutinized, lost courtyards found,
Scenic postcards sent. Not great things,
But something, nonetheless. A few professors
Hoped that the arrested moment might explain
To men mutability's shrewd devices.
Times would become richer, the human race
More meditative. Albums accumulated;
Robbers were apprehended by alert,
Newspaper-scanning citizens; rhetoric fizzled.
A sprinkling of adventuresome sons became
Photographers, another sort of profession,
Self-taught and self-employed. "I am not
A mechanic," more than one was forced to shout.
Reality, like a dumb beast, yawned.
You saw them with their apparatuses
Roaming the quays, the moors, the poor quarters,
The parliaments. There could be, the wits
Explained, no events without photographers.
Still, who could argue with modern life;
And for every locomotive there was
Relief to be found in some melancholic stroller,
Some Sunday morning wedding, some frolicsome
Roué. No photographer (the
Psychologists noted) had ever despaired
Although a few had to be artists and speak
Of subtleties that embarrassed the unimproved
Eye. Yet everyone agreed even they
Were honest sorts, content to display their illuminations
On walls, content to lap up the world like so many
Warm-tongued cats. Mom smiled, Dad winked, the camera
Whose omnipotence the reviewers found "refreshing" blinked.
– Baron Wormser (1981)
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| André Kertész Paris - Café du Dome 1925 gelatin silver print Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Lotte Stam-Beese Portrait of Lis Beyer-Volger (at the Bauhaus) ca. 1927 gelatin silver print Art Institute of Chicago |
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| André Kertész Paris - Actress Jacquie Monier in the Bois de Boulogne 1929 gelatin silver print Art Institute of Chicago |
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| James Thrall Soby Untitled ca. 1930 gelatin silver print Art Institute of Chicago |
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| André Kertész Paris - chez Kisling 1933 gelatin silver print Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Domenico Riccardo Peretti Griva La Gabbietta ca. 1933 bromoil transfer print Minneapolis Institute of Art |
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| Béla Kalman Untitled 1935 gelatin silver print Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Richard Nickel Untitled (Allegheny County Courthouse) 1950 gelatin silver print Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Werner Bischof Priests of the Modern Neiji Temple 1951 gelatin silver print Art Institute of Chicago |