Photographic Evangels Summary and Analysis

This chapter, the longest in the text, contains a fair amount of repetitive information presented in previous chapters. In addition, the chapter contains various quotations but refers little to concrete photographic examples. In 1839, photography was briefly attacked as something unnatural and disgraceful. By 1854, photography was an accepted part of modern life. Later, photography came to be viewed as an art, then as a high art, and today is esteemed as a modern high art. The chapter then presents several theories of art in brief detail, but concludes that none of them are particularly helpful and that most proved to be fads. In general, modern photography claims that the subject is irrelevant and that technique is the sum total of all the art in photography. Of course, others say this is not the case. The rigorous definition continues to elude...