Library Calendar

The ancient Greeks first discovered the principles of the camera obscura sometime between the IV and V centuries B.C. but photography as we know it was invented in the XIX century. The first “photograph” was taken by Joseph Niepce in 1814, however, it wasn’t until 1839, when Louis Daguerre and William Henry Fox Talbot simultaneously released completely different processes for capturing and holding an image, that we entered the age of photography.

Today, photography is a language that everybody speaks. We walk around with cameras in our pockets, in the form of our smartphones. Photography is the medium of our times; we instinctively understand and relate to photographic images, while contemporary paintings often require some kind of explanation and context.

How did we get to this point in less than 200 years?
We’ll look at the history of photography through 10 pictures (and a few asides and detours), running from 1839 through to cutting-edge contemporary work. Through this tour, we’ll examine some of the key issues that photography has dealt with, and get to know some of the most important artists who have worked with the medium.