{"id":5,"date":"2017-03-08T03:20:10","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T03:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/arth310brown\/?page_id=5"},"modified":"2017-05-04T18:03:22","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T18:03:22","slug":"exhibition","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/arth310brown\/exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Catalogue:\u00a0Introduction<\/h1>\n
\n

\u201cWe must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amazing change in our very notion of art.\u201d1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\n
\"James<\/a>
James Duffield Harding, Lithograph of a Classical Ruin at Pompeii, Italy, 1828, Albion Prints<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the dawn of the 19th-century, lithography was at its height. A relativity new technological advancement, it allowed for newly excavated sites in the Mediterranean to be reconstructed in color, on paper, and reproduced in large quantities. During this time, people relied\u00a0on these reproductions of\u00a0masterpieces of Western and Ancient art because\u00a0the art itself was scattered throughout Europe or private galleries. In order to see the works in person, one could take the Grand Tour, but this type of travel abroad was only accessible to the very elite. Due to this, a heavy responsibility was placed on lithography to\u00a0justly represent art. However, lithography’s days were numbered for it soon gave way to an even more sophisticated means of replication: Photography. Only a few decades after its invention, lithography was soon surpasses by this new invention.2<\/a><\/sup><\/a> The photographic process could for the first time bring to light a perfect replica of reality.3<\/a><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Giorgio<\/a>
Giorgio Sommer (Germany), The Temple of Fortuna Augusta (The Temple of Fortuna Augusta, Pompeii), 1870, Hand-colored albumen silver print<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This new medium was introduced to the public in the late 1830s by Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre and William Henry Fox Talbot. Even in the beginning, experts raved about the new advantages of this medium. Francois Arago noticed its\u00a0contributions to the practice of archaeology, specifically\u00a0the merits of daguerreotypes for\u00a0field documentation, \u201cEveryone will imagine the extraordinary advantages which could have been derived from so exact and rapid a means of reproduction during the expedition to Egypt; everybody will realize that had we had photography in 1798 we would possess today faithful pictorial records of that which the learned world is forever deprived of.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this new medium, came the dawn of a new field\u00a0of study: Archeology. Archaeology, like photography, is both art and science, where one takes a journey through time to\u00a0bring\u00a0history to the surface in incremental moments. During this formative period, each area of study made major contributions to the other. Photography presented itself as a superior tool for depicting resurrected civilizations, ancient cities, and works of art seen for the first time in a millennia. The circulation of images of these sites, spurred archaeological research and\u00a0the desire for people to visit these places and to experience their rediscovery. The art historian Adolf Michaelis understood, what was for many, a revelation at the time\u00a0on the contributions of photography to archaeological achievements,\u00a0“With the help of photography, we have learned to see anew.\u201d4<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Photography transformed\u00a0archaeology from an innocent curiosity to a self-governed\u00a0discipline.\u00a0The camera, most importantly, provided a tool to organize and interpret the new sources of historical information. For scientists, the new faith of science was that “seeing was believing”.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Daguerre and Talbot\u00a0could not have foreseen photography’s\u00a0application to the study of ancient art and architecture. Unparalleled in their accuracy and artistry, in the first four decades of the new medium, photographers documented groundbreaking archaeological excavations. 6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\"Giorgio<\/a>
Giorgio Sommer, Giorgio Sommer with his Stereo Camera in Front of the Basilica Pesto, 1870, Naples, Vintage Albumen Print<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the early 1840s, the first photographers visited the cultural and historic sites of the ancient Mediterranean. They came with their large cameras, mounted on wooden tripods, and the many chemicals necessary to sensitize and develop images\u00a0on the spot. Many of these photographers made a name for themselves, taking photographs for the expanding tourist industry\u00a0or personal interest. The medium was not\u00a0immediately used for excavation documentation by archaeologists. The first archeologists to use photography primarily for documentation were\u00a0the Directors of Excavations at Pompeii: Giuseppe Fiorelli, Vittorio Spinazzola\u00a0<\/strong>and Amedeo Maiuri.<\/p>\n

In the later 20th century, the extensive use of photography at Oplontis by Stanley Jashemski played an important role in recording excavations at Oplontis in the 1960s. A physicist, he documentation of his wife’s work, Wilhelmina Jashemski, as well as excavations on the site. The archive of his photographs\u00a0has since played\u00a0an important role\u00a0in the preservation of the site.<\/p>\n

As the camera became cheaper and more\u00a0accessible to the public, the medium has become a part of our daily lives. Think of how today we\u00a0photograph on our cell phones. Thus, the ‘Photographer’ as a famous personality at these ancient sites has dwindled. The\u00a0rivalry between Art and Science that Daguerre and Fox Talbot began has progressed to the point where photography has expanded into\u00a0different fields of study, such as, ancient studies, art history, the fine arts, computer science, physics, and it is even used by NASA on robots on Mars and\u00a0the International Space Station. However, the medium continues to be an integral tool for archaeologists for recording and preserving ancient sites and antiquities.\u00a0The work of archaeologists and conservationists has also been enhanced by the advancement of technology\u00a0with the use of infra-red photography, 3D laser scan technology, spectrographic analysis, x-ray diffraction, high-resolution digital cameras, three-dimensional model through photogrammetry, and sophisticated computer technology, as well as the tiny camera on your iPhone.7<\/a><\/sup> The medium has come a long way and continues to grow and be an integral\u00a0tool for archaeologists and artists\u00a0alike.<\/p>\n

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Next\u00a0\u2192<\/a><\/h2>\n

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  1. \u00a0Paul Val\u00e9ry from Pi\u00e8ces sur l’art, \u201cLe Conquete de l’ubiquit\u00e9,\u201d in 1931.\u00a0Benjamin, Walter.\u00a0The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction<\/i>. United States: Prism Key Press, 2010. 1. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. \u00a0Bergmann, Bettina.\u00a0Returns to Pompeii: Interior space and decoration documented and revised 18th-20th century<\/em>. Stockholm 2016. p. 186-7. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. \u00a0Benjamin, Walter.\u00a0The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction<\/i>. United States: Prism Key Press, 2010. 5. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  4. \u00a0Szegedy-Maszak, Andrew.\u00a0Antiquity and photography: early views of ancient Mediterranean sites<\/em>. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005. 39. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  5. \u00a0Ibid.\u00a042. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  6. \u00a0Ibid. 41. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  7. “Archaeology.” Pompeii and Herculaneum Revision. Accessed March 22, 2017. http:\/\/pompeiiandherculaneumcc.weebly.com\/archaeology.html. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Catalogue:\u00a0Introduction \u201cWe must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an…<\/p>\n

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