Camera obscura

Anticipations of Photography. Notes on painting and photography in Russia in the second half of the 19th century

Natalya Gorlenko

Article: 
EXCLUSIVE PUBLICATIONS
Magazine issue: 
#3 2010 (28)

When in 1839 the world learned about the invention of photography, most artists did not think long before they recognized it as a purely scientific discovery. Few, if any, thought that photography would have an impact on the art of painting. Although the first photographs were the result of the collaboration between a scientist and an artist, and later many professional painters became photographers, and photography significantly influenced the art of painting, for a long time the artistic community was “opposed” to photography. However, if we look back at the state of painting prior to 1839, we can see a whole range of developments that seem to have broken the ground for the emergence of the new art.

Anticipations of Photography. Notes on painting and photography in Russia in the second half of the 19th century
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