Nationalities and Universalism in the Early Historiography of Photography (1843–1857)

Abstract

This article considers the fluctuation, in early commentary and historiography of photography (1843–1857), between the recurring expression of nationalities as criteria of photographic practice and an aspiration to regard the new medium as a promising universal language. Several key texts from the period are examined, including David Brewster's and Elizabeth Eastlake's landmark essays, as well as reports from the juries of the Expositions of 1851 and 1855. Discussions of photographic nationalities appear to have been prominent in the period, and those authors who staked universalist claims for photography may have been doing so in reaction to excesses of patriotism. This mostly Western European discussion needs, ultimately, to be read in the context of the larger globalising function of photography in the nineteenth century.

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