Beth Dungan, independent curator and postdoctoral fellow, University of California, Berkeley
Traditions of portraiture, landscape, and commemoration of historical or current events were central to the discipline of painting long before photography’s emergence in the 1840s. Since that time, however, photographers have put their own spins on these traditions, taking up, reworking, resisting, and elaborating upon them in new and unique ways. Using SFMOMA’s current photography exhibitions as case studies, this course will explore the ways in which photography relates to and utilizes art historical and painterly traditions, while also considering its contextual influences. Meets Thursdays, February 21 – March 20, 2008.