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Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible, 1840-1900
A fascinating look at photography’s impact on science and popular culture
Brought to Light invites readers to step back to a time when photography, X-rays, and movies were new, when forays into the world beneath the skin or the realm beyond our everyday vision captivated scientists and the public alike. In this book, accounts of scientific experimentation blend with stories of showmanship to reveal how developments in 19th-century technology could enlighten as well as frighten and amaze. Through a series of 200 vintage images—produced by photographers, scientists, and amateur inventors—this book ultimately traces the rise of popular science. The images demonstrate early experiments with microscopes, telescopes, electricity and magnetism, motion studies, X-rays and radiation, and spirit photography. We learn how these pictures circulated among the public, whether through the press, world’s fairs, or theaters. What started out as scientific progress, however, often took on the trappings of magic and superstition, as photography was enlisted to offer visual evidence of clairvoyance, spirits, and other occult influences. With beautifully reproduced plates and engaging narratives, this book embodies the aesthetic pleasures and excitement of the tale it tells.
Published in association with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Exhibition San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (October 11, 2008 – January 4, 2009) Albertina Museum, Vienna (March 20 – June 6, 2009)
Brought to Light invites readers to step back to a time when photography, X-rays, and movies were new, when forays into the world beneath the skin or the realm beyond our everyday vision captivated scientists and the public alike. In this book, accounts of scientific experimentation blend with stories of showmanship to reveal how developments in 19th-century technology could enlighten as well as frighten and amaze. Through a series of 200 vintage images—produced by photographers, scientists, and amateur inventors—this book ultimately traces the rise of popular science. The images demonstrate early experiments with microscopes, telescopes, electricity and magnetism, motion studies, X-rays and radiation, and spirit photography. We learn how these pictures circulated among the public, whether through the press, world’s fairs, or theaters. What started out as scientific progress, however, often took on the trappings of magic and superstition, as photography was enlisted to offer visual evidence of clairvoyance, spirits, and other occult influences. With beautifully reproduced plates and engaging narratives, this book embodies the aesthetic pleasures and excitement of the tale it tells.
Published in association with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Exhibition San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (October 11, 2008 – January 4, 2009) Albertina Museum, Vienna (March 20 – June 6, 2009)
216 pages, Hardcover
First published November 25, 2008
74 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 28, 2021
This exhibition catalogue serves a nice double purpose: a quick and approachable entry into the history of (scientific) photography in the 19th century, and a great coffee table picture book. The introductory essays are short but snappy, whilst still being thought-provoking (although I did not appreciate the very faint, pale green font for the footnotes - not reader-friendly in the slightest). The plates are beautiful and are nicely contextualised through the complimentary essays. I'm sure I'll occasionally return to those pictures in the future.
August 20, 2016
Incredible. Photos we'd probably consider avant-garde even today were being made right in the footsteps of Daguerre and Fox Talbot in the early 1840s. The book includes some of the amazing X-ray images made by Henri Van Heurck, Joseph Jougla, and the Viennese scientist Josef Maria Eder, all active in the 1890s. Really a gripping artistic counterpart to the excavations of the human psyche going on in Vienna around the time that Freud and Jung were getting their start. Van Heurck's 1896 X-ray photo of an ibis mummy looks like a sketch for a Klimt painting.
Also enjoyed the early photos of lightning and electricity, and Louis Darget's images of dreams and thoughts. Darget wrapped sensitized photo plates in opaque black paper and stuck them on people's foreheads while they slept (or looked at celestial atlases... or played the piano while gazing at a portrait of Beethoven...) Dream-eagles and spirit faces, thought-sparks and planets with satellites emerged.
Interesting to see both materialists and spiritualists use photography as a "scientific" method and medium here, at a time when the big debate about scientific materialism and the reality of the spirit was really taking off.
Wild stuff, from both sides of the Atlantic.
Also enjoyed the early photos of lightning and electricity, and Louis Darget's images of dreams and thoughts. Darget wrapped sensitized photo plates in opaque black paper and stuck them on people's foreheads while they slept (or looked at celestial atlases... or played the piano while gazing at a portrait of Beethoven...) Dream-eagles and spirit faces, thought-sparks and planets with satellites emerged.
Interesting to see both materialists and spiritualists use photography as a "scientific" method and medium here, at a time when the big debate about scientific materialism and the reality of the spirit was really taking off.
Wild stuff, from both sides of the Atlantic.
November 17, 2014
Examining the early history of photography, this book elaborates on the correlation between that media and science, especially when used in conjunction with telescopes and microscopes. It shows how the camera could be used to augment scientific study and, conversely, how science aided in the further development of the field of photography. There is also a look into x-rays and their influence on medicine and the public psyche.
It is mentioned in the book that some people had an aversion to cameras as they felt the availability of the instrument to the general public was cause for concern for individual privacy. Can you imagine how those people would feel today when everyone with a cell phone can just click away at a moment's notice?
Through the text and many photographs and x-rays from the mid-1880's to the first decade of the 20th century we get to glimpse how this new field enhanced knowledge.
It is mentioned in the book that some people had an aversion to cameras as they felt the availability of the instrument to the general public was cause for concern for individual privacy. Can you imagine how those people would feel today when everyone with a cell phone can just click away at a moment's notice?
Through the text and many photographs and x-rays from the mid-1880's to the first decade of the 20th century we get to glimpse how this new field enhanced knowledge.
July 20, 2022
Der Beitrag von Tom Gunning hatte so wenig Quellen, da kann ich ihm gar nicht glauben, dass das alles so passiert ist. Habe die großen Bilder geliebt
May 20, 2010
Beautifully presented prints from from an exhibit in San Francisco of early photographic images using the technology circa 1840-1900 to portray scientific subjects. There are sepia toned images of the planets and the universe, prints of snowflakes and diatoms as photographed through microscopes, famous motion studies and x-ray images taken of various objects including a six fingered man and the leg of a man complete with his boots.
Subject aside, many of the prints are artistically provocative.
I found it amazing to consider that in less than 20 years similar technology would be used to prove Einstein's theories using photographic evidence obtained during a solar eclipse.
The essays included in the book provide their own kind illumination.
Subject aside, many of the prints are artistically provocative.
I found it amazing to consider that in less than 20 years similar technology would be used to prove Einstein's theories using photographic evidence obtained during a solar eclipse.
The essays included in the book provide their own kind illumination.
February 7, 2013
this incredible exhibit was one that you couldn't go to only once and the book is as excellent of a documentation one can get without having an opportunity to to experience the breathtaking beauty of the show in person.
December 19, 2009
The catalog from the SF MoMA exhibition of the same name.
April 3, 2010
Great book! Wonderfully written essays and beautiful plates; a must have for a photo history lover.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews