Synopsis
American photographers documented and defined the 20th century in an array of images, the style and content of which evolved dramatically over the course of the century. In this book, photographer and art historian Gretchen Garner chronicles this transformation, from the introduction of the 35-millimetre camera in the 1920s to the digital photography of today. Accompanied by over 125 key works in the history of photography - fine art, documentary, and editorial - her discussion traces American photography's aesthetic, commercial and technological changes, as the medium's primary role of spontaneous witness gradually gave way to contrived arrangement and artistic invention. Garner discusses direct witness as the dominant paradigm for American photographers from the 1920s to the 1960s. During these decades, photographers saw their medium primarily as a vehicle for truthful description and sometimes as a weapon against social injustice. In the 1960s, however, photographic practice and its cultural significance shifted to reflect more personal, idiosyncratic and staged visions of reality - a trend, Garner notes, that has intensified with digital photography.
The major portion of the book is devoted to post-1960's work, exploring how the changes have affected portraiture, documentary, landscape, still life, fashion and the new genre of self-imagery. In documenting this transformation in American photography, "Disappearing Witness" forcefully rethinks the history of photography itself.
