How Photography represent Paris in the Nineteenth Century

In the nineteenth century, the innovation and invention of new technology took off. More inventions and innovation came out of the nineteenth century up until World War I than any other time period in history. From the concept of time, the improvement of transportation, and even the telephone; the camera has definitely made its mark in history. In 1839, the camera had gradually become the new major medium used in the nineteenth century. It was the invention that changed artwork and gave everyone a new way to represent itself to the world. Gay-Lussac called it “a new art form in a new civilization.” Photography represented Paris in three major ways. The new technology influenced a new way of painting where the artist began capturing their subjects in action versus a still portrait pose. And with the Daguerreotype being available to everyone in the public, it was becoming easy to travel to Paris for events. The regular working class people and artists to go to Paris to see the city and bring imaged back home. And finally, because of how photography represented Paris, the tourism industry began to grow gave the city of Paris the money and inspiration to reconstruct their city into the city we picture it to be, a city full of change, innovation, and excitement.

The camera obscura was “is an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen. It is used in drawing and for entertainment, and was one of the inventions that led to photography. The device consists of a box or room with a hole in one side. Light from an external scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface inside where it is reproduced, upside-down, but with colour and perspective preserved. The image can be projected onto paper, and can then be...

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...rove itself so it could actually make its mark on the world map. Millions of people still go to Paris today to get the picture that best represent Paris, but photography will forever represent all cities and countries visited by others.

Works Cited

1) Bajac, Quentin, Elizabeth Siegal, and Francesco Zanot.Photography: The Origins 1839-1890. Milan, Italy: Skira Editore, 2010.

2) Benjamin, Walter. Paris-The Capital of the Nineteenth Century. Illuminationen: Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, www.nowherelabs.dreamhosters/paris capital.pdf (accessed November 28, 2013).

3) Cohen PhD, Kathleen, James Bonacci, and Judy Parsons. San Jose State University, Accessed December 3, 2013. gallery.sjsu.edu/paris/mass_produced_art/frameBIBLIO.htm.

4) Markwood, Jill. "Photograph'ys Influence on Painting." Accessed November 4, 2012. www.agorajournal.org/2010/Markwood.pdf.