What do you think?
Rate this book
Latent Image: The Discovery of Photography
Book by Newhall, Beaumont
Paperback
Published January 1, 1983
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 21, 2019
This book proposes a story of catfights between individuals desperately seeking to claim their right to the discovery of the medium. A quick look at the contents page demonstrates the overarching tone: "Chapter I. Daguerre's Secret;" "Chapter III. Niépce: The Almost-Forgotten Pioneer;" "Chapter IX. Contenders from All Sides;" "Chapter XI. Daguerre's Triumph."
Phrases like, "To Talbot goes credit..." "Talbot's challenge forced the French to counter," "Niépce was suspicious," "Isidore was furious," "Daguerre triumphantly wrote," "Thus the honor of publishing Herchel's invention fell to the French," make it feel as if one is reading the intersection of a soap opera and a biography of Napoleon.
The book is littered with useful and revealing technical/chemical details of some of the early developments and experiments.
Through following the technical, chemical, and legal threads from the 1830s-50s, with references to Niépce's experiments in the teens, Newhall constructs a mythopoeic narrative of the singular "invention" of photography. This emphasis invariably revolves around legacy. It feels as if the "invention" of photography came about by a series of individuals attempting to leave their mark for contemporary culture and that of posterity.
Phrases like, "To Talbot goes credit..." "Talbot's challenge forced the French to counter," "Niépce was suspicious," "Isidore was furious," "Daguerre triumphantly wrote," "Thus the honor of publishing Herchel's invention fell to the French," make it feel as if one is reading the intersection of a soap opera and a biography of Napoleon.
The book is littered with useful and revealing technical/chemical details of some of the early developments and experiments.
Through following the technical, chemical, and legal threads from the 1830s-50s, with references to Niépce's experiments in the teens, Newhall constructs a mythopoeic narrative of the singular "invention" of photography. This emphasis invariably revolves around legacy. It feels as if the "invention" of photography came about by a series of individuals attempting to leave their mark for contemporary culture and that of posterity.
Displaying 1 of 1 review