Darwin's Camera: Art and Photography in the Theory of Evolution

by Phillip Prodger

Darwin's Camera tells the extraordinary story of how Charles Darwin changed the way pictures are seen and made.

In his illustrated masterpiece, Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1871), Darwin introduced the idea of using photographs to illustrate a scientific theory--his was the first photographically illustrated science book ever published. Using photographs to depict fleeting expressions of emotion--laughter, crying, anger, and so on--as they flit across a person's face, he managed to produce dramatic images at a time when photography was famously slow and awkward. The book describes how Darwin struggled to get the pictures he needed, scouring the galleries, bookshops, and photographic studios of London, looking for pictures to satisfy his demand for expressive imagery. He finally settled on one the giants of photographic history, the eccentric art photographer Oscar Rejlander, to make his pictures. It was a peculiar choice. Darwin was known for his meticulous science, while Rejlander was notorious for altering and manipulating photographs. Their remarkable collaboration is one of the astonishing revelations in Darwin's Camera.

Darwin never studied art formally, but he was always interested in art and often drew on art knowledge as his work unfolded. He mingled with the artists on the voyage of HMS Beagle, he visited art museums to examine figures and animals in paintings, associated with artists, and read art history books. He befriended the celebrated animal painters Joseph Wolf and Briton Riviere, and accepted the Pre-Raphaelite sculptor Thomas Woolner as a trusted guide. He corresponded with legendary photographers Lewis Carroll, Julia Margaret Cameron, and G.-B. Duchenne de Boulogne, as well as many lesser lights. Darwin's Camera provides the first examination ever of these relationships and their effect on Darwin's work, and how Darwin, in turn, shaped the history of art.

Genres: Art

459 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Robin Rowland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Darwin's Camera: Art and Photography in the Theory of Evolution by Phillip Prodger is a meticulously researched examination of Charles Darwin’s interest in photography. Darwin’s Camera centers on the circumstances that led Darwin to publish the first scientific publication ever to contain photographs, Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. This little known (and now obsolete) text introduced Darwin’s theory that emotions and expressions had a genetic basis, supported by a series of scientific illustrations and photographs depicting emotions on the faces of individuals. Prodger also writes extensively on Darwin’s efforts to find suitable photos and his collaborations with several famous early photographers including portraitist Julia Margaret Cameron, and art photographer Oscar Gustave Reijlander.

Prodger dances from one topic to another, on some pages neglecting to mention Darwin at all. At one moment he dedicates several pages to discussing the 19th century artistic community’s response to Rejlander’s photographs Two Ways of Life, the next explaining why Charles Darwin’s oldest son’s motivation for not pursing photography at boarding school. While Prodger’s indiscriminate interest in all things relating to early photography is certainly educational, for the average reader most of the information is unnecessary. Historical information can serve to provide context for the main topic, but many sections (such as a detailed analysis by an art historian of lighting effects used in one of Rejlander’s studio portraits unassociated with Darwin’s book) are bogged down with quotations and explanations completely irrelevant to the use of photography in early science. One detour Prodger makes is actually rather interesting; he describes Darwin’s negative response to “spirit photography” which was popular at the time but offended Darwin’s scientific sensibilities.

Throughout the text, Prodger is careful to explain any photography terminology he uses, which make the writing more accessible for the everyday reader, but tedious for anyone with a basic familiarity of early photography. Personally, as a student, this particular work of nonfiction failed to find the right balance between suitably informative and reasonably entertaining.

The subject of Darwin’s influence on early photography would probably have been more suited to a research paper than a book, but Prodger addresses a gap in the current research on the beginnings of photography. In the last chapter, Prodger argues in favor of Darwin’s Expressions as a legitimate scientific publication for the time period. In the introduction, Prodger describes his book as “a journey, funny and amazing at times, into a time, a place, and a culture” (p. xxi).

Though this book is certainly a lengthy expedition, the reader should not expect a funny or amazing story. This book was certainly educational, and any student wishing to write about the topic would have a field day with all the information and references within its pages. For the ambitious reader, it provides a lengthy foray into all manner of topics related to the 1800's. Anyone with anything less than a passionate interest in the topic would probably be better off satisfying their curiosity with internet research rather than attempting this challenge.

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very insightful study not only of evolution, but of Darwin as a man, and photography as an art form. Written at a level that a general reader can understand, this monograph shows how several important ideas came together about the same time. The pictures are very interesting as well. Read more about it on my blog: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.

[Roy Kenagy]

Review: http://bit.ly/tyQiUS

"...Prodger tells the remarkable story of [how] Darwin shaped not only the course of science but also forever changed how images are seen and made."