Critical Studies
6. Critical British Writing
British critical writing on photography expanded rapidly during the 1970's when the growth of photography galleries, exhibitions, book publishing and magazines offered a forum to many new writers.
6.1 Ian Jeffrey expresses his particular approach to "history" in the introduction to his overview "Photography a Concise History"(1981).
6.2 Bill Jay in his 1992 essay suggests reasons "Why so few writers on photography are worth reading."
6.3 The English museum and national galleries were slow to accept photography. As late as 1989 the fox hunting English philosopher Roger Scruton was still asking the nineteenth century question "But Is It Art?"
6.4 John Berger is one of the more perceptive critical writers on photography and in his essay "Photographs of Agony" he reflects on the contradictions of Don McCullen's war photography. Berger in partnership with the photographer Jean Mohr also produced many books which combined text and prose in combination with photrographs. In their introduction to "Another Way of Telling"(1989) they describe the audience which such a combination could address.
6.5 Gerry Badger, a major conributor to Creative Camera during this period, offers some thoughts on Post War American Photography in this extract from his catalogue essay for the 1985 Barbican Gallery exhibition "American Images 1945-80"
6.6 Victor Burgin's "Thinking Photography"(19xx) postulates a new ideology for photographic theory and practice.
6.7 Frank Webster in his book "The New Photography" (1985) argues against technicism in photography and urges photographers towards a new responsibility.
6.8 Val Williams in her essay "Crowned with Thorns"(1996) looks back at the history of Creative Camera magazine.
Bibliography
Berger J. About Looking (London, Writers and Readers,1980).
Berger & Mohr Another Way of Telling (London, Writers and Readers,1989).
Burgin V. Thinking Photography (London; Communications and Culture,
19xx)
Heron & Williams (eds.) Illuminations (London, Taurius,1996).
Jay B. Occam's Razor (Munich; Nazraeli Press,1992).
Scruton R. But Is It Art? in Modern Painters (London) Vol 2 No 1 Spring 1989 pp.62-65.
Turner P. (ed.) American Images:Photography 1945-1980
(London; Penguin/Barbican Art Gallery,1985).
Webster F. The New Photography (London;John Calder,1980).