Writing Visual Histories

by Florence Grant (Editor), Heiko Feldner (Editor), Ludmilla Jordanova (Editor), Kevin Passmore (Editor), Stefan Berger (Editor)

Overview

What can visual artifacts tell us about the past? How can we interpret them rigorously, weaving their formal and material qualities into rich social contexts to reach wider historical conclusions? Unfolding key historiographical and methodological issues, Writing Visual Histories equips students to answer these questions, showing visual analysis to be a key skill in historical research.

A multifaceted structure makes this a practical guide for writing and reflecting on visual histories. A first section includes six case studies — on topics ranging from medieval heraldry to Life magazine. These examples are followed by an exploration of essential concepts that inform historical thinking about visual matters, a treatment of disciplinary practices, and discussion of the practicalities (such as accessing museum collections and organising permissions) that scholars working with visual sources have to navigate.

This book is an invaluable tool kit for opening up a historical understanding of visual phenomena and practices of looking, and for writing that takes an integrated approach to studies of the past.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350023451
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/12/2020
Series:	Writing History
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.32(w) x 8.57(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Florence Grant holds a PhD in History from King's College London and is currently an independent writer and editor based in Western North Carolina, USA

Ludmilla Jordanova is Emeritus Professor of History and Visual Culture at Durham University, UK. She is also the author of History in Practice, 3rd Edition (Bloomsbury, 2019)

Table of Contents

List of illustrations ix

List of contributors xi

Acknowledgements xiii

Introduction 1

Essays 23

1 Heraldry topsy-turvy: Depictions and performances of dishonour and death Marcus Meer 25

2 Costume imagery and the visualization of humanity in early modern Europe Katharine Bond 45

3 Identity and continuity: The visual culture of an institution over 500 years Ludmilla Jordanova 68

4 Making an exhibition of himself: John Wilkes through visual sources Jonathan Conlin 88

5 Writing the history of the photographic book: Architecture in Weimar Germany J. J. Long 110

6 The picture magazine: Life and the limits of photography Melissa Renn 133

Concepts 147

Agency 147

Art 148

Discourse 149

Genre 149

Iconography 150

Medium 151

Reception 151

Reproduction 152

Rhetoric 153

Skill 154

Style 155

Visual culture 155

Practices 157

Description 157

Contextualization 158

Periodization 160

Practicalities 162

Using image databases 162

Organizing permissions 163

Writing captions 164

Publishing with pictures 164

Conclusions 166

Bibliography 169

Index 188

Editorial Reviews

The six chapters offer case-studies from the fourteenth to the twentieth-century in Britain, Europe and the United States, and collectively present visual history as a lively interdisciplinary mode of enquiry. With its additional sections on concepts, practices and practicalities, the volume exceeds the conventional textbook – making it invaluable as a student handbook or toolkit.” —Viccy Coltman, Professor of eighteenth-century History of Art, University of Edinburgh, UK

From the Publisher