Photography and the USA by Mick Gidley (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Photography and the USA by Mick Gidley Jennifer Steensma Hoag Photography and the USA. By Mick Gidley. London: Reaktion Books Ltd. 2011. Mick Gidley’s Photography and the USA is from the Exposures series, a set of books that looks at photography from various thematic perspectives. This title considers the photographic image from the perspective of American Studies and the result is an interesting, well-written book by an informed author. Gidley divides his investigation into thematic sections regarding technology, history, and social documentation. A fourth section looks at photographs as emblems of the USA and includes photographs made expressly for artistic purposes. [End Page 195] Gidley’s expertise in both photography and American Studies blend successfully in the first chapter, “Technologies.” Focusing on mechanization, Kodak, and photomechanical reproduction, Gidley identifies that while Americans were not the inventors of the medium, “much of the technological development of photography has taken place in the USA” (31). The USA used this new medium in every conceivable application while continuing to capitalize on technological developments to produce photo processes that were cheap, mass-producible, and functional. While Gidley’s coverage of technological developments ends in the 1960s, he concludes the chapter on a prescient note. Quoting Lucia Moholy’s 1939 text, A Hundred Years of Photography, and Don DeLillo’s 1984 book, White Noise, Gidley references the tremendous growth of photography, and our increased reliance on photographs. In the second chapter, “Histories,” Gidley emphasizes the American West as a dominant theme, basing a third of the chapter on the topic. Briefly touching on immigration, industrialization, regionalism, race, and racism, he also addresses complications of selecting examples from the vast amount of vernacular photographs generated. The following chapter, “Documents,” concerns social documentation and includes many expected references: Jacob Riis, Lewis Hine, Edward Curtis, and the Farm Security Administration, but also features the work of lesser known Frances B. Johnson. Gidley devotes a significant amount of time to the FSA and how it became an inspiration for other documentary projects concerning monuments, courthouses, and architecture. In this chapter Gidley also addresses the September 11 attacks. The final chapter of the text, “Emblems,” features work with symbolic reference to the USA and features practitioners with an aesthetic interest in photography. Gidley emphasizes the straight photography tradition, and, to a lesser extent, addresses manipulated modes of photographic expression. Each chapter moves roughly in chronological order, the strength of Gidley’s commentary being on early photography through modernism. He brings many themes from previous texts he has authored to bear here. Photography and the USA is heavily illustrated with 107 images for its 184 pages. The chosen illustrations emphasize a historical preference; thirty-three illustrations predate 1900, and thirty-eight represent the time period between 1900 to the end of World War II. A mere four images represent the last ten years, a time period that has certainly changed the USA and photography dramatically. Overall, Photography and the USA is a lucid and engaging consideration of photographic production and its symbiotic relationship with the USA. The book serves as an excellent introduction to the history of photography and the photograph’s role in American culture. Jennifer Steensma Hoag Calvin College Copyright © 2012 Mid-America American Studies Association