Harry Ransom Center presents A New History of the "First Photograph"
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Photo courtesy of Jessica S. McDonald
Jessica S. McDonald, the Nancy Inman and Marlene Nathan Meyerson Curator of Photography, rethinks the historical moment, as well as the personal circumstance, shaping Helmut and Alison Gernsheim’s announcement of their “re-discovery of the world’s first photograph” in 1952.
McDonald presents a critical examination of the Gernsheims’ subsequent rewriting of the history of photography and their championing of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce as the sole inventor of photography, and considers the legacy of those efforts on the Ransom Center’s interpretation of the Gernsheim collection today.
