Photographs as Encounters

No later than Japan's forcible opening to international trade in 1853, images of Japan circulated widely throughout the Western world. Photographs came to be regarded as providing an authentic representation of a nation that had long been perceived as insular. In the United States, these images were pasted in albums, reproduced as stereographs, or printed as lithographs or wood engravings in illustrated publications. They did not merely serve as souvenirs or for educational purposes but were reproduced in various contexts to fulfil additional social and political functions. This book traces photographs from their production in Japan through their circulation and reception in the United States, analyzing photographs as sites of complex encounters and thereby giving insights into photography in relation to national attributions.

• Shows and analyzes some of the earliest photographs taken in Japan
• Photography in relation to national attributions

Autorentext

Stella Jungmann's research focuses on the history and theory of photography, visual culture, photographic archives, and transnational image circulation. She earned a B.A. in Global Cultures from the University of California, Irvine, followed by an M.A. in Media Culture and Art Theory from the University of Arts Linz, Austria. In 2023, she completed her doctorate in the Department of Art History at the University of Zurich. Jungmann has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on photography, museum exhibitions, visual culture, and archival studies at the Center for Studies in the Theory and History of Photography at the University of Zurich. She has received several research grants and travel fellowships, including support from the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Peter E. Palmquist Memorial Fund for Historical Photographic Research.