---

Title of the Dissertation

Self | Inscriptions. Knowledge Formations of Portrait Photography in Mid-19th Century Polytechnic Manuals and Journals

---

Project Description

The early history of portrait photography has often been written as a success story of singular actors or their commercialisation: serendipity, origin stories and commercial triumphs merge into a narrative that shapes the art historical canon: early portrait photography was already “co-conceived” by the men of the first hour (Daguerre), only to give rise, after the calculation of a suitable portrait lens (Petzval & Voigtländer), to an immense multitude of portrait studios, from whose sheer mass a few – artistic – portraitists stand out (Nadar), striving to transform photography from its function of a “servant of the arts” into an art in its own right. Alongside this established narrative of early portrait photography, however, there is another body of portrait knowledge that is hidden where it is rarely sought: in polytechnic handbooks and journals. Since the publication of photography in 1839, everything that was known – or thought to be known – about photographic processes was published, disseminated, subjected to criticism and improvement in these publication formats, and thus made available to readers. This early history of portrait photography is a history of those who overcame failure in the new technical imaging processes: published are findings, proofs and innovations that eradicate mistakes, overcome difficulties, and prevent readers from making the same mistakes. In these publications, a first studio dispositive is conceptualized, a first portrait practice is elaborated in its set pieces and conventions, and a first canon of portrait-photographic knowledge is established.

Polytechnic manuals and journals published primarily in the first thirty years of photography (1839-1869) form the core of my study. In a discourse-analytical reappraisal, I attempt to trace the chemical-technical, aesthetic and praxeological knowledge-formations of early portrait photography in relevant case studies in order to juxtapose the canonical texts on portrait photography with the applied knowledge of these texts for use. The photographic / polytechnic handbook and journal literature, after all, allows a glimpse not only into the genesis of its own discourse of photographic/pictorial knowledge, but also into the specific operations of early photographic portrait-practices. It is through its instructional literature that portrait photography becomes applicable in this early period of the medium – the key to its practice lies in its knowledge-formations.

---

Scholarly Career

• Since October 2019: Researcher (doctoral candidate) in the DFG post-graduate programme “The Documentary. Excess and Withdrawal”, Ruhr University of Bochum
• 12/2018 to 09/2019: Preparation of a PhD project with Prof. Dr. Herta Wolf, Department of History and Theory of Photography, Institute of Art History, University of Cologne
• 07/2018 to 09/2019: Researcher, August Sander Foundation, Cologne
• 01/2018 to 09/2019: Research assistant with Prof. Dr. Thiemo Breyer in the Research Lab Transformations of Knowledge of the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne, University of Cologne
• 10/2015 to 12/2017: Research assistant with Prof. Dr. Herta Wolf, Department of History and Theory of Photography, Institute of Art History, University of Cologne
• 10/2014 to 03/2018: Research-Master-Program, a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne, University of Cologne
• 04/2014 to 05/2018: Master’s program “Art History” with focus on “History and Theory of Photography”, University of Cologne
• 04/2011 to 03/2014: Bachelor’s degree program “Art History, Cultural Heritage, European Ethnology”, Otto Friedrich University Bamberg

---

Publications

Papers

• „Porträtieren als angewandte Wissenschaft. Die Porträtfotografie in der Handbuchliteratur von 1839 bis 1869“, in: Herta Wolf (Hg.), Beiträge zur Geschichte und Ästhetik der Fotografie, 2018, S. 17 – 26.
• „Oberfläche – Widerschein – Identitätskonstruktion: Die Auseinandersetzung mit dem spiegelbildlichen Selbst seit dem Fin de Siècle“, in: Blickwechsel. Wahrnehmungsästhetik und Transferpraktiken in der Kunst, Reader des Masterworkshops, Köln 2014, S. 4 – 14.

Reviews

• „Berenice Abbott: Portraits of Modernity“, in: Michael Hall (Hg.) Burlington Magazine, Vol. 162, Nr. 1411, 2020, S. 892-894.
• „Indizien, Spuren und die Fotografie. Rezension zur Anthologie Wolf, Herta (Hg.), Zeigen und/oder beweisen? Die Fotografie als Kulturtechnik und Medium des Wissens, Berlin u. Boston: De Gruyter 2016 [= Studies in Theory and History of Photography Vol. 7]“, in: Hubert Lochner (Hg.), Rundbrief Fotografie, Vol. 24, Nr. 4, 2017, S. 52 – 54.
• Werkkommentare zu „Tanz um einen Baum“ und „Die Eulenspieglerin“ von Ulrike Rosenbach, in: Franzen, Brigitte; Dirksen, Jenny, Jonas, Lou, Lowack, Miriam (Hg.): Angesichts der Kamera. Facing the Camera, Videoarchiv 03, Aachen 2015, S. 28 – 31.

---

Talks

• How to: Portraiture. A New Stance on the Historiography of Photographic Portraiture in Polytechnical Manuals and Journals (1839-1869), Tagung „Photography and History“, Funchal / Online, 15.-17.12.2021
• L‘archive partagée? , Von Porträtpraxis, polytechnischer Kollaboration und einem zirkulierenden Archiv der frühen Porträtfotografie, Jahrestagung „Wissensökologie“ der Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft, Universität Innsbruck, 22.-25.09.2021
• Von technischen Einschreibungen, instruktiven Gesten und performierten Operationen: Frühe Porträtkonzepte in der fotografischen Handbuch- und Journalliteratur, Ringvorlesung „Das Dokumentarische III. Projekte und Positionen“, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Sommersemester 2021, 17.06.2021
• Fotografisches Porträtieren zur Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts: Selbstdokumentationen zwischen Wissenschaft und Kunst, Vorlesungssitzung in der Vorlesung “Musterbilder und Bildatlanten: Geschichte der Fotografie des 19. Jahrhunderts” von Prof. Herta Wolf, Kunsthistorisches Institut, Universität zu Köln (WS 2019/20), 31.10.2019
• Porträtieren als angewandte Wissenschaft: Eine Rekonstruktion des frühen Atelierdispositivs aus der fotografischen Anweisungsliteratur, Vortrag auf der Tagung „Atelierfotografie / Fotografenatelier“, Altenburg, 21.-23.06.2019
• Von objektbasierten Analysen zum erweiterten Werkverständnis: Eine Materialeigenschaftenstudie der Fotografien August Sanders, Vortrag auf dem XXXV. Deutschen Kunsthistorikertag, Göttingen, 27.-31.03.2019
• Technical Inscriptons and Instructive Gestures: The Mise-en-scéne of Individuals in early photographic portraiture, Vortrag im PhD-Workshop der Tagung “Gestures and Artifacts. Diachronic perspectives on technique and embodiment”, Köln 28.11.-01.12.2018
• The Heautoscopic Moment. Embodiments of the Doppelgänger in Modernist Media-Discourses, Vortrag auf der Summerschool „Visual Intersections III“, The Centre for Visual Arts and Culture, Durham (UK), 11.-13.07.2018
• Heautoskopien in Silbersalz und Wachs. Der Doppelgänger der eigenen Gestalt in der Fotografie (1839-1930), Vortrag auf dem 91. Kunsthistorischen Studierenden Kongress „Vermeintlich Anders“, Leipzig, 24.-27.11.2016
• Modalitäten des Selbst. Parameter der frühen Porträtfotografie in der Handbuchliteratur der 1840er und 1850er Jahre, Vortrag auf der Tagung “Handbuchwissen. Die Fotografie als angewandte Wissenschaft”, Köln 07.-08.04.2016

---

International Research Colloquia

• The Centre for Visual Arts and Culture, University of Durham (UK), Internationale Summerschool „Visual Intersections III“, 11.-13.07.2018
• Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte, Paris, Forschungsatelier “Paris – haut-lieu urbain, institutionnel et artistique de la photographie”, 03.-07.07.2017
• Eikones, Basel, Summerschool “Realismus in der Kunst und Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts”, 05.-09.09.2016

---

Organisation of Events

• Organisation of the evening lecture by Dr Roland Meyer “Faces in the Wild. Operative Imagery and Digital Image Cultures” followed by a workshop, together with Theodor Frisorger, Jana Hecktor and Anna Polze, 08.-09.07.2021
• Organisation of the online workshop “Text\Werk. Reading workshop on Hito Steyerl” together with Jan Harms, Philipp Hohmann, Anna Polze, Julia Reich and Jolanda Wessel, cooperation event with the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen, 14.11.2020

---

Miscellaneous

• since 09/2021 Volunteer reviewer, RUB Research School
• 09/2019 Autumn course “Academic French and Introduction to Research Practice in France”, German Forum for Art History and German Historical Institute,Paris.
• 11 / 2017-11 / 2018 Volunteer editor and artist supervisor at the online magazine “42 magazine”.
• 2013-2016 Internships in the curatorial field (Photography Collection, Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Video Archive Research Project, Ludwig Forum for International Art, Aachen; Kölnischer Kunstverein) and in restoration (LVR Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments in the Rhineland).