Perry County TN Arts

Perry County Arts is sponsoring An Exhibit of Historical and Alternative Photography in the Perry County Arts room, located in the Community Center, Linden.  The exhibition will be open between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm on May 15, 22, and 29.  Wednesday, May 19 at 6:00 pm, and again May 29, at 6:00 pm, Dr. Rebecca Wasson will deliver a lecture on the history of photographic processes.

Most art collectors distinguish between photographic and photomechanical prints for both aesthetic and technical reasons.  Photomechanical prints include lithograph, collotype, photoengraving, giclee, photogravure, computer print, halftone, Xerox, or digital prints.  That is not to mean that a photomechanical print is not “art.”  Some photomechanical prints have great value like Alfred Stiglitz’s photogravures and Richard Avedon’s giclee.

However, this photographic exhibition does not include photomechanical prints.  Photomechanical prints can be distinguished magnification of 30X to 100X by a distinct pattern of tiny dots or grids.  Typically, photographs will be more expensive than equivalent photomechanical prints, and sellers should not represent a photomechanical print as a photograph.

So, what is a photograph?  “A photograph is the process of creating an image on a chemically sensitized surface by the interaction of light (Cycleback).”   Others have said it is the act of “drawing with photons (Albert Koetsier)”, or “the recording of light rays (Philip Greenspun).”  A particular process and its resulting print share the same name, the platinotype process produces a platinotype print.

Since Talbot created his first photographic image in 1839, there have been many different photographic processes, each with a unique image that can be identified by close inspection and knowledge.  Qualities such as color, surface texture, and type of aging can distinguish one process, or print from another.  An approximate date can be assigned the creation of a photograph by determining the process, type or style of finished product, type of aging, and image costumes and accoutrements.

Bring your old family portraits with you when you come to view the exhibition and we will try to identify the photographic processes used to create them.