How photography came to thrive in the postwar era, from pop to conceptualism

This volume explores how and why the second half of the 20th century proved such a fruitful moment for the ascendance of photography. It investigates pop art, conceptual art and emerging photo-based art forms such as film and television through the lens of fine-art photography and vernacular photography.

In addition to an essay on the ill-fitting place of photography in art historical surveys of the 1960s and ’70s, the book also includes essays by scholars and collectors reexamining more specialized outlets for photography. These include explorations of the use of collage, the brief fashion craze of paper dresses and the significance of television programing and news photography as source material for art production.

Artists include: John Baldessari, Nan Goldin, Robert Heinecken, Andrzej Paruzel, Hiromi Tsuchida, Nam June Paik and Martha Rosler.