A World on Display 1904: Photographs from the St. Louis World's Fair - Hardcover

Breitbart, Eric

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826317421 ISBN 13: 9780826317421

Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr, 1997

Synopsis

A book of superb b&w photographs, most taken in 1904 during the St. Louis World's Fair, showing some of the 2,000 "native peoples" brought to St. Louis to appear in the most extensive anthropological exhibit ever assembled for a world's fair. The text examines the relationship of the photographers with the images, and the images with the viewers and the society in which they were viewed. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

About this title

Review

Photography was an essential tool for scientists in many fields at the turn of the century. The 1904 world's fair offered anthropologists an unprecedented chance to see and record the world's "primitive peoples"--a final opportunity, many felt, for it was then widely believed that these "vanishing races" would die out or be assimilated into the dominant societies around them. The images here are largely the work of seven photographers--notably Jessie Tarbox Beals, the first woman photojournalist, and Frances Benjamin Johnston. Eric Breitbart discusses how and why the images were taken, and examines the photographers' widespread disregard for accuracy (few subjects were correctly identified by tribe, let alone name) and authenticity.

About the Author

Eric Breitbart

Edition details

• Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826317421
• ISBN 13: 9780826317421
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 108