Understanding Photography

An engaging, informative guide to all the significant schools and movements that have shaped photography through the present day, in Rizzoli’s popular “isms” series.

This concise reference packs an enormous amount of detail into an attractive, small package, tracing the evolution of photography from its early experimental stage up through the current era of the digital selfie.

Organized chronologically, this is a uniquely international, and wide-ranging guide to photography with concise, readable, and jargon-free but scholarly insight into major photographers and movements of the past 170 years. The book presents an introduction to photography beginning with the earliest daguerreotypes and proceeds up to the Instagram present, with details on the key movements, concepts, methods, styles, and impact of each movement along with major artists and works.

In an age when photography has more resonance and interest—and practitioners—than ever before, this book is perfect for both the interested general reader as well as the student.

Emma Lewis is an assistant curator at Tate Modern in London, where she has organized photographic acquisitions and curated exhibitions. Previously, she managed the archive of late photographer Terence Donovan and spent many years in the department of photographs at Phillips auction house.