William E. Parker
1977 Lectures
Taking the lead from a few of the great thinkers in the field of art and photo criticism, (Andre Bazin, Stanley Cavell, Heinrich Schwarz) Parker presents the ontological aspects of the typical still-photographic medium, delineating in great detail how the unique attributes of the photographic process set it apart from other art media. (Including the itself-reflexive nature of photography, the synchronic action of light to form an image, atomistic detail, the photograph’s provisional edge, and plenitude. Also included in this list are the viewer’s responses to the photographic image--based in our common confusion of the image for its referent-- in the forms of the elegiac, cathexis, and decathexis. A central theme of Parker’s approach is gleaned from Heinrich Schwartz, who stated that photography’s history began long before its invention. Parker sets out on an historical survey in search of what he calls the Mimetic tradition: traces of the impulses and attitudes toward the phenomenology of light that eventually led to the invention of photography. Parker begins in the caves of Paleolithic Europe, with the "negative" images of hands formed by spraying pigment onto the artist's hand pressed directly upon the cave wall. He also pays great attention to the highly astute visual observation of specific animal behaviors as demonstrated by the cave artists. Parker continues to follow the mimetic tradition through the history of Western art up to the nineteenth century and culminating with the invention of photography. Along the way he incorporates a broad understanding of developments in science, philosophy, and psychology, concluding that, seen within this wider context, photography can be viewed as a tragic medium: born out of a desire to reclaim the world of matter lost in an increasingly subjectivist milieu, and our subsequent embrace of the photographic image as objective truth only a further symptom of the disconnect between mind and matter forming since the Renaissance and firmly declared by Descartes. We wanted to know the world directly and accepted an image in its place. Throughout the lectures, Parker offers ways in which we might mend our inherited dualistic severance between mind and nature. The lectures are also punctuated with personal stories from his life, creating a wonderful mixture of poignant, tragic, and humorous elements to illustrate the material presented.
To access the audio recordings, click on the link below, which brings you to the Visual Studies Workshop page on Soundcloud. Scroll down until you see the William Parker tapes (1977) Please note that the recordings are offered in reverse order: reel #12 will be seen first. The PDFs and the audio tapes share the same number/letter identification (1A, 1B etc.)
Link to Visual Studies Workshop audio recordings on Soundcloud
Click on the following links for PDF transcriptions: