In the mid-19th century the art of portraiture was threatened with obsolescence by the advent of photography. Or so it was thought. Instead, the portrait was redefined by the very thing that threatened it, the photograph. That's the subject of a new book by UAB Art History Professor Heather McPherson, Ph.D.
In "The Modern Portrait in 19th Century France," published by Cambridge University Press, McPherson explores the interplay of painting and photography and the cultural and social complexities of the portrait. "As Baudelaire said in his 1846 Salon, 'There are two ways of understanding portraiture -- either as history or fiction.'" She also relates the various strategies artists used to revitalize the portrait.
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