From Public Relations to Art: Exhibiting Frances Benjamin Johnston's Hampton Institute Photographs

Authors

Sarah Bassnett, Western UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Summer 2008

Volume

32

Issue

2

Journal

History of Photography

First Page

152

URL with Digital Object Identifier

doi.org/10.1080/03087290801895746

Last Page

168

Abstract

This article examines the circulation of a series of photographs taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston at the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Hampton, Virginia, in 1899. It looks first at their display in the context of the American Negro Exhibit at the Paris Exposition of 1900; second, it considers an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1966; and third, it discusses an exhibit at the Williams College Museum of Art in 2000 in which the Hampton photographs were paired with work by contemporary artist, Carrie Mae Weems. The article analyzes the context and the display techniques of each exhibition in order to show how the function of the photographs shifted from public relations material to art. In tracing this shift, the article demonstrates that the meaning of the photographs is not fixed; rather, it was constituted through different discursive frameworks.

Notes

Article published in the journal History of Photography.

Citation of this paper:

TY - JOUR T1 - From Public Relations to Art: Exhibiting Frances Benjamin Johnston's Hampton Institute Photographs

AU - Bassnett, Sarah

Y1 - 2008/06/01

PY - 2008

DA - 2008/06/01

N1 - doi: 10.1080/03087290801895746

DO - 10.1080/03087290801895746

T2 - History of Photography

JF - History of Photography

JO - null

SP - 152

EP - 168

VL - 32

IS - 2

PB - Routledge

SN - 0308-7298

M3 - doi: 10.1080/03087290801895746

UR - https://doi-org.proxy1.lib.uwo.ca/10.1080/03087290801895746

ER - 0