The history of photography has been shaped not only by photographers but also by historians and critics who framed photography as an art, a social document, and a cultural force. Here’s a breakdown of the most important figures:

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📚 Foundational Photography Historians

These figures laid the groundwork for thinking about photography historically and artistically:
• Beaumont Newhall (1908–1993) – Curator at MoMA; author of The History of Photography (1937, expanded 1949), the first major survey that legitimized photography as an art form.
• Helmut Gernsheim (1913–1995) – Collector and historian; co-authored The History of Photography (1955), credited with rediscovering the works of William Henry Fox Talbot.
• Gisele Freund (1908–2000) – Photographer and historian; wrote Photography and Society (1936), linking photography to class, politics, and social change.
• Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) – Philosopher/critic; his essays on mechanical reproduction and the aura of the photograph remain foundational for critical theory in photography.

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🖋️ Influential Photography Critics / Theorists

Critics shaped the way photography was understood in relation to art, culture, and politics:
• Susan Sontag (1933–2004) – On Photography (1977); highly influential collection of essays examining photography as both a cultural practice and a form of power.
• Roland Barthes (1915–1980) – Camera Lucida (1980); introduced concepts of studium and punctum, deeply shaping how we read photographs emotionally and semiotically.
• John Szarkowski (1925–2007) – MoMA curator; author of The Photographer’s Eye (1966), which defined the formal language of photography and championed modernist photographers like Garry Winogrand and Diane Arbus.
• Allan Sekula (1951–2013) – Photographer, critic, and theorist; Photography Against the Grain (1984) critiqued photography’s role in capitalism and ideology.
• Rosalind Krauss (b. 1941) – Art critic/theorist; explored photography’s relation to postmodernism and structuralism, co-founder of October journal.

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🎓 Contemporary Photography Historians / Critics

These scholars and critics continue to shape the field today:
• Geoffrey Batchen (b. 1956) – Historian; known for Burning with Desire (1997), examining photography’s invention and cultural meaning.
• Abigail Solomon-Godeau (b. 1948) – Critic and historian; influential feminist critiques of photography, e.g. Photography at the Dock (1991).
• Charlotte Cotton (b. 1968) – Curator and writer; The Photograph as Contemporary Art (2004) is a widely used text on photography’s role in contemporary practice.
• Ariella Azoulay (b. 1962) – Theorist; The Civil Contract of Photography (2008) reframes photography as a political encounter between subject, photographer, and viewer.
• Liz Wells (b. 1950s) – Historian; author of Photography: A Critical Introduction (1996), a standard academic text.

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✅ In short:
• Newhall, Gernsheim, Freund = early historians who legitimized photography.
• Sontag, Barthes, Szarkowski, Sekula, Krauss = critics/theorists who shaped how we read and value photographs.
• Batchen, Solomon-Godeau, Cotton, Azoulay, Wells = contemporary voices pushing photography studies into theory, politics, and global perspectives.