We are pleased to invite you to our upcoming conference, part of our series dedicated to photography, which will take place on December 10, 2024, at 6 PM at the Millennium Gallery.
Theme: Before Photography, Painting as a Model
The invention of photography in the mid-19th century was a groundbreaking event with cultural, artistic, scientific, and economic dimensions.
Often seen as a mere technical invention, photography is in fact the result of a long artistic development that began with the introduction of linear perspective during the Renaissance.
Over centuries, realism in painting became dominant, eventually leading to the invention of photography—a culmination of a rich pictorial tradition rooted in centuries of evolving perspectives on vision and imagery, not solely in science.
Daniel Girardin is an art historian and photography expert. A former curator at the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, he has curated numerous exhibitions and authored books and articles on the history of photography.
The conference will explore, through numerous examples, the artistic experiments that, since the Renaissance, paved the fascinating path to the invention of photography.
Admission is free with registration.