Through more than 250 photographs - from the daguerreotype to the digital age - this book offers an ambitious history of portrait photography. Phillip Prodger traces a wide range of uses and influences in the fields of anthropology, fashion, advertising, narrative, documentary, and vernacular photography.

His approach is original: not a linear history, but a thematic journey across the eras. The practice of the studio, like that of the selfie, is put into perspective from the 19th century to the present day as social and intimate practices (in search of my identity, staging of the self).

Combining the works of the pioneers, the great masters, and the artists of today, he delivers a fascinating analysis of one of the obsessions of our contemporary societies: the inexhaustible exploration of human identity, the elusive mirror of the other, and ourselves.

Published by Editions Textuel

240 pages
23 x 27.5 cm
2021

Text by Phillip Prodger
French