In Record Pictures: Photographs from the Archive of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Michael Collins traces the history of the matter of fact aesthetic of the Bechers and the Dusseldorf School back to its origins in the topographically precise photography of elementary nineteenth century industrial survey photography. Termed 'Record Pictures', combining the qualities of detail and clarity with the objectivity of technical drawings, this photography had a scientific rather than an artistic purpose. Significantly, one of the founders of Britain's Photographic Society was a leading civil engineer. This original application gave rise to a genre of photography whose history has not been properly recognised. Record Pictures: Photographs from the Archive of the Institution of Civil Engineers represents the photographic jewels of arguably one of the finest collections in Britain.

Hardcover: 128 pages

Publisher: SteidlMACK 2004

Language: English

ISBN 3-86521-031-7