Introduction to the History of Photography

From Cristina Irian you will learn about key concepts in art history, how photography “began” and how it developed, about photographic movements and currents in Europe and the USA, composition, and—perhaps most importantly—how you can use the history of photography in today’s photographic practice. The course is destined for anyone passionate about history, art, and, last but not least, photography.

What you will learn:

• how photography developed;

• how forms and tools used throughout history are employed today in contemporary art;

• about important photographers from different historical periods;

• about analog and digital photography—when, how, why, and the impact they had;

• about photography in Europe and the USA;

• about the history of photography in Romania;

• about composition and how to “read” a photograph;

• how to use the history of photography in your own photographic practice.

Course schedule:

• Saturday, February 7, 2026, 11:00–17:00 – Photography (pre-1900), cyanotype practice and camera obscura

• Tuesday, February 17, 2026, 18:00–21:00 – Photography from 1900 to the emergence of digital

• Wednesday, March 4, 2026, 18:00–21:00 – Digital photography

• Saturday, March 7, 2026, 11:00–17:00 – Main movements and currents in photography in the USA and Europe; exhibition visit

• Saturday, March 21, 2026, 11:00–17:00 – Micro-history of photography in Romania and museum visit

• Saturday, March 28, 2026, 11:00–17:00 – How we read a photograph. How we use the history of photography in everyday practice and practical exercises

Course details:

This is a module of the “Fundamentals of Photography” course. It is also designed to be taken independently by those solely interested in the history of photography. Ideally, you should have a camera, but it is not mandatory.

About the lecturer (short bio):

Ana-Cristina Irian is a research-based artist, researcher, and curator, active in the field of collections, photographic archives, and multimedia projects. She studied sociology (Trento and Regensburg), visual anthropology (Bucharest and Perugia), and holds a PhD in Visual Arts from the National University of Arts in Bucharest. Her artistic practice, guided by the motto No one left behind, focuses on objects of memory and integrates photographic materials into contemporary art works. She has participated in over 50 exhibitions in Romania and abroad and is a member of the Union of Visual Artists of Romania and the European platform Futures.She has been involved in projects such as Dacia 50 – an ethnography of the Dacia car after its 50 years, The Wells of Oltenia – a mapping of community wells in southern Romania, Arhive poVestite – recovery and promotion of private photographic archives, Fragmentum, Heretheylived, #mili-eu, Ileana, Mr. B’s grandmother, Debara, Sacoșa Est–Vest – Freedom.Body.Resistance, EERIE, The Titans– research based art. She published the object-book STRATA / B (Omnia Photo, 2020), and her visual experiments from 2016–2020 became two artist books included in the European Versopolis collection. She is the author of Photographic Collections and Archives Today, in the Digital World (2022) and The Production of Space and the Social Life of Artworks in the Street (2024). In 2024, she was a finalist at the LensCulture Art Photography Awards. Her most recent project, The Titans and the Vanishing Green, is presented at Chester Photo Festival 2025.