Viscerally Exciting Diversions: Stereography and Institutional Bias

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quite different from both pictorialist ideas of photographic art and the kinds of modernism Steichen espoused. These compositions captured movement, caught people between moments, and validated subjects that had previously been considered outside the realm of art. Some of these, in particular the documentation of transgressive sexuality in Arbus’ work, were considered as inappropriate for art as the risqué stereograph of the penny arcade. Yet, the stereograph’s lack of aura and the anonymity of the typical stereographer meant that most stereographs had no place at MoMA or other similar institutions. There were, however, some notable exceptions, but even here, we see a distancing from the stereographic medium. In his highly-influential book Looking at Photographs, Szarkowski discusses stereographs but does not include them except as prints made from halved stereographic negatives, so that they resemble ordinary photographic prints. This practice extended to his curation at MoMA, as well. Although Szarkowski credits stereographic cameras with having the “small negatives” and “short focal lengths” that “gave adequate exposure at snapshot speeds” and made possible the snapshot aesthetic he valued so highly, the example of street photography included in Looking at Pictures appears as a standard print (fig. 12).25 Elsewhere in the book, Szarkowski depicts Bennett’s work similarly, praising the composition and explaining that


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