Bernard Berenson famously exclaimed, “Photographs! Photographs! In our work one can never have enough!” Although the works he was writing about were often only a short train ride away, Berenson was famously enthusiastic about looking at art via photographs. What has photography offered scholars over the years? And how has photography had an impact on the art history syllabus with regard not only to how art history is taught but also with regard to what is taught? When Alinari, Anderson and other photographic agencies in Italy began producing black and white images of historic sites and works of art in the mid-19th century, they had little idea of how they were shaping art history for generations.
In my paper, I shall discuss the ways in which photography has had an enduring impact on the canon, and how the comparative method of Heinrich Wölfflin and others is still in place today. I argue that the early methods have more in common with contemporary digital technology than might seem evident at first glance. My paper stems from research on the Photo Archive in the Department of History of Art, University of Oxford, a room that I never entered when working on my doctorate, but which subsequently became a site of great interest. What was in those mysterious boxes? What treasures did they contain? I shall identify the strengths of the collection and of photo archives in general, and explain how they have a distinct value in an age of digitisation.
Deborah Schultz is Senior Lecturer in Art History at Regent’s University London where she is Course Leader for the BA Art History. Recent publications include Photo Archives and the Place of Photography, co-edited with Geraldine Johnson (Routledge, 2025). She is a regular contributor to Art Monthly and other contemporary art journals.
This talk is part of the 2025-26 CRVC research theme The Art of the Syllabus.