Ransom Center Magazine

Photography

Introducing ‘The Niépce Heliograph’

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One of the most celebrated objects in the history of photography is featured in a permanent exhibition just inside the main entrance to the Harry Ransom Center. The untitled photograph—the earliest known surviving photograph made with the aid of the camera obscura—was produced in 1827 by the French scientist and inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce using a process he called héliographie. Permanent exhibitions are never really “permanent,” however; objects may remain in place, but their meanings are always evolving, and exhibitions are periodically revised to reflect those advances. [Read more…] about Introducing ‘The Niépce Heliograph’

Arctic Passage

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On March 12, award-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker Louie Palu will install a series of photographs frozen in large ice blocks on the Ransom Center’s plaza. The photographs were made in the high Arctic over three years while Palu was on assignment for National Geographic. View the free installation, part of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Art Program, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. No SXSW badge is needed. [Read more…] about Arctic Passage

Archive examines creative process in photography

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More than 35 years ago, prominent artists Robert Frank, Dave Heath, Robert Heinecken and John Wood agreed to participate in a project exploring creativity in photography. Led by art historians Susan E. Cohen and William S. Johnson, the three-year collaborative project examined the artists’ creative process . Until now, no comprehensive record of those efforts  has been accessible.

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