Final SOP SOS
I first became interested in photography while studying fine art at LONDON ART COLLEGE. After graduating I spent three years in China, where a discussion with the curator Gu Zheng regarding the German connections of photographer Miao Xiaochun inspired me to begin reading about contemporary German photography.
I returned to London and was accepted to the one-year graduate diploma at the FAMOUS ART HISTORY INSTITUTE, where PROFESSOR A’s course on Quattrocento architecture helped me develop an appreciation of the built environment’s potential for representing and constructing power relations. PROFESSOR B’s course on “Contemporary Artists’ Writings” broadened my awareness of the debate on documentary photography, which I explored in a project on text as a parergonic element in Martha Rosler’s work. The FAMOUS ART HISTORY INSTITUTE provided me with a foundation in art historical methodologies, and the desire to pursue my research in German architectural photography.
The works of the Bechers and their students inspired my initial interest in this subject. However, closer examination of the related literature left me dissatisfied - I found that many writers on the so-called Düsseldorf school undertheorized the topic and tended to operate in an historical vacuum. I therefore extended my reading to Weimar and beyond, to encompass historical debates about architecture, industry, and perspective. I sought the parallels of the Neue Sehen in developments in the USSR, in the works and writings of El Lissitzky and Alexander Rodchenko; I examined related questions of perspective in the work of Panofsky.
To further my research I enrolled in the master’s programme at BIG LONDON UNIVERSITY, specializing in German Art (1890-1945) under TUTOR A, and American Art (1930-1953) with TUTOR B. I am currently exploring the intersection of politics, perspective, and architecture in the photographic image through a project on the changing uses of vertiginous perspective in architectural photography in Weimar Germany. In doing so, I plan to re-examine the question of perspective as symbolic form in the works of László Moholy-Nagy and Walter Hege, and in their connections to architects and institutions. Barbara Miller Lane’s work on the Neue Bauen under National Socialism and Abigail Solomon-Godeau’s essay on the ‘Armed Vision’ have been especially helpful in my approach to this crucial moment in which a radical aesthetic was radically deterritorialized.
I hope to continue my research at US SCHOOL because of its strength in the history of photography. I would particularly like to work with PROFESSOR C, whose analysis of perspective and optics in the nineteenth century would help me to develop my project on camera vision. Language proficiency is also important for my proposed project. For the past year, I have worked on my reading knowledge of German at BIG LONDON UNIVERSITY. I expect to continue to develop my language skills in German and also Russian, as I anticipate my research encompassing constructivist photography.
Believing that an exclusive focus on photography would limit my research, I hope to work with the diverse range of US SCHOOL professors, especially PROFESSOR D, whose knowledge of German theory and culture would enrich my contextual awareness, and PROFESSOR E, whose work on nineteenth century architecture and its representations would help me explore the historical hinterland of my topic. The structured programme offered by US SCHOOL, unlike PhD programmes in the UK, will help me develop a more systematic awareness of art-historical issues, and better prepare me for a career as a researcher and teacher.