The Art of Interruption

Art of Interruption is the first major examination of the relationship between photography and art, and the philosophical and aesthetic categories of "realism" and the "everyday." Beginning with the massive reorientation of photographic practice during the Russian revolution and ending with contemporary debates on the body and digital technology, John Roberts presents the history of twentieth-century photography and art as an extensive interplay between "realism" and the "everyday." This book offers a history of how the uses and reception of photography has oriented itself to the world and the world of art. Roberts` claim, consequently, is to reinstate the long and troubled debate on realism in photography as fundamental to understanding the development and crises of art this century. He sets out to defend "realism" as a complex cultural and philosophical category.