The Invented Eye

Book excerpt: In The invented eye Edward Lucie-Smith surveys, from an art critic's point of view, the pioneer period of photography. Against the cultural and artistic background of the 19th century world he discusses the broad implications of early photography and many of its most important practitioners. Taking as it does an art-critical point of view, The invented eye is not a technical book (though there is a brief section explaining the major techniques of early photography). Its emphasis is on understanding the photographs as visual images. More than 150 photographs provide a magnificent complement to the lucid and perceptive text, and make The invented eye a journey through time, to the beginnings of "a new way of seeing the world."