Approaching invisibility : experiencing the photographs and writings of Minor White
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2009
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Within his published writings on photography Minor White (1908-1976) makes frequent use of
the term 'invisible'. While his use of this term is always suggestive, often provocative, and
sometimes allusive, his meaning is rarely made clear. Nonetheless, White appears to refer to
intangible aspects of photography that go beyond the visible elements of photographs themselves. This
thesis aims to elucidate White's use of the term 'invisible' by determining (i) precisely what he is
referring to in his use of this word, (ii) where the 'invisible' resides, and (iii) how it is
encountered.
In order to achieve these objectives a close examination and analysis of the writings of White is
made, with particular emphasis being given to fifteen identified uses of the term 'invisible'. Since
White's use of this term is always open to interpretation it is first necessary, however, to
establish a comprehensive foundation from which explanations can be made. Hence, the first
chapter of the thesis provides a brief overview of the formative years of White's life up until
1946. On the basis that six of the fifteen uses of the term 'invisible' refer directly to Alfred
Stieglitz and/or his theory of ‘equivalence’, an analysis of ‘equivalence’ from the perspectives of
Stieglitz and White respectively will be given in chapters two and three. The theory of
‘equivalence’ invests a photograph with an ability to express more than its literal
representation, in doing so the viewer’s subjective experience is paramount. In addition to
analysis of the writings of Stieglitz and White the writings of post-Stieglitz photographic critics
and commentators such as Peter Bunnell, Joel Eisinger, Allan Sekula and John Szarkowski are
also examined.
The thesis then assigns each of White’s uses of this term to one of three categories developed in
my research and reflection that I have named ‘extra-invisibility’ ‘intra-invisibility’ and ‘interinvisibility’.
Thus it will be shown that the majority of the occasions on which White uses the
term ‘invisible’ pertain both to the viewer’s experience of photographs and to the affective
qualities of the photograph. While the meaning of White’s term ‘invisible’ is not always the
same, the thesis concludes that the usage that dominates within his writing, pertains to feeling
states that are evoked within a viewer’s internal world via his or her interaction with a
photograph. How such experiences of invisibility are encountered is thus determined by the
viewer’s personal background and approach to the photograph, by the social context in which
the image is seen, and, to some extent, by the visible elements of the photograph itself.
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